Sapwood

From Wikifurniture

Sapwood is the soft wood between the bast fibre and the heartwood of a tree. The disadvantage of sapwood is that it's less durable, it doesn't last as long. Sapwood takes care of feeding the tree. The juices and nutritients are distributed and stored in here. Sapwood is more alive than heartwood, that can be found on the inside of sapwood, which is already dead. It's not taking care of nourishing the tree anymore and can be much stronger.

How to recognize sapwood?

With a table it can be recognized by the lighter color. Sapwood is almost white at times. With a worse quality teak table it sometimes seems as if there are flames on it. This is similar with a cabinet and other furniture. When a tree is cut some nutrition might remain in the wood, which is attractive for woodworms and longhorn beetles - the softness of the wood makes sapwood a tasty target.

Difference in quality and gradation of wood

Sapwood is very bad for furniture - it's not durable and low quality. It can be used for other purposes. Wood can be qualified to different degrees: A, B and the worst is C.