Woods
Woods are a natural resource that offer a variety of advantages to a designer.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| They can be easily worked by hand and machine tools | The environmental impacts of harvesting trees |
| There is a pleasing aesthetic to wood that means they appeal to designers | The cost of transportation of more exotic types of woods across the world |
| The durability of wood means it can be useful in a variety of environments | Wood can be easily deformed or warped if it is not stored properly |
| The supply and availability of some rarer woods can be heavily impacted by disease |
| Advantages | They can be easily worked by hand and machine tools |
|---|---|
| Disadvantages | The environmental impacts of harvesting trees |
| Advantages | There is a pleasing aesthetic to wood that means they appeal to designers |
|---|---|
| Disadvantages | The cost of transportation of more exotic types of woods across the world |
| Advantages | The durability of wood means it can be useful in a variety of environments |
|---|---|
| Disadvantages | Wood can be easily deformed or warped if it is not stored properly |
| Advantages | |
|---|---|
| Disadvantages | The supply and availability of some rarer woods can be heavily impacted by disease |
Hardwoods
This type of wood comes from deciduous trees. These trees are seasonal and lose their leaves during the winter. This means that they don鈥檛 grow as fast as other trees and, as a result, they take longer to harvest.
Slow growth results in the wood having a closer grain. This makes it stronger and harder. It also gives better aesthetic qualities due to the interesting colours and grain patterns.
The slow-growing nature of hardwoods makes them more expensive. They are less sustainable.
Hardwood are mainly used in high quality indoor and outdoor furniture. They are also used in decorative interior and exterior joinery within construction such as doors, window frames, and gates.
Examples of hardwoods include:-
- oak
- mahogany
- teak
Softwoods
This type of wood comes from coniferous, evergreen trees that grow all year round. This means that they grow quicker than other types of trees and they can be harvested more regularly and replaced in a sustainable way. Due to this there is always steady supply and they are usually cheaper.
Faster growth results in a grain structure that is wider and less dense that hardwoods. This makes softwoods easy to work with but less durable. Softwoods tend to mainly be light in colour.
The easy availability of softwoods means that they tend to be used to make less expensive furniture and constructions, such as sheds and timber frames.
Examples of softwoods include:-
- pine
- spruce
- cedar
Manufactured boards
Manufactured boards are a mechanically engineered form of wood. They offer a number of different advantages over traditional hard and softwoods as they use a combination of different sources of woods to create a new material.
Boards can be made in several different ways such as:-
- wood particles and glue pressed together
- a build up of thin wooden veneer layers
- sandwiches of strips of wood
They can be made from recycled woods and by-products, creating a cheap, strong product that can look expensive. It also can be made available in large formats that are more sustainable.
Manufactured boards have a range of uses and are often used to create inexpensive flat-pack furniture.
Examples of manufactured boards include:-
- chipboard
- plywood
- block board
- MDF (medium density fibreboard)