| If you visit any shop where they sell furniture, one | | | | respect is where all the different woods used in |
| of the first things you quickly notice is that the | | | | furniture are classified as either being hardwoods or |
| vendors (and the conscious buyers) tend to make a | | | | softwoods. |
| big deal about the different types of wood used in | | | | Ultimately, when shopping for furniture, one of the |
| the furniture. | | | | most important things for you to know is as to |
| When you come to learn their reasons for doing this, | | | | whether the furniture is made from hardwood or |
| you are also likely to find yourself thinking deeply | | | | softwood. |
| about furniture, in terms of the wood used to make | | | | Softwood furniture is made from timber that is |
| it. For as it turns out, it is the wood that furniture is | | | | harvested from a variety of trees known as conifers. |
| made from that determines, to a large extent, how | | | | More than 80% of the world's furniture is made from |
| long that furniture will last in use. In other words, the | | | | softwood. The specific trees from which the wood |
| wood used to make an item of furniture goes a long | | | | used to make softwood furniture items include pines, |
| way in determining the durability of the furniture. | | | | firs, yews, larches and cypress. Worth noting with |
| Secondly, the type of wood used in making furniture | | | | regard to softwood furniture is that it is not always |
| also goes a long way in determining the aesthetic | | | | necessarily soft in the mechanical sense of the word |
| appeal of the furniture. Items of furniture made from | | | | (as there are some softwood that are, in fact, |
| certain woods tend to be more aesthetically | | | | mechanically harder than hardwoods). But seeing that |
| appealing than items of furniture made from other | | | | hardwoods tend to be costlier than softwoods, it is |
| woods. That, to a large extent, explains why | | | | also worth being cautious about ploys where |
| furniture made from certain woods tends to be so | | | | softwoods are passed along as hardwoods, for the |
| much more costly than that made from others. | | | | purposes of defrauding buyers who may not beware |
| Thirdly, the type of woods used in making furniture | | | | of the difference. |
| will also tend to determine the proneness of such | | | | Turning to hardwood, this is made from timber |
| furniture to attacks by various pests. This is perhaps | | | | harvested from what are referred to as angiosperm |
| a part of the durability factor mentioned earlier, but is | | | | trees. Common examples of hardwoods will include |
| worth of a special mention in its own right. And | | | | oaks, maple, cherry, mahogany, teak and boxwood; |
| finally, as a result of all those factors - and as alluded | | | | to name but a few. Although not necessarily harder |
| somewhere before - the types of woods used in | | | | (in a mechanical sense) than the softwoods, these |
| furniture go along way towards determining the cost | | | | hardwoods will tend to cost more than the |
| of the furniture. | | | | softwoods. For that reason, unscrupulous people |
| Now in the final analysis, there are literary hundreds | | | | have been known to take softwood, treat it |
| of woods used in making furniture. But in order to | | | | specially, and then attempt to pass it for hardwood. |
| make sense of them, several classifications have | | | | This makes it necessary for people who buy |
| been developed for them, so that even the | | | | furniture, and who don't want to be duped, to make |
| non-technical furniture buyer can easily make sense | | | | an attempt to understand the actual (physical) |
| of what they will be getting, in terms of 'a wood.' | | | | differences between the different woods used in |
| The most commonly used classification in that | | | | furniture. |