Difference Between Hardwood and Softwood

The difference between softwoods and hardwoods comes down to the type of tree they’re harvested from. Softwoods come from conifer trees, which produce cones and have needles. Some common types of softwood trees include fir, redwood, pine, cedar and spruce.

Hardwood

Hardwood comes from deciduous, broad-leaved trees. These trees such as ash, oak, maple, walnut, and birch are slow-growing trees, and this creates a hard type of timber. Because hardwood trees take longer to grow, their timber is denser and more durable. This makes many types of hardwood more expensive than softwood.

Softwood

Softwood types come from conifers such as fir, pine, spruce, and cedar. These are straight, tall, fast-growing trees which make their wood perfect for many joinery applications. Although they are classed as softwoods, some of them are not weaker than hardwoods. Softwood such as pine is cheaper than most hardwoods, but it is less durable.

It should be noted that bamboo and palm are considered hardwoods, but they aren’t deciduous trees. They come from plants called monocotyledons, but still share many similarities with other hardwoods.

Choose From a Wide Range of Wood Types

If you want your project to last long and to pop, you need us to use good-quality material. Throughout history, people have prized wood for its natural qualities as furniture-making material. For example, a simple wooden bed may have been the earliest form of furniture in ancient Egypt.

Choosing the best wood for furniture mainly depends on personal preference. Each type of wood offers unique qualities and variations of color and grain. So, for example, if you want a coffee table for a log cabin, you might choose a table made of pine. If you want a Mission style coffee table for an Arts and Crafts bungalow, you might choose stained oak to match the color scheme. However, woodworkers also consider factors such as function, furniture-making techniques and availability when choosing wood for furniture.

At Master Control’s Workshop, we offer a wide range of wood types you can choose from. We stock woods of the following kinds: