The variety of tree species is huge, and each of them has its own unique specifics that you need to know and be sure to take into account when working with wood.

Therefore, before starting a story about the methods of working with wood, it is worth characterizing its various species, as well as the structure and basic properties of the wood itself.

Depending on the intended product, one or another type of wood is used. First of all, it is necessary to determine whether the selected bar belongs to coniferous or hardwood.

conifers

Conifers have a sharp resinous smell due to resin passages in the wood. But there are exceptions: spruce and yew do not have resin passages.

As for the texture of coniferous wood, it is highly fibrous, which is both its disadvantage and advantage. This property creates additional difficulties when threading across the fibers. Therefore, coniferous trees are rarely used for woodcarving.

The macrostructure of such wood species is better distinguished than that of hardwood, therefore, the wood of these species is used in construction work, as well as for the manufacture of furniture and other joinery products.

Coniferous wood species include pine, larch, fir, spruce, cedar.

Pine is most commonly used as a building material. The color of pine wood can be either reddish-yellow or pale yellow, and this does not affect the working properties of the wood. In dense northern forests, pine logs are distinguished by their straightness and straightness. The best are pines growing on elevated dry places, worse - growing in wetlands, since their wood is pale, and the annual layers are wide and loose.

The wood itself is strong, light, and easy to handle. Pine planing along is very easy, across - difficult and uneven, but sawing is convenient and the glue holds well.

In the northern Russian forests, pine logs are quite long, straight and straight-layered, which, combined with excellent causticity, makes them indispensable in construction work. The best is the wood of lutic and bore pines - those trees that rise on sandy dry hills.

Their growth rings are dense and compressed, and the autumn part of the layers is impressively thick. But ore, or, as they are also called, mendovy pines, which grow in wetlands, are very inferior in their working qualities to their counterparts from drier regions. The wood of such pines is very pale, and the annual layers are wide and loose.

A freshly sawn pine smells not of needles, like spruce, but of resin, its core on the cut is dark in color, and the outer part of the trunk is light. The texture of the wood near the knots has a large graininess, which allows such expressiveness to be used for decorative purposes.

The great advantage of pine is that, despite its great strength, it is very light, slightly susceptible to decay, which allows it to be used in the construction of underwater structures.

The structure of wood makes it easy to absorb various dyes and varnishes. During shrinkage, pine wood practically does not warp.

The disadvantage of this breed is that it is not well finished and painted. Despite this, it is pine that is most often used in the manufacture of cheap furniture, in plywood production, as well as in the construction of underwater structures.

Spruce is the second most important and used coniferous species. Outwardly, spruce is similar to pine, but its wood is much lighter and softer, its annual layers are paler.

There is a little less resin in spruce wood, which affects its poor resistance to atmospheric phenomena, and is easily susceptible to decay.

The disadvantage is the high branchiness of spruce, which is why it is poorly processed. However, this wood also has its advantages: uniform structure, white color and low resin content. It warps a little, easily pricks, sawn, planed.

Spruce is able to hold metal fasteners well. Minor details are made from spruce or lined with decorative synthetic materials or more valuable types of wood.

This is very valuable and expensive tree. It has pinkish-brown wood, which is distinguished by great softness, causticity and wormhole resistance. The layers are slightly noticeable.

It has a slight pleasant smell. Cedar is sometimes referred to as the pencil tree because in the past it served as an ideal material for making pencils and pens.

There are several varieties of cedar.

Siberian cedar has a whitish wood, with a strong odor emitted by the resinous substances with which it is impregnated. It practically does not lend itself to wormholes and warping, it is not inferior to spruce in construction qualities, and surpasses spruce in resistance to decay. Despite the fact that cedar wood is soft, it has a high density and strength, and it also lends itself well to processing.

Bermuda cedar is often passed off as mahogany because of their similarity in color, although it can fade in the sun. This variety is much lighter and more fragrant than mahogany, it is not subject to warping.

The Lebanese cedar grows in Asia Minor. It has a very flabby, loose wood, exudes a fragrant intoxicating smell, which allows you to protect yourself from worms and insects.

AT North America growing white cedar. Its wood is resistant to wormholes and does not warp.

Fir in its working qualities is not much different from spruce: it is easy to process and practically does not perceive chemicals. Just like spruce wood, it is low in resin, which causes the wood to quickly rot in the open air without special treatment.

Larch

This is one of the indispensable types of wood for construction and carpentry. A large amount of resin contained in larch wood makes it durable - it is even stronger than oak.

The texture of larch is easy to confuse with pine. Larch, like pine, has a darker core. But it is less frizzy than pine and has a pronounced striped texture. Larch wood is very resinous, as if it is all impregnated with resin, which gives, firstly, a very contrasting texture, in which light and dark resin stripes alternate, and secondly, such an increased resinousness improves its resistance to moisture and, accordingly, rotting. It almost does not warp and does not lend itself to a wormhole. This valuable property of larch is used in woodcarving. It is advisable to make handicrafts from this wood, which will, for example, be exhibited outdoors, where the humidity is quite high and precipitation is not uncommon, or for the production of garden furniture.

hardwood

Hardwoods are divided into hardwoods and softwoods. The wood of such species practically does not smell, the smell intensifies only with a fresh cut of the wood and its processing. Hardwood has no resin passages. Instead, it is equipped with sap-carrying vessels, united in the tree's sap-carrying system. On this basis, hardwoods are divided into large-vascular and small-vascular.

To distinguish wood of a large-vessel species from a small-vessel species, it is necessary to carefully look at a well-cleaned end of a wood blank. If, at the same time, sap-carrying vessels are easily visible to the naked eye at the end, then there is no doubt that this is a large-vessel species of wood.

Large-vascular breeds are divided into ring-vascular and disseminated-vascular. Ring-vascular trees include oak, ash, edible chestnut, elm, elm, velvet tree and others. Scattered vascular species of deciduous trees include walnut and persimmon.

Small-vascular species make up the vast majority of deciduous trees - such as birch, alder, aspen, willow, poplar, maple, mountain ash: ash, apple and others.

Among hardwoods there are trees with very hard wood: oak, beech, hornbeam, walnut, maple, pear and others. In the southern regions of Russia, such hard and ring-shaped rocks as yew, boxwood, black locust, mandarin, lemon, etc. grow.

The most commonly used hardwoods are oak, birch and ash. The most common among softwoods are aspen and alder.

Mahogany or ebony is a rather expensive, inaccessible imported wood. Among imported wood species, rosewood (palisander tree) is widely known, which, like red wood, has a reddish-brown color of wood and belongs to scattered vascular species.

There are also lesser-known imported breeds, such as azobe and backout. Both of these breeds are classified as disseminated vascular. Azobe has a hard and heavy wood of a dark cherry color, and the backout is painted in sapwood in a yellowish-white color, gradually turning into a greenish-black to the core.

Almost all hardwoods can be used for woodcarving.

Oak is characterized by high strength and resistance to decay, so it is no coincidence that it has become among the people a symbol of an indestructible fortress.

Its wood has a beautiful dark or light brown coloration and texture with strong annual stratification and graininess, which gives an exquisite pattern.

In young trees, the wood is hard, flexible and has a grayish-brown color, in older trees it is more fragile, yellow in color.

Connoisseurs distinguish many varieties of oak, for example, the so-called winter and spring oaks. Winter ones are called those growing in the south: their acorns hang directly on the branches, although the leaves turn yellow in autumn, they fall off only in winter and even in spring, when young ones begin to appear. In spring oaks, acorns hang on long petioles.

Winter oak wood is more valuable, spring oak wood is worse - a lot of knots, color with gray tint. Furniture decorated with carvings is made from winter oak.

The undoubted advantage of oak wood is that it is little susceptible to cracking and warping. Furniture, decorative art, parquet are made from this breed.

The composition of oak wood includes a large amount of tannins, which, better than any antiseptic, protect against the effects of various microbes and microorganisms, which allows it to be used in all critical structures in conditions of high humidity. Particularly durable wood is obtained if oak logs are kept in running water for 1–1.5 years (the brown color changes to black) and dried by natural air drying. The only drawback is that oak wood is quite expensive. This bog oak wood is used to make very expensive pieces of furniture.

Oak furniture is considered the most beautiful and durable; in addition, dense wood allows you to decorate details with relief carvings. Small fasteners, very strong connections are made from durable and hard wood. Oak is one of the few types of wood from which bent parts of various radii are made. Due to the high content of tannins in wood, oak is considered the most rot-resistant hardwood.

The wood of hundred-year-old oaks (80–150 years old) from dense mixed forests (black forests) shows itself better in work.

Oak is an ideal material for furniture production, however, a novice craftsman should take into account that its wood is very difficult to process, especially planing, sawing and gouging.

red beech

This tree belongs to hardwood species. In terms of its qualities, it practically does not concede to oak. Reddish-brown, with an abundance of large and darker spangles, the color of this wood turns almost brown in old age.

Beech lends itself well to processing, bends and is impregnated with various chemical solutions. This quality contributes to the durability of the varnish and paint coating. Beech is used to imitate rose and mahogany, walnut. Its wood is used for the manufacture of bent furniture, veneer, and is used in the manufacture of carpentry tools.

But due to the fact that beech strongly warps when dried, is prone to decay with the formation of wormholes, it is little used in the manufacture of furniture. Therefore, finished beech crafts are steamed or smoked to protect them from worms. To prevent beech wood from warping, it is cut down at the end of summer, and a year later it is sawn into boards, which are then immersed in water for several months. When steamed, beech takes on the most bizarre shapes, keeping them for a long time after drying. It was beech that was the working raw material for creating the world-famous Viennese furniture.

In appearance, ash wood is sometimes confused with oak. This similarity is manifested primarily in the texture of wood. But in their own physical properties- strength and hardness - it is somewhat inferior to oak.

Ash - elastic, heavy, dense wood, durable, resistant to decay, with a beautiful texture of yellowish color with light and dark stripes; has good resistance to various loads, especially bending loads.

It is most often used for the manufacture of parts that come into contact with human hands during operation: handles, handles, stair railings, in the manufacture of furniture, veneer and parquet. Such a widespread use of ash is primarily due to the qualities of its wood: strong, viscous, shrinks a little during shrinkage and bends well when steamed.

In ash there are growths of brown or brown color, less often there are white and red. All this enhances its decorative and artistic merits, so its wood is an excellent ornamental material.

This tree symbolizes Russia. As a building material, it is most often used in the northern and partly in middle lane Russia.

Birch is used slightly less frequently than ash. Birch wood has an average density and hardness, strength and sufficient viscosity.

It has a soft texture and is characterized by a uniform structure. The disadvantages of this breed are susceptibility to cracking and warping, severe shrinkage, low resistance to decay, and frequent wormhole damage.

At the same time, birch wood lends itself well to being processed with a tool, glued together, easily polished and painted, and makes it possible to make small relief carvings.

Using the appropriate dyes, birch can be given the appearance of walnut, gray maple or mahogany. Decorative veneer is cut out of birch nodules - thin sheets for furniture cladding.

Trees give the highest quality wood at the age of 40-50 years, in older birches this quality is worse.

Elm, birch bark, elm

These trees represent one species - the broad-leaved elm. Its wood, initially light, darkens over time. Old trees have wood in continuous small veins and dashes.

The main qualities of this breed are density, strength, flexibility and low porosity. During shrinkage, the wood practically does not warp and does not crack. In addition, after steaming, the wood can bend at will, so in the old days wheel rims, hammer handles, and steps were made from it. But because of its dense and finely porous structure, wood is difficult to polish, poorly planed and painted.

Much harder than elm elm. It has grayish wood with beautiful oblong spots.

The softest, most viscous and browner compared to elm and elm is birch bark. It is very flexible, retains the shape given to it for a long time. It has a splintery surface in the place of the split, but the influxes are very valuable.

Walnut

The walnut belongs to those few breeds which are characterized by variety of decorative texture and rich color and tone scale. It is well processed, can be polished and impregnated with chemicals.

Heavy and durable walnut wood does not warp and rot, therefore it finds a variety of applications in the form of solid wood and veneer: for various carvings, in mosaics, and is highly valued in facing works.

Aspen wood has a fine fiber structure and a light color, sometimes turning into a greenish one. Aspen peels well, does not prick from impact and does not warp, is not afraid of moisture and insects - pests of wood.

Aspen has soft wood, in which there are few knots; it lends itself well to processing, but because of its porous structure, small parts can break right during operation, so furniture parts made from it are usually lined with synthetic coatings or more expensive woods.

Aspen is widely used for carving because of its softness, it cuts well in all directions.

Poplar belongs to soft-leaved species. Beautiful small details and products are obtained from such wood, so it is used as an ornamental material for carving. Poplar wood is very similar to linden wood and is not very suitable for carpentry work.

Poplar is prone to decay, warps and cracks when it dries out. The worst wood is black poplar. Slightly better is silver poplar, whose silvery white wood is quite resilient and can be used to make furniture and coarser carpentry. The Italian (pyramidal) poplar, which has spongy wood, is completely unsuitable for work. More suitable variety is blackberry, since its wood does not warp a little.

It is close in its business and artistic qualities to aspen wood, quite heavy and resilient, with barely visible layers. Dense wood, dirty orange or dirty pink, which lightens with time, especially after steam drying. Oblong spots of yellow, brown color are a sign of decay. It is interesting that when wet, alder is strong and resistant, but in a dry atmosphere it rots and worms, so it is often used in the construction of well log cabins.

Alder exhibits little buckling when dried and is well processed, being free to cut in any direction, making it suitable for artistic wood carving.

Alder is most widely used in the construction of houses and in the manufacture of cheap furniture. It is widely used in the construction of pantries because it does not smell and does not absorb odor.

Alder wood is well glued, cut, polished, painted. This material is light, soft, medium shrinkage. Alder is mainly used as an imitation of such species as ebony and mahogany, walnut.

Its wood is very soft and light, just like birch, it has a light color with many shades depending on the growing environment. Her annual layers are barely noticeable.

Just like birch, linden lends itself well to processing and is easy to cut in all directions. This made linden famous as a good carving material. The most good is the southern linden, which is used for the manufacture of carved products for gilding.

In addition, this is one of the few types of wood that does not warp or crack during shrinkage, but linden is highly susceptible to wormholes. The softness of the linden is so high that dents can remain on the blanks even from accidental pressing when falling. This property greatly increases the possibility of errors when carving, especially for beginner carvers.

Linden is poorly stained, since its wood is impenetrable - it does not even allow honey to pass through, and in fact it is able to seep through the walls of a wooden vessel made from almost any wood. But furniture made of linden, treated with white or colored polish, looks great. It is widely used in the manufacture of toys or handicrafts.

Its whitish, with many small spangles, wood is almost never cross-layered, it is thick, dense, of medium hardness, remarkably planed and pricked, and an absolutely smooth surface is obtained.

Maple has good resistance to moisture and practically does not warp. Maple lends itself well to processing, gluing, finishing and staining. It is used for carving and manufacturing of solid wood parts. Perfectly dyed in different colors and takes polish well.

fruit tree wood

Among the rare species that are used in joinery and carpentry, the wood of fruit trees occupies a large place. The advantage is still given to the wood of wild trees.

Pear has a dense, uniform, beautiful wood, which is used mainly for the manufacture of small parts. The yellow-white color of young trees turns brownish in old age.

It is rare when it is possible to get a large canvas of a board from a pear trunk. But not only because of this, the pear goes to decorate furniture. Its wood is designed in such a way that when cutting, the blade perfectly removes chips both in the direction of fiber growth and against them. In addition, both polished and impregnated wood is excellent. There is another feature of the pear - it can be attributed to both hard and soft rocks. Raw wood is quite soft, but if it is soaked and then slowly dried, the wood turns brown and becomes very hard. Among the shortcomings, only one can be named - without a varnish coating, the tree quickly darkens and begins to rot. The pear tree is used as an imitation of ebony, for openwork carving and wood finishing of lower quality.

The color of apple wood is light pink with red-brown veins. The apple tree is one of the most beautiful and durable types of wood. But after drying, it warps and dries out very much, so it is preferable to work only with a well-dried apple tree. As well as a pear, it goes to the decoration of furniture, the manufacture of household utensils and decorations.

Plum wood in its qualities is close to apple and pear, that is, it can warp and crack. Whitish, dotted with brown-red or multi-colored (brown-red, brown, pink and yellow) veins, the wood is distinguished by sufficient density and hardness.

Hard and durable wood with many multi-colored veins is perfectly pricked and polished. Polished plum products shimmer beautifully in the light.

Most often it goes to the manufacture of jewelry and to the relief decoration of furniture. Turned utensils made of plum wood are also highly valued.

Cherry and apricot

Fruit trees such as cherry and apricot have hard and durable wood. Their texture is distinguished by a peculiar pattern, and the color can be of various shades. Wood products of these species have an unusually refined appearance.

If the cherry is dry, then it is easily planed and pricked. Cherry wood is yellowish-red with noticeable dark layers and veins, and may fade over time.

To prevent this from happening, it is soaked in lime water.

Cherry perfectly accepts varnish and paint, it is well painted under mahogany. The wood of these trees is used to make furniture, and cherry wood is good for making chibouks for smoking pipes.

Imported tree species

Above were considered tree species that grow with us. But in Russia, imported breeds are also very popular, which are most often used to make furniture and jewelry.

Red tree

Redwood grows only in tropical forests. The very concept of "mahogany" does not mean belonging to any species, but represents a combination of various species, the wood of which has a red color.

In international trade, mahogany refers to mahogany of a scattered vascular breed, which has a reddish-brown color. This name is firmly entrenched behind him and is widely used even by specialists.

This tree is common in hot countries, reaches a great height and volume.

Mahogany wood belongs to soft breeds, lends itself well to processing, polishes, absorbs varnish. According to the pattern of fibers, mahogany can be uniform, wavy, speckled and knotty. Masters prefer red speckled wood.

It is mainly used in the decoration of furniture and premises. Due to its high price, it rarely goes completely to the manufacture of furniture.

Ebony

It is recognized as ebony to call scattered vascular ebony rocks.

Ebony is brought to us from Madagascar, Ceylon, the island of St. Mauritius. Although wood cracks and splits well during shrinkage, ebony is considered the most expensive. Its wood is dense, uniform, black in color. Wood with inconspicuous layers of growth rings and vessels is highly valued. Wood with whitish interlayers and prominent cores is least valued.

Wood practically does not rot, does not warp during shrinkage, perfectly absorbs varnish. The only thing that cannot be done with ebony is polishing: from this appearance only gets worse.

Ebony trees, which are imported to Russia from Africa, East India, South America and other countries, are inferior in their quality characteristics.

To distinguish an ebony fake, you need to set fire to its shavings. The smell of real ebony is irritating, like snuff. In addition, a painted fake will stain the hands during operation.

Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus has a strong, heavy wood that is virtually indestructible. This property is explained by the high content in it essential oils, which act in the same way as the resin in pine wood. Eucalyptus belongs to a small number of tree species that are difficult to work with. Most often, the basis of furniture is made from eucalyptus, then it is decorated with inserts from other species or pasted over with mahogany or ebony veneer.

Furnambuc

This Brazilian tree has a dense, heavy wood that turns cherry to black when exposed to light.

Fernambuque is used in the manufacture of mosaics. Violin bows and conductor's sticks made from this tree are considered the most expensive. Its wood practically does not rot and, when dry, does not warp. But a tree that has just been cut down dries out, cracks and changes shape. In terms of severity in processing, it is second only to eucalyptus.

rosewood

Rosewood, like most other species, is imported into Russia from South America. It is sometimes called violet tree or jacaranda. Its wood is less durable than mahogany, but more beautiful.

Rosewood wood has a porous structure and a dense arrangement of fine fibers. A feature of this breed is its color, which, depending on the predominance of any shade, changes from light purple to dark brown with a purple tint. Like fernambuco, rosewood can change color over time.

If the wood has not been polished at the end of the work, then the color of the wood can become almost black. The wood itself is perfectly processed, not subject to decay. Most often, furniture and all kinds of decorations are made from rosewood.

satin tree

Satin wood is rare among us, and therefore it is highly valued. In Russia, it is used only for the manufacture of mosaic inserts and decorations. The wood of this breed can have a yellow, red and brown tint. But regardless of the color of the wood, it always contains the smallest sparkles, which, when varnished, give the finished product a satin sheen and the sheen of a soft flowing fabric.

From the book: Korshever N. G. Works on wood and glass

tree species

All tree species can be divided into two main groups: coniferous and deciduous. Conifers have needles (needles) at the ends of their branches and remain green all year round (old dried needles fall off in autumn). An exception is larch, which, having needles, completely sheds them by winter, and is covered with them again in spring. Hardwood trees change leaves every year.

Of the great variety of tree species growing in the USSR, only relatively few are used for construction.

The most widely used coniferous species: primarily pine; to a lesser extent - spruce and larch.

The advantage of conifers is their wide distribution, straight trunks and the best quality of wood for construction purposes. Most softwoods have vertical channels filled with resin, which increases durability. Hardwood trees have less straight trunks and more taper, making them less suitable for use in construction. Nevertheless, hardwoods are increasingly used in construction sites due to the need to save more valuable softwood.

Deciduous species are divided into two groups according to the nature of the location of the vessels in the annual layers and their size: annular vascular (or ring pore) and diffuse vascular (or diffuse pore). In ring-vascular species, which include, for example, oak, ash, elm, elm, etc., large vessels are located in ring rows in the inner part of the annual layer; therefore, the annual layers in such wood are well distinguished in sections.

In diffusely vascular species (birch, aspen, beech, hornbeam, maple, alder, etc.), the vessels are small and they are distributed fairly evenly over the entire width of the annual layer. The annual layers in the sections of wood of scattered vascular species differ poorly.

conifers

Pine grows in most regions of the USSR. Grown in a dense forest, the pine has a straight, tall trunk with few branches, as they die off on most of the trunk as the tree grows. Pine lives for about 300 years; the best age for its use in construction is from 80 to 120 years.
There are ore pine, growing on light sandy, sandy loamy soils or on elevated stony places and usually forming pure pine forests, and myand pine, growing in lower and more humid places, usually interspersed with spruce, birch and aspen.
Ore pine has more valuable wood - fine-grained and resinous. The wood of the manda pine is looser, broad-layered and less resinous.
Pine is widely used in all types of construction, both for the main load-bearing and enclosing structures (walls, ceilings, beams, etc.), and for all kinds of temporary structures and devices. A small number of knots in the lower part of the pine trunk allows it to be used for the manufacture of joinery: windows, doors, etc.

Spruce is distributed mainly in the north of the USSR. The life expectancy of spruce is 250-300 years, i.e., somewhat less than that of pine. best age for use in construction - between 100 and 150 years. Spruce wood is yellowish-white in color, looser and less resinous than pine, less durable, has more knots that often fall out.
In a dry place, spruce, like pine, can last a very long time. In damp places, it rots much faster than pine due to its lower resin content. Therefore, spruce is not recommended for those parts of structures that are in conditions of high humidity, for example, for the lower rims of log walls, log cabins of wells, etc.

Larch grows mainly in the northeast of the European part of the USSR, in Siberia and Far East. It has a strong, fine-layered wood of a reddish-brown color, its narrow light sapwood differs sharply in color from the core. Larch wood is very resinous, so it is well preserved in conditions of high humidity. Larch is a good building material, especially valuable for hydraulic and underground structures. In terms of strength of wood, it is not inferior to oak. Its main drawback is severe cracking. Nails do not hold well in larch wood, so it should not be used for the manufacture of nail structures.

Cedar is common in Siberia and the Far East. Cedar wood is soft, easy to process, its strength is less than that of pine. Cedar is used for the same work as pine.

Fir is common in Siberia and the Caucasus, used for the same purposes as spruce. The best age to use is 100 years old. The quality of fir wood is lower than that of spruce.

hardwood

Oak has highest value for construction due to the strength and hardness of wood, which is difficult to rot. Distributed in the central and southern regions of the USSR. The best age to use is 80-100 years old. Oak grown in a dense forest has a more or less straight and tall trunk without branches. An oak growing in a free place, as a rule, has a low trunk with a large number of branches. Obtaining long boards and beams from such oak is difficult.

Oak wood requires long and careful drying, as it easily cracks when dried quickly. Oak wood, which has lain for several years in water, acquires a beautiful dark color; such oak is called bog and is used for valuable handicrafts, furniture finishing, etc.

Due to the high cost and difficulty of processing, oak is rarely used for the main building structures, therefore, in construction it is used mainly for the manufacture of parquet, as it has low abrasion, as well as for various kinds of dowels, dowels, linings, etc. In addition, from oak sometimes window frames and door leafs are made.

The beautiful pattern and color of oak wood make it a valuable species for carpentry and finishing work and in the manufacture of furniture.

Birch is widespread in the USSR and grows almost everywhere. The best age for use in construction is 50-70 years.

Birch wood is quite strong and hard, but is easily prone to decay in damp and poorly ventilated places. It is difficult to get long boards from birch, since its trunk is rarely straight. Heart rot and other diseases begin to develop relatively early in birch. In old birches, the core, due to the onset of decay, is often colored light brown and has a loose structure. The use of such Birch, like other hardwoods (aspen, alder, beech, linden and poplar), in order to save more valuable, coniferous species, should be used for temporary structures, formwork, as well as for the manufacture of structures accessible for inspection and well-ventilated (rafters, battens, etc.).

Aspen is common in the middle zone of the RSFSR, in Siberia and the Far East. The best age to use is 50-70 years old. Aspen has a soft, easy-to-work yellowish-white wood. In damp places, it rots easily. Aspen splits easily, and therefore it is widely used for the manufacture of roofing shingles. Aspen, like birch, can be used in construction for the construction of temporary structures.

Alder grows in the middle part of the RSFSR, in Western Siberia and the Caucasus. The best age to use is 40-60 years old. There are two types of alder: black, or ordinary, and white. Black alder grows mainly in damp places, has a fairly straight trunk, sometimes up to 1 m thick.

Alder wood is very fragile, when dried it warps and cracks. A freshly cut tree has a reddish color in the cut and quickly takes on a bright red hue when exposed to air. Dried alder wood is light brown. Alder wood rots easily in damp places, but is well preserved under water for a long time.

Alder is used for temporary structures, in carpentry, for the production of plywood, etc.
White alder grows in the northern part of the USSR. In construction, it is used little, since its trunk rarely reaches large sizes.

Hardwoods are divided into hardwoods and softwoods. Hardwoods trees are characterized by hardwood, these include: oak, beech, walnut, ash and maple. Among softwoods The most commonly used trees are: aspen, alder, birch, willow, linden, poplar. According to the classification adopted in most other countries of the world, all types of birches belong to hardwood tree species, which often leads to incorrect interpretation of Russian forest statistics by foreign experts and vice versa.

Hardwood practically does not smell, and the smell intensifies only when the wood is freshly cut and processed. Hardwood wood is good for lumber, designed for sheathing walls, partitions and ceilings. Internal stairs, joinery, floors - all this looks great and has good performance when made from lumber of such wood.

Wood oak differs in strength, strength, density, hardness and heaviness. Oak is easy to process, quite flexible, has a light or dark brown wood with a pronounced large texture. A feature of this wood is the property of oak to become stronger under water.

Oak wood is an excellent building and ornamental material: it is used for underwater and land buildings, the construction of underwater and main parts of wooden ships, and as carriage, machine, furniture, parquet and carpentry timber.

Beech has a dense, heavy and moisture resistant wood. The color of beech wood is white with a yellowish-red tint, becoming pinkish-brown over time, well and easily polished. In the open air, wood is short-lived, and therefore it is used only indoors. Beech wood is often used to make various products: musical instruments, plywood, parquet, wooden containers, bent furniture, rifle butts, measuring instruments, etc.

Differs in a variety of color shades of wood: from greenish-gray to reddish. The intricate texture pattern with large sinuous stripes of different shades is especially appreciated by customers. Wood is resistant to moisture, well processed, painted and polished.

Walnut wood is considered a valuable species of wood used for the manufacture of high-quality products, in particular for the manufacture of furniture, parquet, as well as for interior design of houses and cars. Due to the high cost, veneer is usually used for these purposes. In addition, it is widely known that walnut wood is used to make gun butts.

Ash has a hard, durable and elastic wood with a matte finish. The color of the wood is light yellow with a beautiful texture, which is formed due to the stripes of clear annual layers. Ash is poorly polished; for ash wood, decorative coating with nitro-lacquers or waxing is recommended. Due to frequent outgrowths on the trunk and a pronounced texture, ash wood is widely used in mosaic work.

has a strong, hard, uniform light yellow wood. Wood is well processed by a cutting tool, unstable against dampness, although it warps a little. Maple is perfectly cut and polished, therefore it is used for carving with fine profiling. Wood is often imitated to look like other species with an even structure.

White maple is grown for wood, white, with a silky sheen, wear-resistant, used for the manufacture of musical instruments, furniture and fittings, flooring, including parquet. Occasionally, wood with a wavy texture increases its value for decorative cladding. This is the traditional material for making the back, neck and scroll of the neck of a violin.

Aspen has soft wood, in which there are few knots. Aspen is easy to process, but because of its porous structure, small parts can break almost during their manufacture.

Aspen is used to build houses, is used as a roofing material, is used in the production of plywood, cellulose, matches, wooden containers and other products. In Russian wooden architecture, domes of churches were covered with aspen planks.

Wood alder soft, light, has a fairly uniform structure, warps a little when dried, which is a valuable quality for the manufacture of components for wicker furniture. Alder is well processed, it is cleanly planed in all directions, it is well cut, polished, holds glue, and is easily painted to look like valuable breeds.

Alder wood has a beautiful reddish color, therefore, more even and thicker trunks are used for crafts, for carpentry and turning, but the bulk of alder wood is used for firewood, which is usually valued 10-30% cheaper than birch wood. Alder wood is preserved under water for a long time and therefore is used for small underwater structures.

differs in high durability, uniform structure and color, average density and hardness. The wood is white with a yellowish or pinkish tinge. Birch wood is unstable against decay.

Birch is mainly used for the manufacture of high-quality plywood, skis, small carved toys, butts of firearms, used in furniture production and in carpentry.

Wood and you light, soft, slightly drying out, fragile and unstable against decay, well stained. Willow is difficult to process, as with the slightest negligence, scratches and dents form on its surface.

Willow in basket weaving is the main raw material. Willow bark and twigs from some shrub willows are used to make wickerwork, basket weaving, furniture, and more. Willow wood is also used to make tennis rackets and many crafts.

Linden refers to rocks that almost do not crack and dry out a little. Linden wood is soft, does not warp, and is easy to process. Due to its uniform texture and pure white wood, basswood is the best material for carving.

Linden wood is highly valued for various crafts and buildings that do not require high strength. Linden wood is often used in the manufacture of musical instruments, in particular, on the soundboards of electric guitars. In addition, linden is used to make plywood, furniture, drawing boards, shoe lasts, barrel containers, dugouts.

wood poplars light, white, soft, well processed. Poplar is used very widely for technical purposes, as a raw material for the paper industry, for the production of artificial silk, for the manufacture of match straws, plywood, simple furniture, lumber, wooden containers, boats, troughs, shovels and many other household items. Poplar wood is also used for low quality firewood and charcoal.