Woods

Most of the wood used accross the world comes from America or the Far East. Most of this is from rainforests. Some companys are destroying these rapidly but others, supported by FSC, create sustainable enviroments and plant a tree for every tree cut down. They also respect the surrounding wildlife, you know whether the product you using is from a sustainable source as it will bear the FSC logo.

When working with woods you must consider structure, grain and cost. Also wether you by it PSE (plain, squared and edged) or just straight from the tree where it will be rough and splintery.

Woods are either hard woods or soft woods, but this doesnt nessicarily mean they are hard or soft. Hard woods have more gymnosperms and are from decidous trees, they take longer to grow (60-100)and are therefore more expensive. They are usally harder as they have closer grains, but there are exception such as balsa with you can dent with you fingers.

Soft woods are from coniferous trees and take less time to grow. They are alot cheaper, can produce long lengths but are open grained and weaker than hardwoods.

Woods are aleays seasoned. This means they dry in a controlled way. This stops its from cupping, bowing or twist.

Examples of softwoods are scots pine, spruce and douglas fir.

Examples of hardwoods are beech, oak, ash, mahagany, teak.