Sawdust on the Floor

The distinction between hard and soft is a very easy one, in every field except woodworking. For instance when you are ordering tacos, the choice of hard or soft is easy. Or when you are purchasing a new mattress or pillow, hard or soft choices are obvious. The same can not be said about wood. It is really impossible to determine if a piece of wood is a hardwood or soft wood simply by appearance, feel or heft. You really need to understand what kind of tree the wood came from.

All trees reproduce by creating seeds. Hardwood trees and softwood trees produce vastly different types of seeds. Those for hardwood are always produced with some sort of cover on the seed, while softwood tree seeds will have no covering. The hardwood seeds which are known as Angiosperms, can be found in things like apples, pears or acorns. While the seeds for softwoods, are released by the tree without any protection for the seed. The scientific name for softwood trees is Gymnosperms.

A more general way to think about the difference is that hardwood trees will lose all of their leaves during cold weather, while the softwood trees will retain there leaves. Trees like the maple or oak are all in the angiosperm or hardwood family, while trees like the pine, or fir trees are part of the softwood or Gymnosperm family.

It is also correct to say that Evergreens are in the softwood grouping while deciduous trees are from the hardwood side. No matter which set of terminology you choose to use, the distinction is really based on the reproduction habits of the tree and nothing else.

So here is a quiz for you. Which of the following woods are hardwoods and which is soft? Pine, Douglas Fir, Maple, Hickory, Chestnut, Apple, Balsa or Walnut. If you choose to put the Maple, Hickory, Chestnut, Apple, Walnut and Balsa in the hardwood category you would have been correct. Balsa trees are deciduous trees, therefore there wood falls into the hardwood classification.

Strange as it seems, that is the real difference. Gee, now I wished I had paid more attention back in junior high school science classes when they tried to teach me these things.

Baseball has its Hall of Fame in Cooperstown NY, Football has one in Canton Ohio, Rock and Roll music even has one in Cleveland Ohio, so what about a Woodworkers Hall of Fame? Ok, I know that there is no Woodworkers Hall of Fame.. yet. But what if there were? Who would you nominate for induction? Gustuv Stickley, William Morris, The Greene Brothers, James Kernov? All of these gentlemen are well known to all who have an interest in woodworking, and probably would be inducted on the first ballet. But what about current craftsman? Who would you nominate? One name that I would love to nominate is William Robertson.

Before you ask, who is William Robertson, let me tell you. William Robertson is a craftsman, no, let me make that an artesian, who creates woodworking pieces in miniature. An example of the artistry of William Robertson is displayed at the right. It is a replica of an 18th century Gentlemen’s chest, the part that is hard to comprehend is that it is only 2” long. If the size of the tool box were not enough to make your jaw drop, think about this, all of the tools actually work, the hinges are totally functional, the lock even works. The thing that amazes me is that all of these parts were crafted by William Robertson.

I don’t know what kind of a woodworker you are, but I would really have to think twice about even thinking of attempting to make the tool box, let alone the tools that are within the box. If the woodworking were not enough, Robertson’s tools are actual working pieces. The saw was hand crafted, and has 160 teeth per inch; the folding ruler shown in the picture has 5 leaf hinges that Robertson built. While looking at a catalog of Robertson’s work, I saw something that totally amazed me, hand cut dove tails. I have to work at cutting dovetails, and hand cutting them is someplace in the future, I hope. But I couldn’t imagine thinking about cutting them at the scale that Robertson works in. Robertson’s work stands alone.

Please take a couple of minutes and look at the entire scope of his work. I think you will also be in awe, I know I was. And if you can think of anyone else who should be considered for the Woodworkers Hall of Fame, let me know. Who knows someday it may just actually happen.

**Image from Fine Woodworking Tools and Shops  magazine Winter 2009 issue**