Maple Hardwood Lumber

North America supplies different species of maple wood to accommodate everyone’s needs. The two most popular species of maple are hard maple and soft maple. They offer different characteristics and wood working properties that set them above other domestic hardwoods.

Hard maple is botanically called Acer Saccharum. The hard maple tree grows from 70 to 125 feet in height, with a diameter of 24 to 36 inches. Its sapwood is nearly white and its heartwood is a uniform, delicate, very light reddish-brown or very light tan. It has a fine, even texture. It is very strong and hard, with close straight grains. Hard maple can sometimes be wavy or curly, which produces special figures such as ‘Bird’s Eye Maple’ and ‘Curly Hard Maple.’

With a Janka hardness of 1450, hard maple is ranked as one of the more valuable hardwoods because of its strength and stiffness. It has great wood working properties and is used for a variety of different projects. Hard maple has good crushing strength and bending properties, and very good steam bending qualities. It has above average fire resistance and glue adheres satisfactorily. It takes stain well and gives an excellent result with paint or enamel, and finishes smoothly. Its nail and screw holding properties are good, but pre-drilling is required. Hard maple is more durable than some of the other maple species, but it has low resistance to fungal or insect attack. It is also able to work well with tools, but it sometimes has a dulling effect on cutters because it is such a hard wood.

Hard maple is well suited for furniture, interior trim, turnery, paneling, cabinetry, veneer, tool handles, woodenware, musical instruments, and bowling pins. It is popularly used for heavy duty flooring, and is used for dance floors, gymnasiums, bowling alleys, and skating rinks. Figured grain hard maple is used for decorative cabinetry.

Soft maple, also referred to as Acer Rubrum, is native to eastern North America. The soft maple tree typically grows 70 feet in height, with a diameter of 18 to 24 inches. It has creamy white sapwood, and light beige or tan heartwood, sometimes with a grayish-green hue. Soft maple is a fine textured, diffuse-porous wood, and its grain is normally straight and close, but it can be wavy or curly. The different grain pattern generates special figures like, ‘Ambrosia Maple’ and ‘Curly Soft Maple.’

With a Janka hardness of 950, soft maple is actually 25% softer than hard maple. The wood of soft maple resembles that of hard maple, but it is not nearly as heavy, hard, or strong. However, the better grades of soft maple are used as a substitute for hard maple in some projects. This is because soft maple has good steam bending, and medium crushing and bending strengths. It works well with hand and machine tools, and nails, screws, planes, and bores satisfactorily. It is reliably stable, which also makes it easy to work with. It can be stained and polished to an excellent glass smooth finish. Still it does have some durability issues. It is a poor choice for exterior projects because it is susceptible to attack by decay causing fungi and insects.

Soft maple is used for turnery, cabinetry, furniture framing, domestic flooring, internal joinery, kitchen utensils, veneer, plywood, crates, toys, and musical instruments.

When it comes to a great domestic wood, maple has the qualities you look for in lumber, including the range of figuring present in the different species. Depending on your project, there are different features of hard maple and soft maple that make them a perfect choice for you.

Discover Hard Maple wood and Soft Maple wood benefits and features.