Softwood
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Softwood is the wood from conifers. In addition "softwood" is an adjective applied to the trees that produce such wood: softwood trees include pine, spruce, cedar, fir, larch, douglas-fir, hemlock, cypress, redwood and yew.
As the name suggests, the wood of softwoods is softer, on average, than that of hardwoods, but only on average - the wood of yews, for example, is much harder than many hardwoods, as is the wood of Longleaf pine, while Balsa wood (technically a hardwood) is extremely soft.
Softwood and hardwood differ in microscopic structure. The structure of softwood is fairly uniform, with only two types of cells: tracheids and parenchyma cells. Softwood never has vessel elements for water transport, but relies on tracheids.
In general softwood is easy to work: it forms the bulk of wood used by man. Softwood has a huge range of uses: it is a prime material for structural building components, but is also found in furniture and other products such as millwork (mouldings, doors, windows). Softwood is also harvested for use in the production of paper, and for various types of board such as MDF. The finer softwoods find many specialty uses.
[edit] See also
- Hardwood
- List of woods
- United States-Canada softwood lumber dispute
- Secondary xylem
- Engineered wood
- softwood tree
