Thread: Hoop Pine - Hardwood or Softwood?

Native softwood, per a google

If it has flowers it's a hardwood, if it has cones it is a softwood, no hoop pine is not from the genus Pinus but it is still a softwood.

If it is evergreen it is a softwood, deciduous, it is a hardwood.

I understand that it is evergreen, so softwood. Also, it produces seeds in cones which desperse in the wind, another sign, as Ivor has stated, that it is a softwood.

Any ideas where this stuff is available?
Never seen it in melbourne.

Try Mathews Timber. They have it in Sydney, Melbourne should have it too.

If it feels hard it is hardwood, if it feels soft it is softwood.

The difference between a hardwood and a softwood is in the grain structure ,not how phisicaly hard it is
Hardwoods have "Medullary Rays " and softwoods dont
Medullary rays are fine grain structures running from the pith to the bark ,renforcing the grain
Look at a turned up peace of hard wood and there will be silvery / gold fibers jumping across the grain only on 2 sides of a quater sawn blank

Balsa wood has medullary rays !
Anyone want to bet a carton that balsa wood is a hardwood

Originally Posted by SawDustSniffer

Balsa wood has medullary rays !
Anyone want to bet a carton that balsa wood is a hardwood

Yep, I'll bet that it is.

Originally Posted by Wongo

If it feels hard it is hardwood, if it feels soft it is softwood.

Yep if it feels soft like Balsa it must be a softwood *LOL* Balsa is famous for being a hardwood so can I have my carton now?

I am a bit confused by the softwood evergreen post that someone put up before. Our Eucalypts are evergreen but they are hardwoods. I thought basically conifers were softwood and non conifers hardwood

Studley

Originally Posted by Studley 2436

Yep if it feels soft like Balsa it must be a softwood *LOL* Balsa is famous for being a hardwood so can I have my carton now?

I tricked you didn’t I?
Ha ha ha ha ha.

Wongo (master of confusion)

Originally Posted by old_picker

Any ideas where this stuff is available?
Never seen it in melbourne.

It grows heaps aorund these parts, also is heavily grown in plantations.
It was used extensivley as a building timber in this area for many years and older buildings often have hoop flooring or wall timber.

Try Lazarides,

http://www.lazaridestimberagencies.com/about.htm
or woodworld on the gold coast

http://www.woodworld.com.au/

Moxons in Brisbane or any of the recycled timber places in Brisbane or Toowoomba.

I bought a nice plank of it from Lazarides last year, a guy down the local markets had some recycled stuff in blanket boxes last week.

http://www.hyne.com.au/pagefiles/araucaria.htm
http://affashop.gov.au/PdfFiles/1318...on_profile.pdf

if u can get old stuff grab it mate, if not any of the Qld suppliers should have it for you.

Originally Posted by Studley 2436

I am a bit confused by the softwood evergreen post that someone put up before. Our Eucalypts are evergreen but they are hardwoods. I thought basically conifers were softwood and non conifers hardwood

Studley

That was me Studley, and now you've got me thinking. That was a defiinition I read somewhere, but the eucalypt question seems to contradict that.

The definitive (as I read somewhere anyway) definition was that hardwoods are angiosperms, or trees that produce some sort of hard seed covering, and softwoods were gymnosperms, or trees that let their seeds fall to the ground as is. Pine for e.g. is a softwood, because even though it has a pine cone, the cone opens up to let seeds disperse in the wind.

Anyway, angiosperms and gymnosperms determine a hardwood or a softwood I think. Every other differentiation may just be a characteristic.

Anyway, angiosperms and gymnosperms determine a hardwood or a softwood I think. Every other differentiation may just be a characteristic.

Yup, thats the true definition.
Otherwise there will be a tree come along and break just about any other generalistion

I think your first definition originated in the UK where they had a pretty limited range of trees. Some lost their leaves and some didn't. They noticed the ones that lost leaves also had HARD wood, Oak, Ash etc. The ones that had needles and stayed green were SOFTER wood, pine and fir etc.
When they actually got out and looked at the trees growing in the rest of the world it got a whole lot more complicated. Some softwoods lost their leaves (Bald cypress), many hardwoods kept theirs (Eucalyptus). Some softwoods were 'hard' (Yew) and some hardwoods were 'soft' (Balsa).
Even the cones / seeds lets you down, Alder is a hardwood but produces 'cones' while NZ Rimu is a softwood but has 'berries' (they are called drupes but they look like berries and the birds eat em). Then Sheoak seems to grow needles and Celery pine seems to have conventional leaves. :confused:

Anyway I can see how people get confused easily

Cheers

Ian

Ok using that reasoning is a palm tree hardwood or softwood?
It is an angiosperm (hardwood) but it doesnt have medullary rays (softwood)?

Perhaps monocotyledon's are the exception?

Frankly I think Wongo's definition is correct as there is no scientific classification as hardwood or softwood, its just a laymens term.