the.com/softwood
Wood from trees that never promised they'd be hard in the first place.
means Timber from cone-bearing trees like pine, fir, and spruce — softer and faster-growing than hardwood, regardless of how soft it actually feels.
from A plain compound of 'soft' and 'wood,' dating to the 1800s, built simply to distinguish fast-growing conifer timber from the denser wood of broadleaf trees — the split is botanical (conifer vs. flowering tree), not really about hardness, which is why some 'softwoods' are tougher than some 'hardwoods.'
- botanical trick
- often harder than some hardwoods, confusingly
- source trees
- conifers like pine, spruce, fir
- main use
- most of the world's construction lumber
- growth speed
- grows faster, making it cheaper