At Pinetree Furniture, we began business over 20 years ago carrying a full line of Pine furniture. Since that time, we have expanded our furniture options to include both economy and high end lines from a number of manufacturers in a variety of different woods.

Many people assume that when talking about hardwoods - say hardwood floors, they are talking about wood that is dense, and therefore not soft. Therefore the common thinking is that hardwood is better, softwood not so much.

The difference between hardwood and softwood is actually more a scientific one. Simply put hardwood comes from angiosperm trees and softwood comes from conifers.

Angiosperm (hardwoods) grow in temperate climates and have broad leaves. Conifers (softwoods) are evergreens and tend to grow much faster than the angiosperms. This rapid growth tends to leave the wood less dense and therefore softer (usually). A little known fact about the softwoods is that they only grow in the Northern Hemisphere.

In some cases ‘hardwoods’ can be softer than some ‘softwoods’. Conversely, there are some softwoods that are actually more dense and therefore harder than the softest hardwoods. Confused much?

Well, for the purposes of buying quality wood furnishings at Pinetree Furniture all you really need to know is that our Pine furniture is softwood, and our Oak, Alder and Birch furniture is made from hardwoods.

As we discussed in one of our previous articles however, you can have any of your wood furniture stained to look like Mahogany, Cherry or whatever exotic wood your heart desires!