What is the easiest why to tell between a hard wood and soft wood before you cut the tree down?? Do they have differant types of bark? Any ideas to help me learn how to tell would be great.
Kelly
Kelly
wood types
- Thread starter kdiman
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil. -
Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here
- Status
Best to start learning by identifying the tree. Look at its shape, location, size bark and the leaves.
http://www.oplin.lib.oh.us/tree/
http://www.oplin.lib.oh.us/tree/
Agreed, learning the skill to identify trees, at least roughly, is the main thing. You don't have to learn them with the skill that a forestry biologist would need, but at least know the general idea - for instance there are several different varieties of oak trees; you don't really need to learn how to tell them all apart, but you should be able to tell an oak from a maple or a pine tree...
Especially learn the dominant tree types in your local area. There are differences in what trees are found in different areas, and you don't need to "waste" time on tree types that aren't present where you'll be getting wood.
That said, the first and easiest rough difference between hard and soft woods is between "conifers" or "evergreens" such as pines, that have needles rather than leaves, and keep their needles all year long; and "deciduous" or trees that have leaves, but shed them each fall. In general, though with lots of exceptions, conifers tend to be softwoods, while hardwoods tend to be deciduous.
The other thing that is perhaps more useful to wood burners is to look at one of the many lists of "burning characteristics of wood" that ranks trees by their desirability as firewood. You will find the lists vary some, so don't worry about the exact order, but get a feel for how your local trees (which you need to be able to recognize) rate in general - top of the list, middle or bottom...
In addition to tree recognition, if you are going to be stomping around in the woods, you need to learn how to recognize hazardous plants like poison ivy, as well as any particularly problematic critters (snakes, skunks, etc) in the area...
Gooserider
Especially learn the dominant tree types in your local area. There are differences in what trees are found in different areas, and you don't need to "waste" time on tree types that aren't present where you'll be getting wood.
That said, the first and easiest rough difference between hard and soft woods is between "conifers" or "evergreens" such as pines, that have needles rather than leaves, and keep their needles all year long; and "deciduous" or trees that have leaves, but shed them each fall. In general, though with lots of exceptions, conifers tend to be softwoods, while hardwoods tend to be deciduous.
The other thing that is perhaps more useful to wood burners is to look at one of the many lists of "burning characteristics of wood" that ranks trees by their desirability as firewood. You will find the lists vary some, so don't worry about the exact order, but get a feel for how your local trees (which you need to be able to recognize) rate in general - top of the list, middle or bottom...
In addition to tree recognition, if you are going to be stomping around in the woods, you need to learn how to recognize hazardous plants like poison ivy, as well as any particularly problematic critters (snakes, skunks, etc) in the area...
Gooserider
In my best Monty Python voice -- The Larch, aka tamarack
And according to MSG, spruce grown at high altitudes grows slowly and is very dense.
And according to MSG, spruce grown at high altitudes grows slowly and is very dense.
Larch may be dense, Ponderosa Pine may be dense, my neighbor is defiantly dense but none of the three are hardwoods.
I think BB is right. Ain't no cone-bearing hardwoods. If it has leaves (vs needles) then it's always a hardwood, no matter how hard or soft the actual wood.
I think BG's hanging up on the fact that larch/tamarack is one of the few conifers that loses all its needles in the winter.
I think BG's hanging up on the fact that larch/tamarack is one of the few conifers that loses all its needles in the winter.
Hmm, it is considered so out here, but that's relative. Next to the stout woods of the east it is on the low end of the scale. Specific gravity of the wood is about .5 which is on the low end of hardwoods, but still in the range of big leaf maple, magnolia, box elder and Honduras mahogany and above that of alder or poplar. The colonists and Brits used it extensively alongside oak for ship building.
Pinon pine falls and desert juniper can fall in this range too.
Pinon pine falls and desert juniper can fall in this range too.
The point is that "hardwood" and "softwood" are specific terms that differentiate between conifers and deciduous trees. They're not open to interpretation. If you buy "hardwood" flooring, you know you're going to get oak or maple or cherry or walnut or some other leaf-bearing species. There are many softwoods that are harder, denser, heavier than some hardwoods. But they're still softwood.
Well, I tend to look at wood more from the standpoint of it's physical properties when talking about hardwood / softwood, and it's biological properties when talking conifer / deciduous - That was the sense in which I meant that there are lots of exceptions... There are some evergreen's that have fairly hard wood, while OTOH BALSA, while not native to North America, is classed as a "hardwood".
More importantly from the standpoint of the Hearth, we tend to have this mental map that "hardwood = good fuel" and "softwood = poor fuel" - and the list of exceptions to that is lengthy, as there are some good (or at least reasonably good) burning evergreens, but LOTS of poor burning "hardwoods" - see the current thread on cottonwood for instance...
Gooserider
More importantly from the standpoint of the Hearth, we tend to have this mental map that "hardwood = good fuel" and "softwood = poor fuel" - and the list of exceptions to that is lengthy, as there are some good (or at least reasonably good) burning evergreens, but LOTS of poor burning "hardwoods" - see the current thread on cottonwood for instance...
Gooserider
I'm not debating the value of your point, which is quite valid. What I am saying is that the terms "hardwood" and "softwood" are already taken. In the forest products industry and building trades they have very specific meanings and refer to specific types of wood. Just because a certain type of bourbon may taste like scotch, it's not actually scotch, and it would be incorrect to give it that label.
Maybe we should start referring to "dense" or "high btu" or "good burning" types of wood when trying to describe their desirability as firewood. The hardwood/softwood distinction works pretty well east of the Mississippi, where hardwoods tend to be denser than softwoods, but BG is probably right that it's confusing when you get into the heart of the West.
Maybe we should start referring to "dense" or "high btu" or "good burning" types of wood when trying to describe their desirability as firewood. The hardwood/softwood distinction works pretty well east of the Mississippi, where hardwoods tend to be denser than softwoods, but BG is probably right that it's confusing when you get into the heart of the West.
Right you are master of woods. It's a real head twister to think that balsa is considered a hardwood, but by definition it is.
- Status
Similar threads
