The Moisture Content Of Hardwood And Softwood

Every species of wood has its own unique moisture content mc properties as well as grain patterns colors density or hardness ratings workability and chemical makeup that.

The moisture content of hardwood and softwood.

Classifying wood as either a hardwood or softwood comes down to its physical structure and makeup and so it is overly simple to think of hardwoods as being hard and durable compared to soft and workable softwoods. Moisture content weight of water ovendry weight of wood x 100 for instance suppose that a freshly sawn piece of eastern cottonwood populus deltoides weighed 50 lbs. Of water was lost in the drying process. Percent moisture content in wood is the ratio of the weight of water compared to the overall weight of a piece of wood.

As every wood flooring professional knows wood species fall into two main categories. Softwood quality fuel is more important than species traditionally hardwood has been the preferred fuel in wood stoves and fireplaces because it naturally has a lower moisture content is a denser fuel burns longer and has hotter coals. How humidity influences ideal wood moisture. In its initial green state and ended up weighing only 20 lbs.

Wood is a hygroscopic material constantly absorbing and giving off moisture until it reaches an equilibrium moisture content with its surroundings. In short the more humidity that is present in the air the more moisture wood building materials such as flooring will absorb. Softwood is known for burning. This happens to be generally true but there are exceptions such as in the cases of wood from yew trees a softwood that is relatively hard and wood from balsa trees a.

A 10 moisture content reading means that 10 of a wood sample s weight is due to water in the wood.