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Softwood is a term used in woodworking and the lumber industries for wood from conifers. Well-known softwood-producing trees include pine, spruce, fir, larch, douglas-fir and hemlock. The term softwoods is also used for the trees themselves.
Other than the name suggests, it is not necessarily so that softwood is always softer than hardwood. Douglas fir, a softwood, is harder and stronger than many hardwoods, while balsa, technically a hardwood, is much softer than even most softwoods.1
Perhaps the most noticable difference between softwood and hardwood is found in the microscopic structure of the wood. Softwood contains only two types of cells, tracheids and parenchyma. Thus, softwoods lack the vessel elements for water transport that hardwoods have; these vessels elements manifest in hardwoods as pores. In softwood water transport within the tree is via the tracheids only. Some softwoods, such as pine, spruce, larch, and Douglas fir, have resin canals, which provide transport of resin as a defense against injury.
In general softwood is easy to work: it forms the bulk of wood used by humans. Softwood has a huge range of uses: it is a prime material for structural building components, but can also be used for 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.
References
- ^ Peters, Rick (2000). Woodworker's Guide to Wood. Sterling Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8069-3687-8.