Maple is a white hardwood and is considered to have a very tight and even grain. Various species of maple can fall under the soft maple category. Forest Products Laboratory General Technical Report FPL-GTR-113, U.S. Forest Products Society Catalogue Number 7269, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin. This type of wood works very well with different stains so that you can use it with your current home furnishings. In addition to butcher blocks, hard maple wood is also used for making pool cue shafts, wooden baseball bats. This characteristic is a distinction derived from the foliage of the originating tree. However, they are all overall less strong and hard than hard maple, which makes them more affordable and easily available. Its color is light brown, with a reddish cast; the grain is usually straight, but also occurs in bird's-eye, curly, or wavy patterns. lol. Other Names Carolina red maple, Drummond red maple, Maple, Red maple, Scarlet maple, Soft maple, Swamp maple, Water maple. Types of Lumber: Pine, Oak and Maple. Hard maple is commonly used in the manufacture of flooring, furniture, cabinets, billiard cues and other finished wood products. While many of these tasks are also possible with other tools, few, if …, A hand saw is an important tool to have if you do a lot of handy jobs around the house or if you like to take on woodworking projects. Hello and thanks for the A2A. For a simple test to tell the difference, Robert, mix two tablespoons of ferrous sulfate (iron sulfate) in one cup of water and shake until dissolved. Both varieties are harder than many other woods; hard maple is so hard (a 5 on a scale of 1 to 5) that it’s difficult to work with. Hard Maple’s beauty and strength makes it a favorite for flooring, cabinetry, furniture, paneling and veneer. Lumber types are often classified as hard or soft. Compared to sugar (hard) maple, cherry and walnut are softwoods too. It is still harder, stronger, and more durable than many other varieties of wood. That is another reason for the price of soft maple to be much less than other wood varieties. Soft maple, on the other hand, is relatively easy to work with. There is an ample number of the maple wood species but most commonly used maple for furniture manufacturing including Hard Maple. It is still much stronger than many other types of lumber out there and can also help create some beautiful accents that hard maple cannot. It also allows you to be more artistic and …, Nothing shreds wood quite like the different types of power saws. It is readily distinguished from sugar maple (i.e., hard maple) as the leaves of silver maple have deep notches between the lobes, whereas sugar maple’s leaves have shallower notches. Curly Maple has been a favorite among furniture makers in America since the early colonial days. This gray coloring makes Soft Maple a much better paint grade option than stain grade, … Both are quite hard as compared to other woods and both are specifically used for certain applications. 847-450-0050, Procedures Removal of Infringing Material, Performance Standards in Sport Floor Project Specifications, Athletic Maple Floor Resurfacing Specification, Third and Third & Better Grade Descriptions, Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material; U.S.D.A., 1999, U.S.D.A. Being available from various sources of maple tree species allows soft maple wood to be available in larger quantities than other varieties such as hard maple. Because of their fine, straight grain, both varieties are more stable than many other woods. Silver maple is soft compared to sugar (hard) maple, but that isn’t saying much. Soft maple works even more easily than hard maple. Even though it has a lower price tag, that doesn’t mean that soft maple is a bad choice for your furniture. Natural resistance to decay and insects makes some types of wood especially well suited for use in patio furniture and other outdoor structures. Characteristics that make Acer saccharum perfect for MFMA flooring include fine and uniform texture, straight grain, resistance to shock, hardness and strength, resistance to dents and scratches, and stiffness. Soft Maple is used to describe four other types of maple trees: Silver maple (Acer saccharinum), Red maple (Acer rebrum), Boxelder (Acer negundo) and Bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum). The flesh of soft maple trees -- in particular silver and red maple -- resembles that of hard maple, but is not as heavy, hard or strong. We may also receive commissions on purchases from other retail websites. Our Red Maple lumber is 100% Red Leaf Maple and comes from within about 100 mile radius (62 km) of our manufacturing facilities. Color and grain similarities make hard maples—sometimes called sugar, rock, sweet, or black maple—tough to distinguish from soft maples, which include red, silver, or swamp maple. Maple and ash are two different types of trees. Using Maple in Design Quite often the wood is used for fine furniture and cabinetry. Range Cream white to reddish brown. This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Even though these two types are derived from different species, they are both hard woods and can be used to make long-lasting pieces of furniture. Harder woods create good, solid long-lasting joinery in furniture. The sustainability of soft maple also means that customers receive customized furniture pieces that match well and have a consistent appearance, unlike tables and chairs that are made from different types of maple wood or other species. The terms are also used to indicate wood obtained from their respective trees. Unfortunately for lovers of maple wood, that natural resistance isn't a characteristic of maple, a hardwood that is otherwise an excellent choice for furniture … No other cutting system gives us the control and accuracy that these motorized collections of sharp teeth do.I know …, https://www.facebook.com/The-Wood-Craftsman-1979629612302353/, https://www.pinterest.com/thewoodcraftsman/pins/. NEED A PDF? As a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, this site may earn from qualifying purchases. This type of wood is sought after by many furniture makers because it offers a wide range of benefits to both the designer and the customer. Additionally, hard maple will take a stain more evenly than soft maple. Curly Maple is also referred to as sugar maple, rock maple, quilted maple, and hard rock maple. Along with being strong and durable, soft maple is also much less expensive than many other types of wood used to make customized furniture. For companies that hope to use soft maple as their primary source of lumber, this can be a great benefit. I have no experience finishing or refinishing floors, but I have done plenty of pieces of furniture. At the end of the day though, the species isn’t that important – if it falls under soft maple, you’ll be able to enjoy all the advantages listed below. Your email address will not be published. We do not mix Silver Leaf with this species, as is a common practice in the industry. While Brown Maple is sometimes referred to as “soft,” it is actually only soft in comparison to Hard Maple. If you live out west, bigleaf maple is all the rage. It may be shaped and cut to suit the custom design of your choosing. Some woods make beautiful accents on furniture, but they do not stand up to the test of time like kiln-dried soft maple wood. This hardwood is the best type of maple for flooring due to the unique characteristics of this wood species. Required fields are marked *. The main instances where you would want to stick with hard maple would be in applications where hardness and strength are important, such as: butcher blocks, flooring, workbench tops, etc. And once it has been kiln-dried, the wood is resilient against issues such as molding, cracking or warping, regardless of what type of humidity it is exposed to. In …, I'll wager good money that most woodworking enthusiasts have wondered how to burn letters into wood with the best wood burning tool at some point. It's a logical technical progression …, If you work with wood, then you should have the best wood chisels. It all comes from the same tree: hard maple, rock maple, sugar maple, brown maple, white maple. Hard maple is commonly used in the manufacture of flooring, furniture, cabinets, billiard cues and other finished wood products. But why is soft maple considered to be the best over hard maple, and what is the difference between the two? The Maple comes in both soft … The soft maples are often used as a cheaper substitute for hard maple mouldings, or in applications where the trim is painted. "Soft maple" is the common term for four species of maple trees: Silver maple (Acer saccharinum), Red maple (Acer rebrum), Boxelder (Acer negundo) and Bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum). Soft Maple (950 on the Janka Scale) gets its name because it is less dense than Hard Maple (1450 on the Janka Scale). They each come with their unique set of properties and characteristics as far as hardness, strength, and weight are concerned. Of course, this only applies as long the company you employ uses trees that have been harvested locally. When you want something that is strong and durable, yet also provides you with a look of true elegance, you can’t go wrong by using quality maple lumber. Taking the hardness data into consideration with other hardwoods, Brown Maple is slightly easier than Maple to work with when being shaped. 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