Is Boxwood A Hardwood Or Softwood

Allowed to grow in the open it rarely achieves heights of 25 feet with a maximum diameter of 6 inches.

Is boxwood a hardwood or softwood.

It s pale creamy yellowish hues make this quite popular with wood turners and especially carvers as boxwood is renowned for its capacity to hold crisp fine details and it has a smooth very fine texture. It is true that many hardwoods are more difficult to machine than softwoods however the distinction actually has nothing to do with the hardness or workability. 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. This north american species of hardwood tree produces distinctive fragrant white flowers in the spring followed by clusters of bright red fruit.

Its wood once widely was used for tool handles mallet heads wedges engraver s blocks and golf clubs. Usually seen as a small shrub it is a common component of the ornamental garden hedge. Boxwood hard heavy fine grained wood usually white or light yellow that is obtained from the common box buxus sempervirens and other small trees of the genus buxus. Softwood cuttings are taken when the plant has only been putting out new growth for three or four weeks.

It is a common misconception that hardwoods are called hardwood because the wood is hard while softwood is so named because they are soft. Boxwood shoots may be harvested in both the hardwood semi hardwood and softwood stage. 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. Other species in different genera tend to have similar appearances and working characteristics i e fine texture hard and heavy and perhaps get marketed under the boxwood name much like many woods are called by the mahogany name.

While the term boxwood has become quite convoluted over time this species buxus macowanii is considered a close cousin to the original boxwood buxus sempervirens.