Question Hard/soft wood

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docjoque

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I am wondering if there is a way to determine if a wood is hard or soft, and to what degree. I know I need to use different types of nails depending on the hardness of the wood, but how so I tell. I've look it up,and know that mahogany is a hardwood, and pine is a softwood, but I don't know what all the woods are just by looking at them. I usually just have to try to scratch the surface with my fingernail to judge hardness. Is there a better way?

Thanks.
 
The way to choose the different v-nails is:

Softwood: The only wood you should use these on is Basswood (Fingernail depression allows you to shove it deep into the wood with little effort)
Hardwood: Everything else

Basswood is about as hard as balsa wood (actually harder but use that as a gauge)

Most Hardwood nails are listed as Medium/Hard because 99.9% of all mouldings should should get these used. Anything you need the Softwood nails for is something that will dent if you even look at it wrong.
 
Jeff Rodier said:
The way to choose the different v-nails is:

Softwood: The only wood you should use these on is Basswood (Fingernail depression allows you to shove it deep into the wood with little effort)
Hardwood: Everything else

Basswood is about as hard as balsa wood (actually harder but use that as a gauge)

Most Hardwood nails are listed as Medium/Hard because 99.9% of all mouldings should should get these used. Anything you need the Softwood nails for is something that will dent if you even look at it wrong.
Click to expand...

Perfect. Just the answer I Was looking for. What about for plastic frames? Hardwood vnails as well?
 
I haven't used plastic in nearly 30 years but would guess the hardwood would be fine. There is some real junk plastic out there that would perform better with the softwood wedges. If the mouldig weighs just slightly more than air itself the softwood would be the one to use.
 
On the other hand, all I have are softwood v-nails and they have served the purpose. BUT, I don't limit my joining technology to one tool. V-nailing in hardwood is very limited.
Also, in your thinking just keep it in mind that there are also some very hard pines and some very soft mahoganies. Most of the finger-jointed snotwood frames from SE Asia vicinity can be joined as well as possible with soft wood v-nails. Finger joining means that one side of the miter may be hard and the other soft...it's a carp-shoot.
I would also use softwood v-nails in polystyrene simply because they are sharper. Use the minimum amount needed to hold the joint until the miter is bonded.
 
Thanks for the info. I have both for my other machine, and I usually went with the Hardwood nails.

I'm using a Jyden chopper for the miters. How imperative is it to sand the pieces. I'm getting very clean cuts, and I usually sand each cut 10 turns of the sanding disc.
 
"Hard" vs "Soft" wood is really a misnomer.

A "hardwood" is aka Deciduous, and "softwood" is aka Coniferous.

So technically Basswood is a Hardwood, but softer than most Softwoods. Southern Yellow Pine is a Softwood, but harder than hardwoods such as Cherry or Walnut.

As for underpinning, as previously mentioned the thumbnail test is a good one. If you want a more precise measurement, you can use the Janka Hardness Scale.
 
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