Hardwood Versus Softwood

• Hardwoods come from angiosperm trees, which have broad leaves that are normally dropped over winter. Hardwood is regularly used for stain grade wood as their grain is more densely spaced and less prone to irregularities. This is because the trees generally grow more slowly. Softwoods come from conifer trees that have needles and remain green all year round. These grow more quickly, have wider-spaced grain and so have more likelihood of irregularities in the grain.
  
  

Softwoods

• Some types of softwood are unlikely to ever be stain grade. Knotty pine, for example, naturally has too many irregularities. Others are often capable of producing stain-grade sections of wood. Look for yew, cypress or fir. As the name suggests, softwood tends to be softer than hardwood, although there are exceptions. Balsa is a very soft hardwood, and yew is a very hard softwood. Softer woods are more easily damaged, which makes them less useful for furniture making or wooden flooring. Because they are quick growing and easily sustainable, softwoods tend to be cheaper to purchase than hardwoods.
  
  

North American and European Hardwoods

• North American and European hardwoods include ash, elm, oak, sycamore, beech, birch, cherry, boxwood, walnut, and maple. This list is far from exhaustive. They are more expensive to use than softwoods such as pine, but they are less expensive than tropical or exotic woods and are much more likely to come from sustainable forests.
  
  

Tropical Hardwoods

• Tropical or exotic woods include teak, mahogany and ebony. There are many issues with sustainability and the increasing rareness of some exotic woods, which is only increasing with the deforestation of the rain forests of South America. Due to the slow growing nature of the trees, it is difficult to replant and grow trees as quickly as we use them. As they get scarcer, the prices of tropical woods rise, and thus tropical hardwoods can be very expensive to use.