Likewise balsa wood is classified as a hardwood and yet it s one of the least dense and softest types of.
Is balsa wood a hardwood or softwood.
That is hardwood isn t necessarily denser than softwood.
The trees are harvested after six to 10 years of growth.
Although the wood of a balsa tree is soft balsa is a hardwood.
Is the wood balsa a softwood or hardwood.
Yet despite its softness balsa is technically classified as a hardwood rather than a softwood since it has broad leaves and is not a conifer.
This happens to be generally true but there are exceptions such as in the cases of wood from yew trees a softwood that is relatively hard and wood from balsa trees a.
For instance yew wood is classified as a softwood but is considerably tougher than certain hardwoods.
Surprising though it may seem balsa is a hardwood.
Hardwood trees are angiosperms mostly decidous in the northern hemisphere but evergreens in the southern hemisphere while softwoods are conifers.
There are many more types of hardwood trees than there are softwood.
But as the classification of balsa wood demonstrates there is no minimum weight requirement to become a hardwood.
Balsa lumber is very soft and light with a coarse open grain.
Being a deciduous angiosperm balsa is classified as a hardwood despite the wood itself being very soft.
The terms hardwood and softwood don t relate to the weight or density of the wood but to the tree type.
Broad leafed flowering trees are hardwoods.
The hardwood softwood terminology does make some sense.
The actual hardness or density of the wood has little to do with the classification.
In fact balsa is the spanish word for raft.
See wikipedia for more information about balsa.
It is the softest commercial hardwood.
Classifying wood as either a hardwood or softwood comes down to its physical structure and makeup and so it is overly simple to think of hardwoods as being hard and durable compared to soft and workable softwoods.
But the difference between these two types of wood isn t in their name.
Evergreens do tend to be less dense than deciduous trees and therefore easier to cut while most hardwoods tend to be more dense and therefore sturdier.
The name balsa comes from the spanish word for raft.