Is Birch A Hardwood Tree

Common characteristics of birch trees.

Is birch a hardwood tree.

Other soft hardwoods. There are over a dozen species of birch trees native to north america but the most common are white birch yellow birch and black birch. Birch is a native hardwood that comes from the genus betula. Most hardwood trees are deciduous trees which lose their leaves annually like elm or maple.

The birch tree grows all over the world and is popular for its wood bark and extracts. Yellow and sweet birch are two of the best known species and while yellow birch is a little harder both are comparable in hardness to oak walnut and other domestic hardwoods. Birch is a deciduous hardwood with somewhere around 30 to 60 different species. Birch is reserved for butcher blocks some tool handles and specialty.

It s a hardwood used to make furniture longboards and plywood. Birch hardwood flooring is one of the most popular wood species to be used for interior spaces. A birch is a thin leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus betula ˈ b ɛ tj ʊ l ə in the family betulaceae which also includes alders hazels and hornbeams it is closely related to the beech oak family fagaceae the genus betula contains 30 to 60 known taxa of which 11 are on the iucn 2011 red list of threatened species. Blue ash has the highest janka rating at 2 030 with a specific gravity of 0 58.

The texture and density of the wood a tree produces puts it in either the hardwood or softwood category. On a hardness scale birch lumber ranks at the top with hard rock maple and in fact is often mistaken for maple. They have shallow roots and typically grow in cool moist woodland soil. Among maple birch poplar and ash sweet birch has the highest specific gravity at 0 65 with a janka measurement of 1 470.

Softwood comes from a conifer cone bearing or evergreen trees such as pine or spruce. They only live for around 60 to 80 years and don t grow to be very large trees. Both woods make great flooring for your space but there are some differences. Equally popular and similarly durable is oak hardwood which has been used for floors boats and barrels for centuries.