Is Balsa Wood A Hardwood Or Softwood

But as the classification of balsa wood demonstrates there is no minimum weight requirement to become a hardwood.

Is balsa wood a hardwood or softwood.

Balsa wood is very soft and light and is commonly used in model aeroplane building but it is not technically classified as a softwood. The balsa tree is deciduous and classified as an angiosperm which is the same classification as a hardwood such as an oak tree. The actual hardness or density of the wood has little to do with the classification. Yet despite its softness balsa is technically classified as a hardwood rather than a softwood since it has broad leaves and is not a conifer.

In fact balsa is the spanish word for raft. Likewise balsa wood is classified as a hardwood and yet it s one of the least dense and softest types of. It is the softest commercial hardwood. Balsa has excellent sound heat and vibration insulating properties and is also incredibly buoyant.

The name balsa comes from the spanish word for raft. The hardwood softwood terminology does make some sense. For instance yew wood is classified as a softwood but is considerably tougher than certain hardwoods. The terms hardwood and softwood don t relate to the weight or density of the wood but to the tree type.

Being a deciduous angiosperm balsa is classified as a hardwood despite the wood itself being very soft. There are many more types of hardwood trees than there are softwood. Balsa lumber is very soft and light with a coarse open grain. Although the wood of a balsa tree is soft balsa is a hardwood.

Classifying wood as either a hardwood or softwood comes down to its physical structure and makeup and so it is overly simple to think of hardwoods as being hard and durable compared to soft and workable softwoods. Hardwood trees are angiosperms mostly decidous in the northern hemisphere but evergreens in the southern hemisphere while softwoods are conifers. Is the wood balsa a softwood or hardwood. The trees are harvested after six to 10 years of growth.

Surprising though it may seem balsa is a hardwood. Evergreens do tend to be less dense than deciduous trees and therefore easier to cut while most hardwoods tend to be more dense and therefore sturdier. That is hardwood isn t necessarily denser than softwood. But the difference between these two types of wood isn t in their name.