Is Fir Considered A Hardwood

Softwood comes from a conifer cone bearing or evergreen trees such as pine or spruce.

Is fir considered a hardwood.

Cedar douglas fir pine spruce redwood and more. Nordmann fir noble fir fraser fir and balsam fir are popular christmas trees generally considered to be the best for this purpose. Most softwoods have a lower density than most hardwoods. It is an incredibly valuable commercial timber widely used in construction and building purposes.

Note softwood plywood which has a face and back veneer of top grades of softwood such as fir vertical grain clear pine cedar or knotty pine may also be considered hardwood plywood s as they are used for decorative purposes. Softwood plywood is usually made from softwood such as cedar douglas fir or spruce pine fir or redwood and is typically used for construction and industrial purposes. The tree itself grows to be very large and yields a large amount of usable lumber and veneer for plywood. Ash is a white to pale brown wood with a straight grain.

Softwood is typically less expensive compared to hardwood. Deciduous angiosperms like oak are hardwoods while gymnosperms like spruce are softwoods. The janka rating for red oak the softer of the two oaks is 1 220 pounds force while that for douglas fir is only 620 which is a little more than half. Hardwood is typically more expensive than softwood.

Plywood is a type of manufactured wood panel. Balsa is a hardwood but its wood is so soft and lightweight that it s most commonly used for making model airplanes. When it comes to general strength oak is also the winner but fir is more workable. Most hardwood trees are deciduous trees which lose their leaves annually like elm or maple.

Following is a list of common hardwoods and their characteristics. Douglas fir is moderately strong and hard for a softwood rating 4 on a scale of 1 to 4. Examples of softwood trees are cedar douglas fir juniper pine redwood spruce and yew. The texture and density of the wood a tree produces puts it in either the hardwood or softwood category.

It s pretty easy to work with. Check out the national hardwood lumber association for ways to support sustainable forestry. Most hardwoods have a higher density than most softwoods. According to the university of tennessee agricultural extension service woods are classified as hardwood or softwood not based on their durability but based on the type of tree and the structure of its wood.

However douglas fir which is a gymnosperm or softwood is actually harder than chestnut an angiosperm that most people would call a hardwood. Fir wood left outside cannot be expected to last more than 12 to 18 months depending on the type of climate it is exposed to. It is made by gluing together plywood layers also called veneers.