The Difference Between Hardwoods and Softwoods (I Swear, More Interesting Than It Sounds)

Never run out of things to say at the water cooler with TodayIFoundOut! Brand new videos 7 days a week!

More from TodayIFoundOut

Green Coca-Cola... and 5 other everyday myths

The Coming Banana Apocalypse

In this video:

Perhaps the most important and misunderstood aspect of defining wood as either hard or soft is that it has absolutely nothing to do with the individual qualities of the harvested wood itself. The most famous and oft used example of this concept is that of balsa wood which, despite being literally one of the least dense (and hence softest) woods of all, is technically classified as hardwood. Likewise, the wood of the yew tree, which is classified as being a softwood, is a great deal tougher than many hardwoods including several types of oak. So what’s going on here?

Sources:

[TodayIFoundOut]

Ready to learn more fun facts about wood? Then check out this video and find out the answer to the question- Why Do We Knock On Wood?:

[elihuqd]

working on a farm, I found out all wood is hard wood when you drop it on your foot.

[kylethomas]

*unknowingly clicks on old video
"Holy crap! What happened to..."
*sees it's 2 years old
"Ah."

[JonneBackhaus]

Probably the only Video with Wood,  Sperm and Hard in the same sentence without being porn.

[deaconblooze]

The amazing part is that you managed to get through this entire video without using the words 'deciduous' & 'coniferous'.

[Rhapbus]

one video i have to turn up my speakers to almost full, the next its shaking my fucking house.

[debries]

One wood think there'd be a more log-ical reason.
(sorry, I couldn't resist)

[DesertHomesteader]

I really appreciate this explanation. As an aspiring homesteader, the hardness of different woods makes a big difference in which trees I will want to plant, so it is good to know not to assume much based on the classification.

[jenvalzinaaccaliahavinoth]

the differance between hardwood and softwood is: if one lasts for more then 4 hours you should consult a doctor immediately

[mulymule]

This is like the HPC, outa no where, a decent channel arrives.

[atomicskull]

That simple definition fails with Ginko trees. They are gymnosperms but have a fleshy covering on their seeds. A better definition is simply that softwoods come from non flowering trees like conifers and ginkos and hardwoods come from flowering trees like apple, oak etc.


The female reproductive structures of gymnosperms do not contain ovaries and because of this they are not considered to be flowers (an example is the male and female cones on pine trees). They do have a seed coat but it's not ovary derived tissue. In the case of a Ginko the "fruit" it's actually a seed with a fleshy seed coat and not a true fruit.

[hairutheninja]

That really was surprisingly interesting. you never dissapoint

[chrish]

Who's this clean shaven non-spectacled young man?

[CorkySchillinger]

(Does Beavis and Butthead impression) Heh! He said wood! :) Well, I also learned something new. I always thought they were hardwood or softwood based on their tensile strength. Now I know better. The older I get, the more I realize how much I don't know! Well done, TIFO team!

[matthiaswandel]

You used an image from my website in this video (would be nice to at least give credit). But ironically, this image is not at all illustrating what you explained. My hardness test is not at all based on the janka hardness test.

[shawnwolff]

This is one of my favorite videos today that you guys have produced I would love to see a part two version to give more details into different what hardnesses and what some good/ common uses for them would be

[arelam]

Why do you need to swear it's good? All your videos are good. Good interesting presentation, not too long not too short and easily understandable. Keep up the good work!

[terribleteddy]

A response to the title. I found it interesting even before I read the " I swear bit"

[Epidendrum]

This is incorrect. Hardwood and softwood refers to cells in the wood, not to the classification of the tree. Softwoods have only one type of cell (tiny tracheids) so their wood appears "soft" or bland-monotonous to the eyes. Hardwoods mix two cells (big vessels and little tracheids) in different proportions so their wood patterns are jumbled-irregular or hard on the eyes. Yes, all softwoods are gymnosperms but not all angiosperms are hardwoods. The wood taken from magnolias and other magnoliid trees are softwoods.

[chouyi]

That example at 3:58 wasn't a Hickory, but Quercus alba - the White Oak.