{"id":1427,"date":"2014-07-08T09:55:51","date_gmt":"2014-07-08T08:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/?p=1427"},"modified":"2022-11-09T09:49:26","modified_gmt":"2022-11-09T09:49:26","slug":"confused-everything-you-need-to-know-about-wood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/confused-everything-you-need-to-know-about-wood\/","title":{"rendered":"Confused? Everything You Need to Know About Wood!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Most decent pieces of furniture are made of solid wood. The type of wood used is what gives the piece its personality and beauty as well as solidity and strength. If you&#8217;re into woodwork, or you fancy giving it a go, you&#8217;ll find this post interesting. \n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">\nWood Finishes Direct<\/a> thought it&#8217;d be handy to take a look at a bunch of commonly-used softwoods and hardwoods, delve into their unique properties and research where to find them.<\/p>\n<h2>Softwoods and hardwoods &#8211; What&#8217;s the difference?<\/h2>\n<p>First, before we go into detail about specific tree types, why are they classified as either\u00a0&#8216;soft&#8217; wood\u00a0or &#8216;hard&#8217; wood? What&#8217;s the difference?<\/p>\n<p><!--\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1444\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"558\"]<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1444 \" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/softwood_resource.jpg\" alt=\"Softwood\" width=\"558\" height=\"388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/softwood_resource.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/softwood_resource-300x208.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 558px) 100vw, 558px\" \/> Softwood - Renewable Resource[\/caption]\n\n--><\/p>\n<p>It isn&#8217;t about strength. Soft and hard woods are both very strong,\u00a0soft woods aren&#8217;t the least bit weak.\u00a0Soft\u00a0woods come from coniferous trees,\u00a0i.e. trees with cones,\u00a0including\u00a0cedar, fir and pine. They often have a red or yellow tinge and because they naturally grow straight and fast instead of curvy and slow, they&#8217;re usually cheaper than hard woods and are generally more sustainable. Which means you&#8217;re not contributing to deforestation by using them or buying furniture and flooring made from them.<\/p>\n<p>Hard woods are loved by woodworkers because of their gorgeous colours, beautiful grain patterns and exciting textures. The only down side is the cost. Because hard wood trees grow so slowly, some exotic species are far too costly to use anywhere except in\u00a0fine detailed work, veneers, inlays and\u00a0fancy\u00a0decorative finishes. If you want to work with a hard wood, make sure it comes from a sustainable source. Alternatively, you can always find a piece\u00a0of old, non-antique hard wood furniture to take apart and re-purpose.<\/p>\n<h3>Common soft woods<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Cedar <\/strong>tends to be\u00a0reddish in colour\u00a0and it&#8217;s a relatively soft wood. It smells lovely, like freshly cut pine, has a nice, straight grain and is usually used outdoors. Cedar shingles are used to roof buildings in the USA more often than here &#8211; think of a mountain log cabin with cedar shingles and you get the picture &#8211;\u00a0and it&#8217;s also useful for\u00a0furniture, decking and\u00a0other exterior woodwork projects. Cedar is great at resisting rot and is used widely in damp environments as a result. As well as being very beautiful,\u00a0it is relatively inexpensive.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fir\u00a0<\/strong>also has a straight grain like cedar, and is also reddish in colour. It&#8217;s a relatively cheap wood\u00a0often used for building and isn&#8217;t great for furniture, because its grain is a bit boring and dull, and it doesn&#8217;t take wood stain very well. It does, however, take paint perfectly.\u00a0For a soft wood it&#8217;s relatively strong and hard.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pine<\/strong>\u00a0is the name used for all manner of trees,\u00a0many of which are commonest in the USA. There&#8217;s the wonderfully named\u00a0Ponderosa pine, for example,\u00a0plus yellow pine and\u00a0sugar pine, in the UK usually just labelled &#8216;pine&#8217;. It&#8217;s ridiculously easy to work with, very soft,\u00a0really good for carving and perfect for furniture. And it takes wood\u00a0stain\u00a0well, provided you seal it\u00a0first.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Redwood<\/strong> is resistant to damp and is often used outdoors. It&#8217;s fairly soft with a clear, straight grain, so not the most interesting wood to look at. As you&#8217;d imagine, it has a red tint to it. It&#8217;s cheaper in the USA, where California Redwood comes from, and more expensive in Britain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1448\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"540\"]\n<a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/giant-redwoods.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1448 \" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/giant-redwoods.jpg\" alt=\"Giant Redwoods\" width=\"540\" height=\"405\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/giant-redwoods.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/giant-redwoods-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/a> Giant Redwood Forest[\/caption]\n\n--><\/p>\n<h3>Common hard woods<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ash<\/strong> might not be a common hard wood for much longer, bearing in mind the ravages of Ash Dieback Disease. But for the moment it&#8217;s still available, a stunning\u00a0white to pale brown wood with a pretty, straight grain. It&#8217;s relatively soft and easy to work with, taking stain reasonably well. If you can&#8217;t find white oak, ash is a great substitute.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Birch<\/strong> has two faces, either\u00a0yellow or\u00a0white. The yellow variety is a lovely\u00a0pale yellow\/white with a heart &#8211; the centre of the tree &#8211; of reddish brown. White birch is paler still. They&#8217;re both quite hard and, as a rule, are\u00a0often cheaper than many\u00a0hard woods. Ash is\u00a0great for furniture, stable and easy to work with, but staining can be\u00a0tricky because it can easily go blotchy. On the other hand it\u00a0takes paint really well.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cherry<\/strong> is easy to work with, perfect for furniture\u00a0and accepts wood\u00a0stains well. It looks great finished with a \n<a href=\"\/product-type\/oils\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\nwood\u00a0oil<\/a>. The heart is reddish and the outer part, known as the sap wood, is very pale, almost white. It&#8217;s less hard than birch and is readily available from sustainable sources. It tends to be more expensive than many other hardwoods, simply because it&#8217;s in greater demand.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mahogany<\/strong> is probably the most famous furniture wood. Brown to deep red in colour with a straight grain,\u00a0it&#8217;s less hard than birch. It accepts\u00a0wood stain beautifully and appreciates a wood\u00a0oil finish. \u00a0You may need several coats of oil but the end\u00a0result is awesome, well worth the effort.\u00a0One thing to remember &#8211; the wood is rarely\u00a0available from sustainable sources, so buying new mahogany\u00a0is down\u00a0to your conscience. Luckily you can sometimes\u00a0buy used mahogany from\u00a0wood reclamation yards.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Maple<\/strong> can be either a hard wood or soft wood, and the hard version is so hard it&#8217;s tricky to work with. The softer type of maple is fairly easy to work with in comparison, and because both have such a lovely fine, straight grain pattern they&#8217;re both\u00a0very stable, more so than many other woods. Maple is relatively cheap, too.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Oak<\/strong> comes in red and white and is probably one of the world&#8217;s most popular woods for furniture and hardwood flooring.\u00a0It&#8217;s strong, hard and easy to work with. The white variety is the woodworkers&#8217; favourite because the ray-like patterns in the grain are so attractive.\u00a0It&#8217;s moisture resistant so is often used for garden furniture.\u00a0And white oak\u00a0costs less than many hard woods.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Poplar<\/strong> is another relatively low-cost hardwood, quite soft and easy to work with. It&#8217;s usually very pale, more or less white, with greenish or brown streaks\u00a0at the heart. The resulting strange and not entirely attractive pattern makes it less popular for furniture than oak so it isn&#8217;t\u00a0used to make\u00a0fine furniture very often. But it&#8217;s great for the inside of drawers, stable and cheap. It takes paint really well, much better than it accepts a wood stain. People often use it to make bowls, toys and small craft items.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Teak<\/strong> is getting rarer but is still popular for good quality outdoor furniture. It&#8217;s extremely weather-resistant and very\u00a0beautiful, as well as costly. It&#8217;s golden brown with an exotic, oily texture and is a medium-hard wood.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Walnut<\/strong> is extremely\u00a0hard, a rich, deep brown colour and easy to work with. Sadly it&#8217;s expensive and relatively rare. These days craftsmen use it for fancy stuff like inlays.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1445\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"540\"]<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1445 \" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/hardwood-flooring-installed.jpg\" alt=\"Hardwood Flooring\" width=\"540\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/hardwood-flooring-installed.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/hardwood-flooring-installed-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/> Beautiful Hardwood Flooring[\/caption]\n\n--><\/p>\n<h3>Where can I buy exotic hardwoods?<\/h3>\n<p>Rainforest deforestation in particular and deforestation in general is a no-no these days, and sustainable woods are used more often as a result. Luckily there are plenty of wood reclamation and architectural reclamation yards springing up all over Britain as the trend for re-purposing and recycling heats up. It&#8217;s amazing what you can find, everything from wonderful old oak\u00a0railway sleepers to the pillars from old beach groynes and chunks of exotic woods like Sapele, which is the most stunning conker red colour and a joy to carve by hand.<\/p>\n<p>If you need new hardwood, you could try \n<a title=\"British Hardwoods\" href=\"http:\/\/www.britishhardwoods.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">\nBritish Hardwoods<\/a>, a leading\u00a0UK supplier of everything from timber to specialist planed hardwoods. You can even buy online.\u00a0Softwoods are much more easily available &#8211;\u00a0try your local timber merchant.<\/p>\n<h3>Amazing wood bargains for craft, furniture\u00a0and woodwork projects<\/h3>\n<p><!--\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1442\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"540\"]<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1442 \" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/sapele-carving.jpg\" alt=\"Sapele Wood Carving\" width=\"540\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/sapele-carving.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/sapele-carving-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/> Sapele Wood Carving[\/caption]\n\n--><\/p>\n<p>I found a lovely piece of Sapele, which I used for my first ever wood carving, inspired by seabirds. The wood\u00a0only cost a fiver! At the same Brighton wood recycling yard we found a huge, silvery, worn\u00a0mahogany block, about eight feet by two by two. They cut it into four chunks for us, which have been out in the garden for five years or more, and are still good as new and perfect for outdoor\u00a0seating. The cost?\u00a0\u00a370.\u00a0It just goes to show, if you&#8217;re dying to have a go at wood carving or woodwork, it needn&#8217;t cost a fortune.<\/p>\n<h3>Any questions?<\/h3>\n<p>We have a huge range of wood oils and stains to help you transform your next\u00a0woodwork project and bring it into a state of sheer perfection. If you have any questions about which wood finish is best for the type of wood you have, just \n<a href=\"\/contact-us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\ngive our resident experts a call<\/a>, they&#8217;ll be happy to help!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most decent pieces of furniture are made of solid wood. The type of wood used is what gives the piece its personality and beauty as well as solidity and strength. If you&#8217;re into woodwork, or you fancy giving it a go, you&#8217;ll find this post interesting. Wood Finishes Direct thought it&#8217;d be handy to take [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[296],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to-guides"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Confused? Everything You Need to Know About Wood! - Wood Finishes Direct<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Are you poised to take on a new woodwork project or about to begin your first? Here&#039;s a post about softwoods and hardwoods, and what they&#039;re best for.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/confused-everything-you-need-to-know-about-wood\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Confused? Everything You Need to Know About Wood! - Wood Finishes Direct\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Are you poised to take on a new woodwork project or about to begin your first? Here&#039;s a post about softwoods and hardwoods, and what they&#039;re best for.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/confused-everything-you-need-to-know-about-wood\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wood Finishes Direct\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/woodfinishesdirect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-08T08:55:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-09T09:49:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Beautiful-wood-th.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tim Hagger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tim Hagger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/confused-everything-you-need-to-know-about-wood\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/confused-everything-you-need-to-know-about-wood\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tim Hagger\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5dc6c4256da3be949a8c3d5c93988512\"},\"headline\":\"Confused? 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