Information on Different Wood Types

Hardwood Species

• Hardwoods species such as oak, birch, maple and ash are harvested from mature, slow-growing deciduous trees. These trees grow foliage in the spring and summer and become dormant in winter seasons. The result is exceptionally strong hardwoods that are well suited for furniture and flooring. Hardwoods are also well suited for burning in a fireplace, as they contain high amounts of stored solar energy.
  
  

Faster Growing Soft Woods

• Faster growing pine trees provide the building in the manufacturing industry with woods well suited for construction projects. Fir, hemlock and pine trees are harvested and replanted regularly by industry leaders such as Weyerhauser and Georgia Pacific. Once planted close together, like corn on a farm, these trees grow straight upward, and produce high quantities of dimension lumber needed for the building industry.
  
  

Aromatic Woods

• Some woods are suitable for neither construction trades nor traditional furniture. When aromatic cedar is harvested, the wooden boards are often ground into chips and pressed into and aromatic flake board. This traditionally red and pink softwood gives off a pleasing scent. Flake boards manufactured with aromatic cedar are used to line closets or clothing storage chests to preserve the contents and ward off insects that feed on cloth materials.
  
  

Plywoods, Laminates, Composites

• Plywood and composite chip boards are manufactured woods that are used throughout the building and construction trades. Plywood and composite boards are used for flooring, roof decking and underlayment sheeting. Finish treatments such as carpeting and vinyl flooring are applied over flooring underlayment. Vinyl siding is applied as a finish treatment over composition flakeboard used to wrap the exterior of homes. Smaller lengths of 1-inch or 2-inch-thick soft woods are laminated together into architectural beams. These architectural beams are used to span large open areas and support roofs in large buildings such as churches and auditoriums.
  
  

Exotic Woods

• Exotic and specialty hardwoods are used as attractive detail work for furniture pieces or specialty decorative wood items. Hardwoods such as African mahogany, bloodwood, Purple Heart, bubinga, lacewood or bamboo have unique properties and colors that make them suitable for decorative turned woodcarvings, laminated flooring and other decorative wood projects.