Furniture Selection: Hardwood or Softwood
When it comes to wooden furniture, most of you appreciate there are separate types. It is not the hardness of the wood that separates them apart when coming to select your furniture. The absolute dissimilarities is a bit more difficult.
The names hardwood/softwood probably come from logging camps, where it used to be given to wood types dependent on their resistance to sawing. While usually it is correct that most hardwoods are harder than softwoods, there are oddities such as balsa, which is classed as hardwood but is actually softer than any softwood out there.¨
The real comparison is depends the propagation of the trees. Angiosperm seeds, which are seeds with a shell or marrow cover generate hardwood trees, whilst gymnosperm seeds, which have no covering, generate softwood trees. Other features of softwood trees are; they grow more rapidly and they keep their needles/leaves all year, usually known as evergreen trees. More than 80% of the world’s timber generation comes from softwood trees, even though there many more types of hardwood trees available. Mahogany, walnut and ash are the usual trees connected with hardwoods, while cedar, redwood and yew are the trees normally associated with softwoods.
The most meaningful difference comes from the microscopic makeup. Hardwoods have pores which permit water transportation, while softwood is deficient in them. This is the source of difference between hardwood and softwood furniture distinction. Hardwood furniture is mainly thought of to be of higher quality than softwood furniture. Hardwoods produce longer lasting, heavier and durable furniture that is more scratch resistant than its softwood equivalent. Prominent attractive patterns in hardwood make it an attractive acquistition for the discerning buyer.
Softwood does have benefits despite some of the shortcomings. Since softwood trees grow faster, it is cheaper and is also more environmentally friendly because of faster forest renewal. Processing softwood is not as difficult thus costs can be kept down, which passes on a saving to the consumer.
As softwood is a softer wood it can scratch and damage easier, thus, softwood furniture necessitates more care than hardwood. On the other hand, with correct looking after, hardwood furniture can remain for centuries. Did you know, that the seats in your church may have been there for hundreds of years – your great, great grandfather may have sat in the very spot as you.
Unhappily there is an enemy of wood and that is humidity. altering humidity can cause swelling, shrinkage and cracking in porous hardwood. We cover this subject in more detail when we talk about wooden furniture care in one of our upcoming articles.
