thanks for the info!!! good read for sure. I'm prolly wrong, I just based my definition off of firewood and btu's, not so much off pesky things like "facts" LOL!!! JK!!! thanks for the link!!
Don't let it bother you. Most people typically divide hard and soft wood regardless of the scientific definition. For example, we have hard maple and soft maple. And yes, bass is considered a soft wood. True, if the tree drops leaf, technically it is hardwood, but so be it. We'll still call things like bass, cottonwood, popple, etc, soft wood.
I'm with Dennis. I love science in all it's wonderfullness, as a biology minor/ major. With the case of hardwood vs softwood it's really not about whether it's a gymnosperm or an angiosperm, it's about the density of the wood. The more dense, the more btus. Also, if it's a hardwood, it's better for flooring rather than a softwood. Not all deciduous trees ( leave droppers) are hardwoods, just like not all conifers hold onto their needles over winter. Basswood, like poplar and most pines are softwood. Larch, or tamarack drop their needles every year and are a deciduous conifer.
I'm with you!! I completely respect science. but btu's are my main concern. one thing that always confused me about flooring was the fact that oak has more btu's than cherry. oak flooring is harder to cut and just feels heavier and denser than cherry flooring, and oak growth rings are closer together (usually). however cherry floors are harder. I can drop a hammer on a cherry floor and it wont leave a mark, where oak floors if I drop the end of an air hose on it. it leaves a mark.
Not to derail this... Horkn but would this mean that if you tried to make flooring from say straight Doug fir, it would be more likely to split and crack? Probably another question for a different thread but it would be best if flooring were from old growth trees rather than new? I have a tiny section of tongue and groove floor made from what I believe is cedar and believe it or not, looks like a 4 inch section of it is over 125 years. Definitely has some heft to it despite being a 5x4 piece.
Sounds like this has to do with the wood cell structure. I cut some oak 4x4’s and i’ll look at the cross section to confirm oak, oak has much more “air”spaces in the cell structure than cherry. Never actually seen any spaces in cherry cross-sectionally from naked eye so I’m gathering that is one of the reasons why oak can dent so easily. Its like bamboo, you have a ridgid structure in the form of a tube but if it gets whacked right, the tube will crack at the point of pressure.
don't worry about any derail. some of the best reads have been derails. very interesting input. I'm sure you know trees grow all year long. the thin little rings are where the tree grows in the winter. which is also the hardest part of the wood. so that piece of floor will likely outlast the rest of the floor. now we just gotta change the rest of the floor. LOL JK!!
I was taught like Dennis, there were hard woods that were referred to as hard and soft. Red maple was soft and sugar maple was hard for example. My dad still refers to popular as a soft wood and is amazed they sell it in the hardwood section.. Coniferus trees were labeled pine, not many good ones in north east. Type did not matter until Christmas when some one wanted a blue spruce.. Until I joined FHC, I knew no one that put pine in a woodstove. I have traveled out west, its what is out there.. Never really thought about it. Felter I would call that basswood. It is great spring and fall!
I really don't do any woodworking. The closest I do is occasionally at best. So I'll defer to those that work with it more often.
