Natural timber

• Hardwood

  Comes from decidious trees which lose their leaves in autumn and take a long time to mature
• Softwood

  comes from coniferous trees or evergreen trees and have a fast growth rate
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Hardwood

  because of its close grained structure it is harder and stronger than softwood but it is more expensive than softwood
• Advantages and Disadvantags of softwood

  Softwood trees have a faster growth rate than hardwood and they have an open grain structure so they are less dense and not as strong as hardwoods
• Types of hardwood

  oak , beech , maple
• Uses of hardwood (maple,oak,beech)

  Furniture , children's toys , outdoor applications
• Types of softwood

  scots pine

  spruce
• Uses of softwoods

  Floorboards and roof trusses
• Oak properties:

  open-grained

  rough

  hard to work with

  strong
• Beech properties:

  • heavy
  • close-grained
  • easy to work with
  • smooth
• maple properties:

  • heavy
  • close-grained
  • smooth
  • easy to work with
• spruce properties:

  • lightweight
  • cheap
  • close-grained
  • easy to work with
• Scots pine properties:

  • straight - grained
  • cheap
  • easy to work with