When it comes to bespoke joinery in Derbyshire, there are many options when it comes to which wood to use. Whether that be the highly durable and cost effective accoya timber or more traditional types of wood use for bespoke joinery matters.
Arguably the two most popular types of wood used in homes today are the hardwood and softwood. Often, a question we get asked is, for bespoke joinery in Derby, which is better; hardwood or softwood?
While we don’t think hardwood or softwood is the pinnacle of wood used for bespoke joinery; we will look at both woods, assess the pros and cons and try to evaluate which is better for our unique craft.
Hardwood
Before delving into the advantages and disadvantages of hardwood, let’s first establish what it is and where it comes from.
To put it plainly, hardwood is wood derived from dicot trees. The dicot tree usually grows in tropical or subtropical climates. Hardwood usually grows on trees such as ash, oak and beech. Hardwood is a direct contrast to softwood. In addition, hardwood was seen as the ultimate versatile material. Due to it’s versatility, the material is frequently used for musical instruments, flooring and various furniture.
In order to properly maintain good overall quality hardwood, regular dusting is required. You might also decide to apply a wood polish to keep the wood looking clean and fresh.
Hardwood is usually much more durable and they last significantly longer. It is not all fantastic news however.
The extra strength and durability means hardwood is significantly more expensive. This makes more sense when you consider that the wood takes much longer to grow. Hardwood can take up to 150 years to grow before being harvested.
Softwood
Softwood, as the name suggests, is the softer alternative to hardwood. The wood is gymnosperm trees such as conifers. Softwood is usually used for home applications such as wooden windows and other mouldings. The wood is sourced from all over the world as supposed to in just tropical climates for hardwood.
The material is usually much easier to manipulate than hardwood. This benefit is definitely not lost on bespoke joiners. They are flexible and lightweight in addition to this.
Softwood is usually a lot cheaper than hardwood. This can be attributed to the material being more readily available and the wood itself taking significantly less time to grow. One potential negative is the fact that softwood does not last as longer as hardwood.
It is often stated that softwood might only last up to 7-8 years instead of the potential for 150.
Which One For Bespoke Joinery In Derbyshire?
When it comes to wood for bespoke joinery, both softwood and hardwood have their own pros and cons. Softwood is the cheaper option and is usually much easier to manipulate. However, if the project is required to be extremely strong and more durable than hardwood might be the better option.
While we might at times prefer softwood due to it’s ease of moulding benefit, which wood use will be based solely on a project by project basis. At Brinard Joinery, we supply beautiful accoya timber which a more than welcome alternatively to softwood and hardwood. We stock amazing accoya windows and accoya doors. So, if you interested, please contact us today.