The FINAL Word on All Things Maple

So, the big question is, does it matter which species I use?  Probably not, depending on what you are using the wood for.  Consider that the difference between the hardest of the Soft Maples and Hard Maple is all of 500 pounds per square inch, which while clearly noticeable isn’t usually a difference that will seriously affect performance, again, depending on the purpose the wood is to be put to.  The most significant and common uses for Maple in which the wood worker would likely want to be sure to use Hard Maple are those uses in which hardness and strength are essential, such as when making butcher blocks, flooring, workbench tops, or other high and hard use applications.  For most every other common use of maple, just about any species will do just fine and they most all look quite similar.

In addition, the softer maples can actually some advantages over the hard maples.  The softer woods are much less likely to dull tools and are not as likely to burn during operations such as when using a router.  However, that said, it is also my experience that is much more difficult to achieve a fine surface finish on the softer maples because the softer wood is likely to cut with a fuzzy edge that requires more sanding to remove than what normally occurs with a harder maple.  But, it is also true that a soft wood sands quickly and easily, so that problem is also easily solved.

The softer maples are softer because they grow about half as fast as harder maples.  This difference in growth rates also helps account for the price differences between the hard and soft maples.  The wood that takes longer to reach mature usable size is simply going to be more expensive.  If only for reasons of economy, using a softer maple when you can might be a wise choice.

Ultimately, I suspect that most wood workers would not readily be able to tell one species from another in the absence of labeling, pricing, or trying to work with the wood.  Based just on appearance alone, which is in many cases the ultimate arbiter of which wood to use, most all Acer species are relatively indistinguishable.

As is so often true when working with different woods, the best way to know which wood you prefer is to try the different options and determine for yourself what best meets the particular need you have at a particular time.  Being open to the possibility that you might discover that you enjoy working with a wood you didn’t think you would might go a long way towards helping a wood worker to discover a new favorite material.

If, despite everything I have said above, you are determined to be able to distinguish between the different types of Maple, try using the methods listed in the Wood Database.

Geographic Distribution

The native areas of the Maple you are working with are determined entirely by which species of Maple you are using. I will give a breakdown of this for the most commonly encountered species in the United States.

Acer nigrum, Acer pensylvanicum, Acer rubrum, Acer saccharinum, and Acer saccharum are native to the hardwood forests of northeastern North America, ranging from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario in Canada, and as far south as Georgia and Texas. Acer saccharum is best known for its bright fall foliage and for being the primary, although not sole, source of Maple syrup.

Acer negundo also grows naturally in similar areas of the eastern North American continent but it also spreads considerably to the west. Isolated populations can be found in the Rocky Mountain states of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. Very small stands exist in parts of Nevada and more sizable amounts may be found in northern California, particularly along the Sacramento River valley. In addition to this westward spread, A. negundo is also found as far south as Guatemala, where one would certainly never expect to find any of the other above listed species.

A. macrophyllum is the only Acer species native to the western parts of the North American continent. Several other Acer species are found in the eastern and Midwestern portions but these do not cross the Rocky Mountains. A. macrophyllum is native to a very narrow band of the Pacific coastal areas ranging from the southernmost reaches of Alaska, along the coast of British Columbia, and on down as far south as northern California. There are also limited populations that extend further down the Pacific coastline of California as far south as Orange, and potentially even San Diego, counties. There are also isolated populations located in the southern Cascade ranges and the northern Sierra Nevada where the two ranges overlap, especially around the Yuba River of northern California. Very small and isolated stands exist in Idaho as well.

Finally, as noted above, Acer campestre, Acer platanoides, and Acer pseudoplatanus are all natives of Europe and western Asia, and are therefore unlikely to be found in the workshops of North America.

General Characteristics

Given the wide variety of species included in this broad discussion it is dangerous to generalize too broadly. However, aside from the varying degrees of measured hardness, most of the other characteristics of interest to the wood worker and general user of Maple are fairly consistent.

As has been noted above, the hardness and density of the various Maple species vary but within a fairly narrow range, perhaps narrower than even many experienced wood workers would assume. Unlike most other hardwoods, the sapwood of Maple lumber is most commonly used instead of the heartwood. Sapwood color ranges from nearly white, to an off-white cream color, sometimes with reddish or golden hue. The heartwood tends to be a darker reddish brown.

Maple can also be seen with a variety of patterns or figures and we will discuss these separately later.

The wood displays a fine and even uniform texture with pores that are small enough to not require filling.

Because the sapwood is the most commonly used part of the wood, resistance to decay and insect damage is very low. However, for the most common uses of this wood, this should not present difficulties.