Subject: "hard" vs. "soft" hardwoods

From: Commander <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 10:07:29 -0700

In light of the ongoing discussion, can someone tell us what the forestry 
terms "hard" hardwood and "soft" hardwood refer to.  Are these terms used 
to differentiate the actual hardness of the wood product derived from 
these species?

---

From: Mark Huth <[email-masked]>
Date: 15 Apr 1996 21:58:03 -0700

Commander wrote:
> these species?...
I haven't seen the ongoing discussions, but I presume that softwoods have been 
identified with the gymnosperms and hardwoods with the angiosperms, the 
distinction made on the basis of very different cell and lignen structures.  
Given that, the range of hardness of the hardwoods and softwoods overlap.  In 
fact, even within the same genus, such as Acer (maples), a wide range of 
hardness is found.  "Soft" maple, used extensively as 1/2 inch drawer stock is 
rather soft, whereas birdseye maple is quite hard.  The FS should be referring 
to these degrees of hardness within the hardwoods.

Mark Huth