Unsplit wood vs Split wood

[smokinj]

Ok question why is silver maple refer to as soft maple?

Hence why the term "hardwood" or "softwood" is misleading.

lol yep I know even the cabinet makers look at it different than we do!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Jay, while most of us do refer to those as softwoods, they are still hardwoods. Any tree that drops its leaf is a hardwood. And yes, tulip poplar is still hardwood.

Ok question why is silver maple refer to as soft maple?

For the same reason that red maple is referred to as soft maple. It is still a hardwood though.

Actually this is important for those new wood burners as they most times do not have knowledge of the different woods and how they burn. They might buy what the wood seller says is hardwood and assume they have the best wood available when in truth, it might indeed be poplar or something similar. The wood seller was not wrong...but this can certainly be misleading to people. Therefore, to know the true difference between hardwood and softwood is important.

 

[smokinj]

Jay, while most of us do refer to those as softwoods, they are still hardwoods. Any tree that drops its leaf is a hardwood. And yes, tulip poplar is still hardwood.

Ok question why is silver maple refer to as soft maple?

For the same reason that red maple is referred to as soft maple. It is still a hardwood though.

Actually this is important for those new wood burners as they most times do not have knowledge of the different woods and how they burn. They might buy what the wood seller says is hardwood and assume they have the best wood available when in truth, it might indeed be poplar or something similar. The wood seller was not wrong...but this can certainly be misleading to people. Therefore, to know the true difference between hardwood and softwood is important.

Yep, I have split some silver maple rounds and look at MMAUL and say now there some softwood for you! lol sounds like a shot gun going off and breaking and twisting metal on the spliter, all you want to do is get as far from the spliter as possiable and that arm length. (helmets and chaps on!)

 

[fossil]

We (lay woodburners) tend to use the terms hardwood and softwood rather sloppily, but quite literally. In fact, the terms are scientifically defined based on two distinct types of internal structure of trees. A botanist knows, for example, that Balsa is a hardwood. A botanist also knows that the old "leaves = hardwood, cones = softwood", or Deciduous = hardwood, Evergreen = softwood" don't always work in the real world of plant classification. Rick

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardwood

 

[firefighterjake]

I've always used hardwoods to mean hardwoods (deciduous). . . and softwoods to mean softwoods (evergreens) . . . which applies for most trees most of the time. That said, when necessary I will describe trees such as poplar or basswood as soft hardwoods.

 

[CJRages]

Here's one for you:

Some softwoods are harder (more dense) than some hardwoods and vice-versa.

 

[midwestcoast]

Growing up, we always used the Birch Scale to classify hardwoods vs soft; ie harder than Birch = hardwood. softer = softwood. ;-)
I actually thought that was how they were classified, and have since learned that the actual defenition is such that it's a virtually useless term for woodburning purposes (as noted by fossil & CJR) kinda like Rick & Face Cord.
The reason for the Birch scale was just that we had a 15 acre bush full of Sugar Maple (~75%), Ash, Hickory, Beech, Black Cherry, Red Oak, Shagbark Hickory, Birch & Basswood, so we had no need to burn anything softer than Birch. We rarely burned anything from the Fencerows (mainly Manitoba Maple), the 20 acre red pine plantation or the 5 acre cedar wetland.
If anyone tried to sell me Basswood or similar as hardwood I'd be pretty pissed even if it's technically correct.