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Maple

	Crown Maple
	Birds Eye Maple
	Maple Burr

The following information is posted with permission of Timber Research and Development Association (TRADA) and is taken from their red booklets Timbers of the World. © TRADA

The Aceraceae family includes some ten species of the genus Acer found in North America, but of these, only about five species are important sources of maple timber; these are given below.

Acer saccharum Marsh. produces rock maple, hard maple or sugar maple.
A. nigrum Michx f. produces black maple, rock or hard maple.
A. saccharinum L. produces soft maple or silver maple.
A. rubrum L. produces soft maple or red maple.
A. macrophylum Pursh. produces Pacific maple or Oregon maple.

Distribution
Found generally in Canada and eastern USA; Pacific maple being confined to the Pacific Coast of Canada and USA.

The tree
A. saccharum and A. nigrum grow to a height of 27m or more and a diameter of 0.5m to 0.75m.
A. saccharinum is of similar height but is often of slightly larger diameter, about 1.0m.
A. rubrum reaches a height of 15m to 23m and a diameter of 0.75m.
A. macrophyllum is a smaller tree, some 12m to 24m high, and a diameter of 0.5m.

The timber
Hard maple is strong, heavy, hard, straight-grained and fine textured. The heartwood is light reddish-brown with deeper-coloured late-wood bands. The sapwood is 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. The weight of dried timber is as follows; A. saccharum and A. nigrum (rock maple) 740 kg/m3; A rubrum (soft maple) 630 kg/m3; A. saccharinum (soft maple) 550 kg/rn3; A. macrophyllum (Pacific maple) 560 kg/rn3.

Drying
All types dry without undue difficulty but rather slowly, particularly rock maple.

Strength
Compared with European beech, rock maple is about equal in bending strength and in compression along the grain, and some 15 to 20 per cent superior in hardness, resistance to shock loads and resistance to splitting. Soft maple is inferior to rock maple in all strength categories, it is 40 to 50 per cent softer, about the same amount less resistant to shock loading and in shear strength, 20 per cent less stiff, and 20 to 30 per cent weaker in bending and compression along the grain, and less resistant to splitting.

Durability
All types are 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. A reduction of cuffing angle to 20^o assists the finishing operation particularly when curly grain is present. The timber can be stained, polished and glued satisfactorily, but it is hard to nail or screw, although these are held firmly. Soft maple works and machines with less difficulty in all operations.

Uses
The uses for hard and soft maple are practically the same except for most exacting requirements of hardness and strength. Hard maple is generally preferred for flooring and for shoe lasts. but soft maple is also used. Typical uses for maple include flooring, furniture, piano actions, turnery, musical instruments. sports goods, butcher blocks, bowling alleys, dairy and laundry equipment .panelling, veneer and plywood, Figured forms of maple include bird s eye, fiddle-back, blister and curly maple.

Note: a small proportion of Acer negundo L. is sometimes mixed with shipments of soft maple. This lumber, known as box elder, Manitoba maple or ash-leaved maple is rather inferior to the other maples, being lighter in colour, softer, and weak. It is used locally for boxes, drawer-bottoms and for rough construction.