Hard Maple Characteristics

Hard Maple is creamy white with slight reddish brown tinge. The Hard Maple's heartwood varies from light to dark reddish brown. The amount of darker brown heartwood significantly varies according to North American regions. Hard Maple has close fine texture and is generally straight grained, but it can also occur as "curly", "fiddleback", and "birds-eye" figure.

Physical Properties

Hard Maple has high bending with crushing strength and medium stiffness. Hard Maple is very good for steam bending.

Main uses

For interior moldings, furniture, kitchen cabinets, kitchen utensils, doors, turning, and carving.

Working Properties

Hard Maple, with care, machines well, turns well, glues satisfactorily. However, pre-boring is recommended when nailing and screwing. It dries slowly with a large shrinkage. Hard Maple produces an excellent finish when stained and polished.