Softwood Materials Examples

One of the botanical groups of trees that in most cases have needle like or scale like leaves.

Softwood materials examples. Softwood comes mainly from northern europe north america russia japan and new zealand although it is commonly found in most temperate regions. Softwood species are coniferous trees usually produced in plantations. Gcse product design and resistant materials softwood revision information and questions. Examples of hardwood trees include alder balsa beech hickory mahogany maple oak teak and walnut.

The conifers such as pines firs and redwoods contrasted with the hardwood or deciduous trees. Softwood is typically used in construction as structural carcassing timber as well as finishing timber. The quotient is therefore greater between for example the average material strength of wood and allowable working stress in comparison with other construction materials. Softwood is the source of about 80 of the world s production of timber with traditional centres of production being the baltic region including scandinavia and russia north america and china.

The hardwood softwood distinction is a general designation and does not literally refer to the hardness of the wood since some conifers have harder wood than certain hardwoods. For example swietena mahagony south american mahogany and african mahogany are all marketed as mahogany but their properties can be quite different. About 80 of all timber comes from softwood. Softwood refers to lumber that has been cut from a coniferous or an evergreen tree.

Also wood names can be misleading. Do note a wood s heartwood is harder than its sapwood. It is quite strong and is used for common joinery ladder and step making and some panelling work. Softwoods come from evergreen and conifer trees such as pine cedar or spruce.

Softwoods are frequently used as building materials. Because softwood comes from fast growing trees it has a good sustainability profile in terms of land use. The other class of wood is hardwood which comes from angiosperms such as walnut hickory or maple. There are various examples of softwood trees some of which include the juniper yew spruce pine douglas fir redwood and cedar.

A good utility softwood uniformly textured and available in long wide boards. Gymnosperm trees which normally have cones and needles usually produce softwoods. Hemlock is easy to work but has little grain character. Wood is the construction material with the oldest heritage in sweden.

Here is a list of common hardwoods and softwoods used in the crafting of furniture.