Characteristics: Maple
is a strong, heavy, hard, straight grained and fine textured wood. The
heartwood is light reddish brown and the sapwood white in colour and
furnishes the white maple prized for certain uses. It differs mainly from the
soft maples in its greater density and finer texture. Hard maple weighs 740 Kg /
m3 when dried, compared to soft maple at 550 Kg / m3. Maple is non-durable.
Working qualities: Hard
maple is rather difficult to work, the timber tending to cause saws to vibrate
and for cutters to ride on the wood during planing. The timber can be stained,
polished and glued satisfactorily, but is hard to nail or screw. Soft maple works
and machines with less difficulty.
Uses: The
uses for hard and soft maple are practically the same except for most exacting
requirements of hardness and strength. Typical uses for maple include flooring,
furniture, cabinet making, turnery, musical instruments, sports goods, butcher
blocks and panelling. Figured forms of maple include bird’s eye, fiddle-back, blister and curly maple.
