MAPLE WOOD

About Maple Wood

Maple is a hardwood species that is known for its attractive look and hardness. Not only the wood looks really good, especially after staining, but it is also very strong, hard, dense and heavy, though not very durable in terms of resistance to insect and fungal attacks. Maple is mainly used for interior applications including flooring (residential and commercial), paper pulp, turned objects, veneers, cutting boards, musical instruments, baseball bats, butcher blocks, workbenches, and specialty wood items.

Maple is also called hard maple, sugar maple or rock maple and is also recognised by its scientific name Acer saccharum. It is sourced from Northeastern North America. Maple trees are about 80-115 ft (25-35 m) high and have a 2-3 ft (.6-1.0 m) trunk diameter on average. Its high Janka rating of 1,450 lbf (6,450 N) makes Maple one of the strongest woods. Maple sapwood is the most used part of the tree and is almost white or cream-coloured. The heartwood is dark reddish-brown, most commonly with a Birdseye figure and sometimes with curly or quilted grain patterns. Maple grain is straight with a fine, even texture. The wood is non-durable, poorly resistant but easy to work with both hand and machine tools. It turns, glues, and finishes well.

Maple logs are widely available at a moderate price, though figured pieces can be very expensive. Some of the common uses of Maple wood include flooring for bowling alleys, basketball courts and dance floors, veneers, baseball bats, cutting boards, and paper pulpwood.