Hardwood Furniture

Hardwood is the wood of choice for sturdy furniture. If reliability and durability is important, then you won't be disappointed. But the name may confuse some as not all hardwoods are hard. This is mainly affected by the different type of hardwoods as each of the large variety have their own specific wood densities. Incidentally, there are certain types of softwood that are even harder than some hardwoods.

However, the number of softwood species in existence are extremely limited as compared to hardwoods that come in large varieties. Other than as materials for blanket boxes, they are also used for a large variety of household furniture and even commonly used in the construction of buildings. Here are some of the more common species of hardwoods used today.. The well-known oak genus itself has over 550 different species of trees found all over world. Oak is one of the most coveted woods due to its inherent strength in the furniture manufacturing industry.. Another special quality of oak wood is its natural high content of tannin that allows for it to be highly resistant towards fungal growth and insects. On the aesthetic side, oak wood is also chosen for the natural decorative marks of the trees' wood rings.

The popularity of this wood is such that it is often the choice material when constructing culturally important buildings as it is considered to be one of the best materials available. Apart from that, whiskey, one of the most popular alcoholic beverages today is often stored in barrels made of oak wood. One species of oak, Quercus Suber is the most common choice of material when making wine corks.

These corks are most commonly produced in certain countries of Europe and also in North Africa. For wine barrels however, the preferred material would be the Quercus Petraea oak wood. Another popular hardwood material would be the mahogany which is known to produce hardwood of darker shades. Authentic mahogany woods are almost always obtained from Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and India.

Genuine mahogany wood is wood obtained from trees of the Swietenia genus. However, in comparison to oak wood, the patterns made of mahogany wood rings are not as decorative as it is usually in a straight pattern. Furniture's made using mahogany woods are known to have a reddish shade. However, the reddish color will darken into a handsome dark brown color over a period of time. Mahogany has been a choice material for cabinet making as per tradition as it is simple to work with and is also durable.

However, most species of mahogany have been listed in Cites due to past over harvesting as a way to protect the species'. They are sometimes used for musical instruments as well. Interestingly, they are also used as a substitute for paper. Generally speaking, there are many different types of hardwood depending on your application.

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