if you are smart with wood.....PLEASE HELP?

Question

How can you tell if a tree is hardwood or softwood?

Answer 1

You just have to know your trees. Use an encyclopedia. Try these web sites. m

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softwood

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardwood

Answer 2

I am a "wood shop" teacher and I always tell people that the easiest way to tell the difference between hardwood and softwood is softwood trees are needle bearing trees and hardwood trees are leaf bearing. Surprisingly, the hardness of the wood has nothing to do with "hardwood". Balsa wood (often used to make kids flying planes) is a hardwood.

Answer 3

Hardwoods are a deciduous species and comprise the botanical group of trees that have broad leaves, produce a fruit or nut, and generally go dormant in the winter. There are hundreds of hardwood species in North America. Popular hardwoods include birch, oak, hickory, cherry and mahogany.

Softwoods, or conifers, from the Latin word meaning "cone-bearing," have thin leaves or needles. Despite their name, softwoods are actually hard and quite durable. Widely available softwoods include cedar, fir, hemlock, pine, redwood and spruce.

Answer 4

It seems like the slow growing trees are hardwood, and the fast growing trees softwood.

Answer 5

Smart a little , hope this helps,#1 Hardwood and it depends on geographical location a little, normally looses leaves in cooler climates and soft woods do not except for a Tamarack. That being said, the sure test is the length of the cells and density, as some conifers are soft and hard ,say Brazilian cedar is hard, but to me a poplar is soft and its a deciduous, best to ask an lumber mill. Note oaks are hardwood, oaks in France used for wine barrels ,oaks in Africa wood too porous cell density down because of increased heat units

Answer 6

The words hardwood or softwood tell you what type of tree the timber came from. Softwoods come from coniferous trees like Pine, Fir, Spruce and Larch. Coniferous trees are cone bearing and often have needle-like leaves. Most are evergreen except the Larch which drops its needles in the winter (it is deciduous). They grow well in cold conditions and also grow quickly.

Hardwoods come from broadleaved trees such as Oak, Ash and Beech. Broadleaved trees usually have wide leaves, which they lose in the winter in order to survive the cold. Some broadleaves, like Holly, have a waxy protection on their leaves which allows them to be evergreen. Broadleaved trees tend to be slower growing than conifers.

Answer 7

Hardwood trees are slow growing. Oak, Ash, Walnut...

Softwood trees grow fast. Elm, Poplar, Cottonwood

Answer 8

I'm no expert, but usually you can tell by the feel of it, oak is a hardwood, versus pine which is very soft. Ash and maple are hardwoods also. Figure whatever is made into a floor, is usually a hardwood.

Answer 9

Softwood dents easily, whereas hardwood can take more of a beating.

Answer 10

Well, for one thing, most soft woods are evergreens (like pine). You can tell by the leaves or needles. (if it HAS needles...it's soft)
You can also get a tree id book at a bookstore.
Obviously, hardwoods include oak, cherry, and most woods used for furniture.

Answer 11

Janka Wood Hardness Rating

The Janka test measures the force required to embed a 11.28 millimeter (0.444 inch) steel ball into wood to half its diameter. It is one of the best measures of the ability of a wood species to withstand denting and wear. It is also a good indicator of how hard a species is to saw or nail.

The hardness of wood usually varies with the direction of the wood grain. If testing is done on the surface of a plank, the test is said to be of "side hardness." Testing the cut surface of a stump would be called a test of "end hardness."

The results are stated in various ways, which can lead to confusion, especially when the name of the actual units employed is often not attached. In the United States, the measurement is in pounds-force (lbf). In Sweden it is in kilograms-force (kgf), and in Australia, either in newtons (N) or kilonewtons (kN). Sometimes the results are treated as units, e.g., "660 Janka."

Douglas Fir, a relatively soft wood, has a Janka hardness rating of 660 lbf. Brazilian cherry, a very hard wood, has a rating of 2350 lbf, while Brazilian Walnut has a hardness rating of 3800 lbf.

A common use of Janka hardness ratings is to determine whether a species is suitable for use as flooring.