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Wood Parts and Anatomy
Taking a Look at Wood
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Hardwood and Softwood
You've probably heard people talking about two different kinds of wood
- hardwood and softwood.
Suprisingly, these names have almost nothing to do with how hard or soft their woods are! Many times, softwoods are harder than hardwoods!
The names hardwood and softwood have to do with the trees that the
wood comes from.
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Hardwood comes from deciduous,
or hardwood, trees.
The tree on the right is a hardwood tree.
Decidous trees lose their foliage in the fall.
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Softwood comes from evergreen,
or softwood, trees.
The tree on the right is a softwood tree.
Evergreen trees keep their foliage all year.
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When you look at softwood and hardwood very closely, there are many
difference, but we'll talk about those in the "Taking a Closer
Look at Wood!" section of this lesson.
Right now, we're just going to look at some of the basic features that all kinds of wood have.
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