Is Red Pine A Hardwood Or Softwood

Pine is not a hardwood.

Is red pine a hardwood or softwood. The wood of the longleaf pine tree is harder than that of most hardwood trees. Softwood is a common term given to pine trees and other conifers. Softwoods grow much quicker than hardwoods and are less dense. Red pine is a slow growing native tree found mainly in eastern canada.

Popular softwoods include spruce douglas fir red pine cedar cypress and larch. One pound of dense hardwood will have about the same amount of energy as one pound of light softwood. Red pine is readily treated with preservatives and can thereafter be used in exterior applications such as posts or utility poles. A cord of the more dense wood will have more energy than a cord of less dense softwood.

Glues and finishes well though excess resin can sometimes cause problems with its paint holding ability. From angiosperm or flowering plants such as oak maple or walnut that are not monocots the hardwood is formed by these while from gymnosperm trees usually evergreen conifers like pine or spruce the softwood is formed. Red pine may be strong and stiff but as a softwood it s not hard. Hardwood typically comes from deciduous trees which lose their leaves annually where softwood is usually cut from conifer trees such as pine which typically maintain their color all year.

The difference in energy content is in the woods density. This happens to be generally true but there are exceptions such as in the cases of wood from yew trees a softwood that is relatively hard and wood from balsa trees a. In homogeneous stands often in plantations or in mixed natural stands in association with white pine or jack pine it can reach diameters up to 60 cm and heights of 25 m. It comes from a coniferous tree which is one that has needles instead of leaves and is green all year round in other words an evergreen the wood from conifers is classified as softwood because with a few exceptions it s softer than the wood from deciduous trees which is classified as hardwood.

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. Evergreens and conifers are softwoods and are easily identified by their distinctive needles and that good old pine aroma. Red pine is easy to work with both hand and machine tools. If you have worked white pine expect more pitch in red.

The btu in a cord of firewood is usually close to the same per pound between species. So you can work it with either hand or power tools.