Densemeans that
things are packed
tightly together which
normally makes them
hard and heavy.Coniferous and Deciduous Trees
Coniferous, or cone bearing trees, mostly have thin needles for leaves
and are evergreens meaning they keep their leaves year round. Conifers
are also called softwoods. Deciduous or broadleaf trees usually shed
their leaves during cold or dry weather. Deciduous trees are also called
hardwoods.These are easy for us to tell apart but there are still many other
differences between softwoods and hardwoods that are not so easy to
see. For starters, the name “soft” wood and “hard” wood isn’t referring
to howdensethe wood is itself. Most of the time coniferous trees do have
less dense wood than their deciduous cousins but not always. An
example of a coniferous tree having very hard wood is the Yew tree and
an example of a deciduous tree being soft is the balsa tree. We can even
go a step further and point out that the Live Oak Tree, (a deciduous tree),
doesn’t shed its leaves during the winter, hence the
name Live Oak. I know this can all be confusing but
just remember that “soft” wood and “hard” wood is a
term that isn’t necessarily descriptive just another way
of saying whether the tree is coniferous or deciduous.
Wood Grain
One last thing for us to look at before we leave the subject of trees. It’s
the most important to us as woodworkers because it effects how the
wood will look in our projects and that’s wood grain. Wood can be sawnConiferous Deciduous