Hardwoods & Softwoods

Wood Characteristics Key words to use when evaluating the appeal of the timber selected and its suitability in a particular design context:- Colour Grain Pattern Texture Strength Weight Stability Durability Ease of Working Cost

WOOD CLASSIFICATIONS 3) Manufactured Boards Man-made composites 1) Hardwoods Slow-growing (100 years) 2) Softwoods Quick-growing (30 Years) WOOD CLASSIFICATIONS

Hardwoods Hardwoods are considered to come from deciduous trees (lose their leaves in winter). They grow slowly and are often not replaced when they are cut down. This makes the wood expensive. Oak

Back Beech Beech is used in cabinet and furniture making, work benches, desks, chairs, turnery, tool handles, mallets, decorative veneers and domestic flooring. Advantages: Straight Grain, Easy to work with. Disadvantages: Unsuitable for exterior projects as it rots quickly

Oak Oak is used in cabinet and furniture making, boat building, barrels and flooring. Advantages: High Strength, Hard wearing, Does not rot easily, Attractive grain Disadvantages: High Cost, Difficult to work with when dry Green Oak is often used in House Building

Ash Advantages: Ash is used in furniture and cabinet making, hockey sticks, baseball bats, cricket stumps Hard wearing, Tough, Elastic, Attractive grain Disadvantages: High Cost,

Mahogany Mahogany is used for high quality cabinet and furniture making, Drum panelling, pattern making, decorative veneers and plywood. Advantages: High Strength, Hard wearing, Easy to carve, Attractive grain Disadvantages: High Cost, Many species of mahogany come form non renewable sources

Teak Advantages: Hard wearing, Weather resistant, Disadvantages: Teak is used in Boat building, Garden furniture, (where weather resistance is required) Furniture making, flooring, laboratory benches and decorative veneers. Note: It is best to use an oil finish with this timber. Teak can be difficult to glue and it's dust is known to be a skin irritant. Advantages: Hard wearing, Weather resistant, Disadvantages: High Cost, Difficult to work with.* Many species of Teak come form non renewable sources *Difficult to glue due to its oily nature Skin and repertory system irritant High mineral content make it hard to machine

Walnut Walnut is used for high quality furniture, boat building, musical instruments, carving and veneers. Advantages: Hard wearing, Attractive Grain Disadvantages: Very Expensing , Rare

Balsa Balsa is the lightest commercial hardwood. Predominately used for model making. Advantages: Light weight, Easy to cut Disadvantages: Weak

Softwoods Softwood comes from coniferous (cone-bearing) trees, most of which (apart from larch) are evergreen with thin needle-like leaves

Parana Pine Parana Pine is a straight grained timber often used for stair cases and furniture making Advantages: Straight Grain, Stable (tends not to warp) Disadvantages: Fairly expensive

Scots Pine Scots Pine is often used in the building industry for Roof timbers, Stairs and Skirting boards It is also used for Telegraph Poles, fences and paper pulp Advantages: Straight grain with few Knots Disadvantages: Slow growing therefore limited availability

Red Pine Red pine wood is grown primarily for the production of wood used for poles, Floorboards, building timber railway ties, post, pulpwood, and fuel. Advantages: Low cost Disadvantages: Knots,

Spruce Spruce (whitewood) is mainly used for paper manufacture but is also used in general construction and for the production of musical instrument sound boards Advantages: Straight Grain, Disadvantages: Soft

Manufactured Boards

KEY POINTS Manufactured boards are strong, stable and economical, therefore are now extensively used in industry and in the home. These materials are manufactured using natural timber in thin sheets or particles, which are bonded with a resin, compressed and heated. Particularly suited to the mass-production of furniture as the boards are available in large widths. Ecologically (Environmentally friendly) they can seen as beneficial as they use up the waste products from sawmills.

ADVANTAGES Cheap in contrast to hardwoods and softwoods Boards are available in large sheets (1.5m2) Stable within a warm and centrally-heated environment Thin veneers of expensive timbers can be used on top to create an expensive and stylish appearance

DISADVANTAGES Depending on its purpose the edges will require “facings” Repair and maintenance can be difficult Will blunt tools quickly due to the wood grains going all directions Thin sheets will flop if not supported Cutting and sanding of some boards can generate hazardous dust particles Dust mask Dust extractor

Plywood Plywood Shuttering Properties Stable Strong Easy to machine Plywood Furniture PLYWOOD - made from wood veneers with each grain layer being at right angles to the previous. Bonded together by resin and pressure. A number of different grades are available 1. Marine plywood that is water resistant. 2. WBP- Weather and boil proof 3. Boil resistant plywood. 4. Interior plywood.

Blockboard Properties Stiff and heavy Good load-bearing capabilities Blockboard Furniture Made from rectangular strips of softwood glued and bonded together under high pressure. These strips are then sandwiched between a wood veneer, such as birch. A single veneer on both sides is known as 3-ply. A double veneer on both sides is called 5-ply.

Chipboard Properties Stiffness & strength vary with density Chipboard Flooring CHIPBOARD is made up of small chips of wood bonded together with resin and formed into sheets by compression. This is not as strong as plywood and blockboard but it is not expensive. Chipboard is often covered with a plastic laminate or wood veneer and used in furniture.

Veneered Chipboard Wooden Veneer VENEERED CHIPBOARD is made up of small chips of wood bonded together with resin and formed into sheets by compression. This is then faced with a thin wood or plastic laminate veneer (used in kitchen unit manufacture). One of the main drawbacks with this type of material is the unfinished edges. These need to be covered with an edging strip. Plastic Laminate Veneer

MDF Properties Easily machined, moulded and painted MDF Furnishings MEDIUM DENSITY FIBRE BOARD (MDF) is a extremely versatile product that is suitable for many interior projects. It cannot be used for outside work exposed to wet weather conditions, but is an asset for shelving, cupboards and surfaces inside the home. It has a fine texture that is even throughout its length. This is due to the method used in manufacture. Bonding wooden fibres together under high pressure forms MDF. The sheets are available in numerous thicknesses including 9mm, 12mm, 15mm, 18mm

Hardboard Properties Cardboard-like Weak and brittle Perforated Hardboard Hardboard Cabinet Back Hardboard is made from wood fibres that have been highly compressed. The standard hardboard sheet is smooth on one side and has a textured underside, and is available in various finishes and thicknesses, the most common being 3.2mm.

PLASTIC LAMINATE Alvar Aalto Ant Chair Grete Jalk Laminate is a material constructed by uniting two or more layers of material together. The process of creating a laminate is lamination, which refers to sandwiching something between layers of plastic and sealing them with heat and/or pressure, usually with an adhesive. In the 1940s, several Canadian designers and manufacturers started producing revolutionary laminated and formed-plywood furniture using technology developed for aircraft production during World War II.