Is MDF made from hardwood or softwood?

Answer 1

Short answer; It depends where the MDF comes from.

Long answer: First of all there are different grades of MDF. Most are listed by the density. This density is from the cubic weight of the board not the species.

MDF is made from either hardwood or softwood depending on where in the world the MDF is produced. Most MDF is made from the scrapes of wood from dimensional lumber mills or waste recycled wood from demolition projects. Most dimensional lumber is made from fir and southern yellow pine. So MDF mills mix both species if the raw material gets limited. In the United States most MDF mills are in rural areas near large tracts of forests so what ever the native species of wood is what makes up the MDF. In the North east hardwoods are used. Maple, Oak and cherry are the primary raw material. In the mid Atlantic region there is a mixing of species. Primarily in Pennsylvania, New York and Virgina the raw material is hardwood but most mills are using up to 20% pine softwood in their MDF.

In the majority of the MDF mills in the south use southern yellow pine due to the abundance of the raw material. The northern and western United States as well as most of Canadian MDF mills use a mix of southern yellow pine and fir. Some mills in the Midwest and west coast have begun making MDF out of straw.