How to differentiate pine from hardwood?

[mantisfan101]

I have hatching D. Tityus eggs and I am trying to differntiate if the lwood I have now is pine or hardwood. How do you tell which is which? The wood reeks of fungus and is sort of yellowish white and breaks with a little bit of effort from my hammer...

 

[Aquaticcreature]

Can you provide a picture? I can't guarantee that we can ID it but pictures will help a lot. Other than that pine is significantly softer than most hard woods. If it is wet and moldy though it will all be soft.

 

[Redmont]

It may be hard to ID the wood unless you have a picture of the bark, pine sometimes has a reder color to it.

 

[Serle]

Sounds as if it could be any type of wood if rotten , if it is pine you can leave an impression with your fingernail . Pine is a soft wood with wide growth rings , yellowish or white coloured.  Hard wood  has narrower growth rings and  can not be marked by any thing other than a sharp tool , hammer or pointed instrument .   Hope that works for you ....... S

 

[mantisfan101]

Hmm I can't get a pic to upload but I can desccribe it in detail- it is orange when it is wet, but pale white, maybe cream when dried. It breaks apart in whole strips instead of chunks, and the outside is smooth and greenish- sorta black- gray. It also shatters rather easily too.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

look for something that has recognizable bark on it and compare it to living trees. Birch has really distinctive bark that's still intact long after the wood has rotted thoroughly.