What Is Difference Between Hardwood And Softwood

The difference between hardwood and softwood.

What is difference between hardwood and softwood.

Botanical difference between hardwood and softwood gymnosperms and angiosperms image. Trees with seeds that are enclosed such as within a shell or fruit are categorized. Classifying wood as either a hardwood or softwood comes down to its physical structure and makeup and so it is overly simple to think of hardwoods as being hard and durable compared to soft and workable softwoods. Hardwood is easily available in the tropical areas and more durable than softwoods that why there are more products made up of hardwood.

Hardwood vs softwood similarities and differences between soft wood and hard wood anatomically wood is the secondary xylem of plants. The primary distinction between hardwood and softwood is based on the reproductive biology of the tree species. The wood of dicot angiosperms is called. More specifically the type of seeds produced by a tree determines whether it is hardwood or softwood.

For example balsa wood which is known as one of the lightest woods in the world is actually a hardwood. This may come as a shock to some of you but hardwood isn t necessarily harder than softwood and vice versa. In most cases hardwood tends to be harder than softwood but not always. The distinction between the two woods lies within their reproduction.

These pores and vessels differ in shape and size by the species and specificity of the plants. Hardwood is not necessarily a harder material more dense and a softwood is not necessarily a softer material less dense. The best example of this is balsa wood which although extremely lightweight is classed as a hardwood. Wikimedia commons coming to the reproductive description in botanical terms softwood trees are gymnosperms whereas hardwood trees are angiosperms the seeds of hardwood trees will have a shell or a fruit.

But the folks harvesting the southern u s. Were really confused because not only did they find the super light hardwood species basswood and cottonwood but they found some of the continent s heaviest softwood of which four species longleaf slash shortleaf and loblolly pine are now marketed under the unifying moniker of southern yellow. The differences in the hardness of the wood can be quite varied for both hardwood and softwood. Commercially there are two categories of wood based on its source.

Different types of construction projects call for different kinds of timber both hardwood and softwood are used for everything from structural to decorative. This happens to be generally true but there are exceptions such as in the cases of wood from yew trees a softwood that is relatively hard and wood from balsa trees a. The key difference between the hardwood and softwood is because of the pores and vessels present in the hardwood. All trees reproduce by producing seeds but the seed structure varies.

They are 1 hardwood and 2 softwood. Likewise yew is a hard softwood.