Wood

Types and Usage

There are mainly two types of wood: Softwood and Hardwood

Softwood:

It comes from the coniferous trees. These trees are also known as evergreen trees and leaves of trees do not fall till the new one is grown. There are different types of softwood which are given below:

1. Pine: Pine is a soft, white or light yellow wood which is light in weight, straight grained. It is used in all kind of furniture, both indoor as well as outdoor.

2. Ash: Ash is a hard, heavy, ring porous wood. Ash is widely used for structural frames and steam bent furniture pieces.

3. Beech: Beech is a hard, strong and heavy wood with tiny pores. Beech is often used for frames, a variety of bent and turned parts. Quarter sliced and half round cut beech veneers are commonly used.

4. Cedar: Cedar is knotty softwood which has a red-brown colour with light streaks. It is a popular wood for lining drawers, chests and boxes.

5. Fir: It works easy and finishes well. It is used for furniture, doors, frames, windows, plywood, veneer, general millwork and interior trim.

6. Spruce: Spruce is strong and hard. It is used for masts and spars for ships, aircraft, crates, boxes, general millwork and ladders.

7. Hemlock: It is light in weight, uniformly textured. It is used in the construction of lumber, planks, doors, boards, sub flooring and crates.

Hardwood:

Hardwood is a deciduous tree that has broad leaves, produce a fruit or nut and generally inactive in the winter. Here we give you different types of hardwood:

1. Teakwood: Teakwood is the most popular type of hardwood. It is an excellent choice for outdoor furniture like garden benches and lounge chairs.

2. Rosewood or Shisham: Rosewood is very hard and has a dark reddish brown colour. Used in musical instruments, piano cases, tool handles, art projects, veneers and furniture.

3. Oak: Oak is the most widely used hardwood. It is an excellent choice for furniture like bookshelves and cabinets, apart from outdoor furniture.

4. Maple: Maple wood has a fine texture and great strength. It is extensively used in furniture like console tables, wall shelves and bedside tables.

5. Mango: Mango is dense and strong hardwood which comes with a distinctly attractive grain pattern. It is best used for windows, doors, living room and bedroom furniture, nesting tables, kitchen cabinets, entertainment units and bookshelves.

6. Mahogany: Mahogany is also known as Honduras mahogany. It most commonly used in fashioning cabinets, nested tables, dining table sets and other kinds of home furniture.

7. Cherry: It is sometimes called fruitwood. It is light to red-brown in colour, hard, strong, warp resistant, closed grained wood. It works well when used for decorative carving and for making solid furniture like cabinets, shelves and tables.

8. Walnut: Walnut is one of the most versatile and popular wood types with a very fine texture. It is an ideal wood choice for crafting dining table sets, coffee tables, etc.