The Softest Hardwood

For example balsa wood is known as one of the softest and least dense types of wood yet it is categorized as hardwood.

The softest hardwood.

First it is virtually unobtainable and not commercially available outside of its natural range in central south america. On a hardness scale alder ranks just above pine and poplar. Although classified as a hardwood alder is one of the softest of all hardwoods and is more commonly referred to as a semi hardwood. Other soft hardwoods.

The hardest commercially available hardwood is hickory and it is five times harder than aspen one of the soft hardwoods. And while this example lists just some of the most popular hardwood species there are hundreds of varieties representing the north american hardwood population. Because hardness is an important factor and hardness. 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.

Wood is categorized as either softwood or hardwood based on physical structure and makeup. A hardwood named quipo cavanillesia platanifolia is commonly reported as the softest known wood with an alleged janka hardness of 22 lb f 98 n.