earlywood

The earlywood displays a vast number of large vessels ( 0.5 mm diameter).

In temperate softwoods there often is a marked difference between latewood and earlywood.

Earlywood -The portion of the annual ring that is formed during the early part of a tree's growing.

Late wood - The portion of the annual ring that is formed after formation of earlywood has ceased.

It is usually lighter in color than that near the outer portion of the ring, and is known as earlywood or springwood.

No satisfactory explanation can as yet be given for the exact mechanisms determining the formation of earlywood and latewood.

In hard pines, on the other hand, the latewood is very dense and is deep-colored, presenting a very decided contrast to the soft, straw-colored earlywood.

In choosing a piece of pine where strength or stiffness is the important consideration, the principal thing to observe is the comparative amounts of earlywood and latewood.

Earlywood tissue is characterized by wide vessels or denser arrangement of vessels, whereas latewood tissue shows narrower vessels and/or lower vessel density.

In diffuse-porous woods, as has been stated, the vessels or pores are even-sized, so that the water conducting capability is scattered throughout the ring instead of collected in the earlywood.

In good oak these large vessels of the earlywood occupy from 6 to 10 percent of the volume of the log, while in inferior material they may make up 25% or more.

Since the latewood of a growth ring is usually darker in color than the earlywood, this fact may be used in judging the density, and therefore the hardness and strength of the material.

If ease of working is prized, wood should be chosen with regard to its uniformity of texture and straightness of grain, which will in most cases occur when there is little contrast between the latewood of one season's growth and the earlywood of the next.

Whatever its width, one year's ring can be distinguished from the next by the two-stage process of tree growth: the first part of the ring, laid down in spring, is relatively loose earlywood, while the second part is composed of denser and thus darker latewood, which grows in the summer.