Softwood Education and Training
Staying competitive in the softwood business - growing, using, and trading
Softwood trees, also called conifers, are classified as gymnosperms. In other words, they have naked seeds that are not encased in an ovary. They're generally softer than hardwood trees, though the Douglas fir is harder than most hardwoods and the balsa hardwood is softer than most softwoods. The key difference is that softwoods do not have the vessel elements for carrying water that hardwoods have. Instead, softwoods transport water via their longitudinal wood fibers (tracheids).Softwoods are generally easier to work with and are thus the most commonly used wood types for construction and for making furniture, mouldings, doors and so on. They're also used in making paper and medium density fiberboard (MDF). Whatever portion of the softwood industry you are involved in, you need softwood education and training to be successful and competitive. Use the following as a guide.
1. Educate yourself on the different types of softwood trees and their growing characteristics.
2. Understand the softwood grading system to properly select the right softwood for the job.
3. Optimize business decisions by knowing the domestic and international trends of the softwood market.
Learn the types of softwood and how to differentiate them from hardwood
If you want to grow softwood trees, you need to know which types of trees are softwood. Common types include yew, redwood, cypress, hemlock, fir, larch, Douglas fir, cedar, spruce and pine. Pines are among the most commercially important of the milling softwood trees due to their wide use in construction and furniture making, including white softwood of the eastern white pine.
Try: About provides an article that teaches how to identify common North American Conifers, i.e. softwood trees. Fast Growing Trees Nursery provides a website where you can determine what growing zone you are in and learn all the characteristics, growing requirements and instructions of each tree. It includes a wide variety of tree types, including Evergreen trees, which are softwood trees.
Understand how to grade softwood lumber
Softwood is categorized on a multi-tier grading system according to appearance, ability to withstand stresses, suitability for other construction uses and suitability for other non-construction uses. Familiarize yourself with the various softwood lumber grades in order to strike the right balance between appearance, strength and other characteristics for a given application.
Try: WoodBin has a web page that gives a thorough breakdown of the various grades of softwood so that the reader can select the optimal grade of softwood for a given job. The Softwood Export Council also has an excellent web page that will help you, when buying softwood, to sort out all the various softwood grades and relate them to the applications for which they are each most suited. The University of Missouri Extension's site does this as well and additionally provides you with a list of the common grade stamps and insight regarding water content, species groups, etc.
Obtain an education in the marketing and international trade side of the softwood industry
If you are either a softwood exporter or one of the many softwood producers, you will want to keep abreast of the market shifts at home and abroad. By reviewing online softwood market research publications regularly you will have a better grasp of when to increase or decrease production and where to focus your advertising dollars.
Try: Global Wood provides extensive coverage of industry news and market trend analyses in the lumber and wood products industry, including domestic and international markets. The Center for International Trade in Forest Products provides research assistantships to graduate students in forestry to work collaboratively with faculty in projects involving marketing, forestry and international trade of forest products.
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