TECNOLOGÍA 2º ESO A/B/C

Softwood  come from trees that have needles and their seeds are contained within their cones. They are usually evergreen. Softwoods grow faster than hardwoods and are mostly softer to work with and less expensive. Softwood trees are classified as coniferous, which means that they are cone bearing and do not loose their leaves during the winter months with the exception of the larch. Hardwoods are slow growing and can take up to 100 years before they reach full maturity. 

Beech, Oak and Ash are commonly found hardwoods but not all hardwood is hard for example Balsa wood is quite soft and easy to work with but because derives from a deciduous trees it technically an hardwood.

                                                                                                           Pine trees as part of a plantation

Softwoods are softer and easier to cut but not as structurally strong as most hardwoods. They tend to grow much faster than hardwoods reaching full maturity within 30 years. The grain is much easier to see than in hardwoods showing as dark lines on a pale background.

Growth

The energy in sunlight is combined with water, minerals and CO2 provide the food that tress use to grow. Each year a new layer of growth occurs just below the bark, the rough outer casing or skin of the tree, producing something called an annual ring in the cross section of the trunk. The new wood cells  that grows are called sapwood because of the hight moisture content and as this ages and moves towards the centre of the tree become less moist and harder and is known as heartwood.

Cross section through a tree trunk                                     Grain structure- pine

Grain is the direction of cell growth within the trunk of the tree and is seen as a distinctive pattern that varies from from species of tree to another.

Softwoods- types and characteristics