hard maple

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MAPLE, HARD

Acer saccharum

Acer saccharum of the family Aceraceae. Native to North America, it is also very often called

There are over 60 species of maple and several of them are sold as hard maple but USUALLY hard maple in the USA means Acer saccharum and it is also called rock maple, sugar maple (although "sugar maple" is, as I understand it, also legitimately applied to several other types of maple including some red maples and some soft maples), and many other names.

NOTE: this wood should not be confused with the similarly-spelled Acer saccharinum which is soft maple

my samples:
NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K)
colors will vary under other lighting conditions

both sides of a sample plank of sugar maple / Acer saccharum --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of sugar maple / Acer saccharum --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of sugar maple / Acer saccharum --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE and a closeup of a quartersawn side surface of the piece directly above

both sides of a sample plank of sugar maple / Acer saccharum --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

both sides of a sample plank of sugar maple / Acer saccharum --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

side grain closeup, taken just 'cause it was a nicely quartersawn surface showing the ray flakes

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of sugar maple / Acer saccharum --- HUGE enlargements are present. Not sure why the two faces show such different colors.

end grain and HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP of the piece directly above. The pink color on the closeup is not a natural wood color, it is due to the 1200 grit sandpaper I use.

first face and the end grain of a sample of hard maple / Acer saccharum. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION A

the second face, before and after sanding, showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep, although in this case the change is minimal.

end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above.

both sides of a sample plank of black maple / Acer nigrum --- HUGE enlargements are present. Acer nigrum is a synonym for Acer saccharum.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of black maple / Acer nigrum --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Acer nigrum is a synonym for Acer saccharum.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

NOT A RAW WOOD COLOR --- both faces of this sample have a light coat of clear paste wax
both sides of a sample plank of bigtooth maple / Acer grandidentatum var sinuosu --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Acer grandidentatum is a synonym for Acer saccharum. Mark tells me the dark streaks are most likely tapwood (that is, this tree has been tapped for maple sugar and the metal in the taps causes dark streaks in the wood). The second face is light because, I think, it is getting the dark tap-related color only in the upper right. I also note that this piece has much thicker rays than most maple.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of canyon maple / Acer grandidentatum --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Acer grandidentatum is a synonym for Acer saccharum.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of canyon maple / Acer grandidentatum --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Acer grandidentatum is a synonym for Acer saccharum.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of sugar maple crotch / Acer saccharum --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

flat cut hard maple planks photographed at a lumber yard --- HUGE enlargements are present

closeup of a couple of the planks directly above --- HUGE enlargements are present

some planks shot at Lowes at different times --- HUGE enlargements are present; I shot that first one because of the extreme mineral stain. The darker brown color on some of these is correct (they might be all-heartwood planks). Brown heartwood can be seen in the middle of a few of these

Plank with some gum inclusions --- extreme enlargements are present

planks shot at Lowes and a closeup --- extreme enlargements are present

plank and closeup

more planks at a lumber yard

small plank and end grain

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

plank and end grain

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

side grain of the same piece, showing the fairly common small ray flakes that sometimes show up in hard maple.

plank with sapwood. This plank has more curl than you can see in this picture.

plank and end grain

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

plank donated by Jim Glynn --- thanks Jim. There's a little figure in this that shows up better in the actual wood than it does in this pic. Jim called it a "baby quilt" but I think "mottle" might be a more accurate description.

mineral stain --- a common occurrence in hard maple.

end grain closeup of the piece directly above --- this is VERY poorly surfaced but the almost-vertical lines ARE rays, not scratches --- note that they consistently run perpendicular to the grain, not parallel to each other as would be more likely for sanding scratches. If you look closely on enlargements, you WILL see parallel (vertical) sanding scratches. Also, the color is too gray.

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

lumber-yard plank with mineral stain

set of planks in a lumber yard with the top one having heavy mineral stain.

3" long piece of split maple (as opposed to having been sawed) that very nicely shows the small rays that sometimes give maple that nice tight ray flake pattern.

quartersawn planks, rough planed --- in just looking at these, I would not have readily identified them as hard maple (as opposed to other maple varieties; they clearly are some kind of maple) but I trust the vendor I bought it from so assume they are hard maple

NOT a raw wood color
flooring sample that has been finished with a hard, shiny finishing agent that has only slightly yellowed the color --- many finishing agents REALLY yellow the color on maple, so this one appears to be pretty good.

the piece directly above, after I sanded off the finish --- the apparent sharpening of the grain in this pic is because the one above is slightly out of focus, NOT because the finish fuzzied the grain (something that DOES happen with some woods --- see western red cedar, for example).

sample plank and end grain --- this sample seems to me to be far less representative of the species than most of the others of my own pics but that lack of representative nature is fairly common in the samples I got from the IWCS. The color on this set of pics is a bit too green

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above --- color is correct

top-and-side view and end view of a small piece; very accurate color

end grain closeup and side grain closeup of the same piece as directly above. This piece was chosen because of the nice ray flakes on the side grain. From the end grain shot, you can see that the side grain is quartersawn, although not perfectly so.

hard maple plank and a closeup

planks shot at a lumber yard

both sides of a sample of blistered sugar maple contributed to the site by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions. This piece is only weakly figured but it contains the outside of the tree and thus shows the blisters as little bumps on the tree. This "bump" probably most of the way from the pith to the bark and when it is cut flat it shows up as what we call blister figure. I've circled the most visible couple of little bumps (the same area in each pic). HUGE enlargements are present. The blistering does not show up well on the face grain because, as you can tell from the end grain, this is a rift cut piece and blistering shows up on flat cut surfaces.

end grain of both sides of the plank, showing how the bump looks when sliced and then showing how it looks on the surface of the tree.

both sides of a sample plank of blistered sugar maple / Acer saccharum --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample contributed to the site by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The blistering does not show up on the rift cut faces but the bumps that cause blister on flat cut surfaces can be seen clearly on the edge. NOTE: as can be clearly seen on the end grain update, this piece is VERY weird in that the rays are not even close to being perpendicular to the growth rings; instead, they are uniformly about 30 degrees off of perpendicular.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above and the edge showing the blister bumps

NOTE: The rays of this piece are about 30 degrees off of perpendicular to the growth rings. I've never seen anything like this, nor have the other knowledgeable wood folks I've asked about it. If you have any idea what could be causing this I would appreciate hearing from you.

both sides of a sample plank of blistered sugar maple / Acer saccharum--- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The blistering does not show up well on the face grain because, as you can tell from the end grain, this is a rift cut piece and blistering shows up on flat cut surfaces.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of spalted sugar maple / Acer saccharum --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Spalted maple has its own page on this site but I put this piece here just to show some spalted maple that is specifically listed as hard maple even though to me it looks more like red maple (which is a soft maple).

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of sugar maple burl --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Doesn't look very "burly" but Mark assures me it's a burl from up on the trunk of a sugar maple tree. The dark spots are bark inclusions.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

veneer --- I note that the color of the veneer, which is shown very accurately here, is lighter than many of the planks. Also, you can tell it's veneer because my felt-tip pen marking on the reverse side is visible through the wood on the left side. This sheet is very typical of flat cut hard maple veneer and the bottom of the sheet gives a good view of what quartersawn hard maple looks like.

flat cut veneer sheet and closeup --- the color on the closeup is too white; there's a yellowish cast that shows up better in the distance pic.

quartersawn flaky veneer --- the color is way off on this one; the wood is nearly white with none of the red tint shown here.

flaky hard maple and closeup

veneer --- this piece is slightly silver in color and is very hard, with a glossy surface that is unlike normal hard maple veneer

numerous pieces of hard maple veneer from different lots / flitches

fiddleback hard maple --- long piece and closeup. This is sold as "Fiddleback English Sycamore". This variety had me doubly-confused. When I first got a piece, I was convinced it was hard maple even though the vendor listed it as Enlish sycamore, so I put it with the hard maple. Then I saw a lot of places that advertised it as English sycamore so I though that it was a sycamore variety that just LOOKED like hard maple, so I put it with the sycamore. Now I THINK I've got it right. It is hard maple, but the British call it sycamore. In England, what we call sycamore is called "planetree". Confused? Me too.

At any rate, it is a very attractive wood and is a frequently a true fiddleback figure, although as you can see from some of the additional samples directly below, it isn't always a true fiddleback.

NOTE: this is such a distinctive and widely used variety that I have created a page for it (maple, curly) even though it is not a wood species in and of itself, it is just a figure variety of hard maple.

fiddleback hard maple ("English Sycamore") --- the figure on these is weaker than on the long sheet directly above, but it is stronger than what shows up in some of these pics. The first two of these, in particular, are a true fiddleback. The colors on these are all close, but not all perfect --- as usual, I have trouble with yellows.

curly hard maple veneer sheet and closeup --- the curl is weak but it is a little stronger than what shows up in this pic.

mineral stain is a very common flaw in hard maple. There are two types: first is a concentrated area of dark brown as shown in this picture and second is a diffuse but much larger area of light brown or gray discoloration.

a couple of small hard maple crotch veneer sheets --- looks like minor branch crotches, not big ones.

The Wood Book pics

flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
hard maple (Acer saccharum, also listed as sugar maple, rock maple, and sugar-tree) from The Wood Book --- one level of enlargement is available for each of the 3 views

web pics:

colors are very suspect throughout

hard maple log ends showing the typically small heartwood and wide sapwood

log end listed as sugar maple / Acer saccarum

planks with wet and dry sections

quartersawn plank end grain

flat cut planks

flat cut with heartwood

planks with heartwood. the two sides of the set of planks show significantly different colors which is typical of the careless photography that you find on the internet.

quartersawn planks

misc planks

various pieces of hard maple / Acer saccharum, all from the same vendor. Some are lightly curly

quartersawn plank with excellent ray flakes

plank specifically listed as sugar maple, which is one of the maple varieties that are generally lumped together as hard maple --- the red color is unlikely

figured hard maple planks

fiddleback hard maple plank

curly hard maple

quartersawn curly

turning stock just listed as hard maple, although it is clearly curly

bat blanks

a burl

two curly planks

a crotch

quartersawn

planks, all from the same vendor, listed as birdseye hard maple / Acer Saccharum. On this site, most of the birdseye maple is on its own page --- birdseye maple. Both levels of enlargement are present on all of these.

planks listed as birdseye hard maple / Acer Saccharum. On this site, most of the birdseye maple is on its own page --- birdseye maple.

veneer

blistered veneer

fiddleback hard maple veneer, sold as "English Sycamore" veneer

veneer listed as "brownheart" / Acer saccarum --- I take "brownheart" to be a descriptive marketing term used only by this particular vendor since I have not seen it elsewhere and it is not in any wood name database that I have encountered. It IS a good description, since these pieces have brown heartwood running through the middle. Also, these were not listed as curly or fiddleback but they ARE fiddleback and very nicely so.

fiddleback hard maple veneer

figured hard maple veneer sold as figured English sycamore veneer

nicely done door with rotary cut hard maple veneer outer ply, and an enlargement --- very large enlargments are present for both.

these were all listed as spalted hard maple but I think they might be spalted red maple. There are many more spalted planks on the "maple, spalted" page.

spalted hard maple crotch --- the original pic was a heavy purple color and although I've correct it to make it look more like real wood, I'm sure it's still not color correct.

hard maple veneer (sold as English sycamore)

a "thank you note" printed on hard maple veneer. the man who sent me this picture does printing of various sorts on various types of veneer

sugar maple bowls turned and photographed by Tom Pleatman, whom I thank for these pics and other contributions to the site. Big enlargements are present.