Pine is abundant, inexpensive, and one of the go-to options of seasoned woodworkers, but what kind of wood is it? Understanding hardwood and softwood literally is an oversimplification and can be detrimental to your project’s construction.
So, to help you make an informed decision, this article will thoroughly discuss if pine is a hardwood or a softwood and more.
Hardwood and Softwood Comparison: Key Considerations
It is careless to say that you can tell hardwood and softwood apart solely because of their texture.
Not all hardwoods are necessarily hard, and not all softwoods are automatically soft. For instance, yew is classified as a softwood despite its tough exterior, while hardwood balsa exhibits the opposite characteristics. Below are some methods to distinguish between the two:
- Hardwoods are from angiosperm trees. These have broad leaves that seasonally change colors and are usually flowering trees.
- Softwoods come from gymnosperm trees. These trees bear no fruit and are usually evergreen conifers.
- Under a microscope, hardwoods show vessels and appear as pores. Meanwhile, softwoods under a microscope show tracheids and present no pores.
- Softwoods are less expensive because they grow rapidly; hardwoods are harder to harvest and more expensive.
- Hardwoods are the usual choice for anything high-end and are built to last.
- Softwoods are used for timber, and many are used for windows, doors, paper, and engineered wood materials like MDF.
- Hardwoods include oak, Balsa, beech, maple, walnut, mahogany, and teak
- Softwoods include pine and spruce variants, cedar, juniper, and yew
After reading the key comparisons above, you might have the answer on whether pine is a hardwood or a softwood.
Simply put, pine is a softwood because it produces needles and cones, it is an evergreen, it does not have leaves, and its wood component has tracheids and no visible pores under a microscope.
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Wood Hardness Explained
The Janka scale [1] is a simple test to determine the wood hardness. It is done by pushing a hydraulic press and a half-inch steel ball against the tested wood. The force reinforced in this test is the wood’s hardness measurement.
To give you a glimpse of the common wood’s rating against the Janka scale, Balsa ranks at the bottom at 100 lbs, although it is a hardwood. Meanwhile, the lignum vitae, a tropical wood, is at the top with a Janka score of 4500 lbs, making it non-buoyant.
Pines usually have a Janka score between 300 and 1000 lbs. The most common eastern white pine scores 380 lbs, sugar pine at 380 lbs, and western white pine at 420 lbs. Other variants like Ponderosa pine stands at 460lbs, while the Jackpine measures at 570 lbs.
Why Pine Still Remains a Top Choice
Veteran woodworkers still go for pine when it comes to interior moldings, baseboards, decking boards, floorboards, and other furniture. This is because pine is:
Easily Available
Pine has many variants and is readily available in most regions. It easily thrives in most elevations and climates and is more common in the Eastern part of North America. It has a fast harvest rate which makes it inexpensive.
Easy to Utilize
Pine is easy to work with. Because it is not hardwood, expert woodworkers can efficiently cut and work with it. It is then chemically treated to increase its durability, so it does not easily succumb to rot, warping, and insects. Because of these factors, pine is an excellent wood for raised garden boxes.
Pleasant Appearance
If you wish to achieve the rustic-vibe wood furniture has to offer, pine will not fail you. It has an open grain and various colors, from ivory white to burnt sienna. It is also easy to stain well when chemically treated.
Pine Lumber Buying Guide
Appearance
You can easily tell top-grade pine boards due to their flawless surface—meaning they are knot and blemish-free.
The absence of knots and blemishes on the board makes it more stable and unlikely to shrink or warp over time. Top-grade pine has an overall uniform color.
Common Grade
Common grade pine boards range from those with slight to frequent knots and blemishes. This is less expensive and ideal for installing knotty pine paneling or lightweight utility furniture.
Construction
Construction grade pine boards are the cheapest as they have a lot of flaws. They may have knots, sap veins, and other blemishes and do not meet the appearance requirements of common-grade pine.
These boards are structurally sound and will be pressure-treated when manufactured to improve their quality.
Conclusion
Is pine a hardwood or a softwood? To sum things up, pine is not a hardwood. Pine is a softwood from a coniferous tree that has cones and needles instead of fruits and leaves, is evergreen, and shows tracheids under a microscope.
Even though pine is not a hardwood, it remains a staple material in furniture-making because of its accessibility, affordability, and overall aesthetic.
(See also: Is Poplar a Hardwood?)
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