Woods

• Woods


  • Hardwood
  • Softwoods
  • Man-made or engineered woods
• Hardwood

  Deciduous (leaf losing) trees, slower growing, expensive, aesthetically pleasing grain patterns, denser, greater strength and hardness than softwoods
• Hardwoods

  • Oak
  • Mahogany
  • Beech
  • Ash
• Ash


  Tough, flexible, good elasticity
• Ash


  • Flexible
  • Can become a bit splintered
• Softwood


  Coniferous (cone-bearing, evergreen) trees, reach maturity in about 30 years, cheaper than hardwoods, more sustainable than hardwoods, resinous, various in colour, less dense than hardwoods, prone to water damage
• Softwood


  • Pine
• Pine

  Lightweight
• Pine


  • Nice colour and grain pattern, grows relatively quickly in comparison to hardwoods
  • Prone to warping, knots can fall out and leave holes
• Man-made wood


  Waste wood is used to make MDF and chipboard, plywood is made from layers of veneers glued together, all are made in a factory, used in mass produced furniture
• Man-made wood


  • Available in large flat sheets, doesn't warp as much as natural timber, can be decorated in many ways, can be flexible, waste wood used in making MDF, chipboard and hardboard
  • Need sharp tools to cut and tools are easily blunted, thin sheets do not stay flat unless supported, difficult to cut traditional joints, can generate harmful dust particles, edges need to be treated to hide unsightly parts and also to stop water getting in
• Plywood


  Very strong in all directions, resistant to splitting because layers are in alternate directions
• Plywood


  • Available in large sheets, thicker sheets will not warp or twist, thin sections can be laminated to create 2D shapes
  • Thin sheets very flexible and will warp if not correctly stacked or supported
• Plywood is made of layers (veneers) normally 1.5mm thick, the grain of each layer is at right angles to the layer either side of it, and there is an odd number so the outside layers run in the same direction, Birch veneers used on the outside layers resulting in attractive surface
• Chipboard


  Made from waste products bonded together using very strong resins, strong in all directions although not as strong as plywood, not very resistant to water but moisture resistant grades available
• Chipboard


  • Makes good use of waste materials that are chipped up
  • Not very good around water because it will soak it up, will chip and flake on edges if not protected
• Chipboard has no grain patterns, surface often veneered or covered with a plastic laminate
• Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF)


  Very dense, stable and not affected by changing humidity levels, will break down and absorb water if it gets very wet
• Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF)


  • Thin sheets can be formed to make 2D shapes
  • Not very good with water because it will soak it up at the edges
• Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) has an excellent surface finish which can be veneered or painted
• Hardboard


  Made from compressed fibres that have been soaked in resin before being compressed
• Hardboard has a very smooth side and a textured underside