Hard Maple

Eastern U. S., principally Mid-Atlantic and Lake States. A cold weather tree favoring a more northerly climate.

The sapwood is creamy white with a slight reddish brown tinge and the heartwood varies from light to dark reddish brown. The amount of darker brown heartwood can vary significantly according to growing region. Both sapwood and heartwood can contain pith fleck. The wood has a close fine texture and is generally straight-grained, but it can also occur as "curly", "fiddleback" and birds-eye" figure.

Widely available. The higher quality grades of lumber are available selected for white color (sapwood) although this can limit availability. Figured maple (birds-eye, curly, fiddleback) is generally only available in commercial volumes as veneer.

Hard maple dries slowly with high shrinkage, so it can be susceptible to movement in performance. Pre-boring is recommended when nailing and screwing. With care it machines well, turns well, glues satisfactorily, and can be stained to an outstanding finish.

The wood is hard and heavy with good strength properties, in particular it's high resistance to abrasion and wear. It also has good steam-bending properties.

Flooring, furniture, paneling, kitchen cabinets, worktops, table tops, butchers blocks, toys, and kitchenware, millwork: stairs, handrails, moulding and doors.