Soft wood

[richardwale]

A pal of mine just sent me this. Reckons a lot of folk in New Zealand make a living out of selling softwood. I quite like the trailer....

[Mike Hill]

Most firewood sold in New Zealand is softwood. Hardwood commands a premium due to its scarcity.

 

Pine is the cheapest,then Dougfir and it goes up from there.Native species are pretty much the only hardwoods and its pretty rare to get any in quantity.

[Billhook]

It seems that the official definition of soft wood is any wood from a coniferous tree and hard wood is any wood from a deciduous tree.

This does not mean that the wood itself is either hard or soft

a quote from the web 

“There are two types of timber, called hardwood and softwood. These names do not refer to the properties of the wood: some softwoods can be hard and some hardwoods can be soft.”

 

so really it is down to educating people on specific types of timber

I would prefer a box full of leylandii to a box full of poplar

As we all should know there are good soft woods and bad hard woods.

Using the definition above I would classify yew as a hard wood since it is bloody hard and it does not produce cones so is not really a conifer although classified as one.

This American list classifies trees into “hard hardwood, soft hardwood, hard softwood and soft softwood.”

https://www.shodor.org/succeedhi/succeedhi/weightree/tableHardSoft.htm

 

laurel seems to be classified as a shrub but i have just taken down some very old laurel trees which are very hard and excellent to burn

So another factor is climate and soil and how quickly the wood has grown, perhaps the slower growth developing harder wood.

 

As has been mentioned before, it is all about ejukashun!  And I am in my sixty fifth year and should be retiring but am still learning, not just a small amount from Arbtalk I might add!

[openspaceman]

38 minutes ago, Billhook said:

Using the definition above I would classify yew as a hard wood since it is bloody hard and it does not produce cones so is not really a conifer although classified as one.

It's a taxad so not conifer, lovely firewood and I wanted to try it for parquet flooring

[richardwale]

Do you mean Taxus?

[richardwale]

It's definitely classed as a conny

[Billhook]

4 minutes ago, richardwale said:

It's definitely classed as a conny

Yes, and confirmed in this link, but I am surprised at why it is classified as a conifer.

 

Anyone tell me why?

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yew

[Gary Prentice]

2 hours ago, Billhook said:

 

It seems that the official definition of soft wood is any wood from a coniferous tree and hard wood is any wood from a deciduous tree

 

Which is still wrong as holm oak and holly would then be classed as softwoods ( non- deciduous) and where would deciduous conifers (larch, swamp cypress & dawn redwood) be? 

[Gary Prentice]

35 minutes ago, Billhook said:

Yes, and confirmed in this link, but I am surprised at why it is classified as a conifer.

 

Anyone tell me why?

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yew

Needles not leaves

[nepia]

To be pedantic softwoods are defined as gymnosperms, not conifers, but nearly all gymnosperms are conifers.  Yew may not be a conifer but it carries its seeds without a carpel, i.e. naked, and is thus a gymnosperm, i.e. a softwood by definition if not by property.

 

Simples.

 

Maybe.