Is this Hard or Soft Maple? - Also my staining result...

[Dustin Brown]

Having a hard time distinguishing hard from soft maple by everything I've found online. I picked up some sample pieces to test the stain to match my cabinets that were sold to me as "Hard Rock Maple". I did the fingernail trick and my fingernail did mark the board, though I had to put a fair amount of pressure to do it, not sure the right way to do it.

Can anyone tell from these pics if it is hard maple?





Also, here is my attempt at staining the maple. How did it come out considering it's maple? Sanded to 150, popped the grain with RO/DI water and let dry, applied minwax conditioner and waited an hour, then applied the oil based wiping stain. Finished with 3 coats of Arm-R-Seal Satin sanding with 320 after the first coat and 400 after the second.



Thanks!

[Chris Fournier]

The photos aren't the greatest but the tells are there. If you look at the little marks running parallel to the grain but inbetween them which are of different lengths and randomly distributed I'd say soft maple. Conclusive? No. But a good guess.

The thumbnail test is a tough one because you can actually mark both hard and soft maple this way.

Nice colour by the way.

[dave toney]

It appears to be soft maple to me.
The finish looks nice.
Dave

[Buck Williams]

My guess would be soft maple, based on the darker lines or striations in the face grain, and the wider annular rings in the end grain. I've seen a lot of those dark color grain variations in soft maple and can't recall having seen it in hard maple. Soft Maple is a fast growing tree, and the annular ings in the end cut are wider like pine. At any rate, that's my guess, still some nice looking stock you have there.

[Dustin Brown]

Thanks for the replies, I was hoping this was Hard Maple as I seem to have a method of staining that matches my cabinets with a good result. I found a place today that sells Sugar Maple for $2.75/ft. I paid #3.28/ft for this stuff. If it is for sure soft maple, then I guess I have more finish testing to do.

Here's some more pics.

[Jon Dieterlen]

I'd say soft maple as well. Big leaf to be more precise. Big leaf looks a lot like hard maple, and is harder than silver maple. Machines and stains better as well.

Jon

[Dustin Brown]

One more with the macro lens:

[Dustin Brown]

Sorry, one more. I was able to get a great picture by shaving with a razor blade and popping the grain with water.

[Adam Cormier]

I just bought about 400 bdft of soft maple and that looks exactly like what I bought.

[Dustin Brown]

After some more research on difference species, it does look like Bigleaf Maple is the general consensus. Thanks guys! Though I did find one source that shows a picture that looks almost exactly like it: http://www.woodfinder.com/woods/hard_maple.php

Now I just need to have a talk with the company that sold it to me as "Hard Rock Maple".

How much harder is true hard maple going to be to stain than this?

[Todd Bin]

I have a finish question. If you are using Minwax oil based stain then why are you raising the grain with the water? The oil stain will not raise the grain so it doesn't seem like you need to pre-raise it. I am not familiar with the minwax conditioner. Is it waterbased??

[Dustin Brown]

I'm not using a minwax stain, it's an oil based wiping stain from my cabinet manufacturer. I am raising the grain to allow the maple to take the stain better, it was the only way I could get a darker shade. The minwax conditioner is oil based, from the can it looks like it's mainly just a heavily thinned poly, as best I can read it anyway. Without the conditioner I was getting a blotchy result. Before raising the grain my result was about 3 or 4 shades lighter.

[Chris Fournier]

You're way better off to dye this maple with a water based aniline. Your final endgrain photo is really what you need to identify wood species - nice shot.

[Dustin Brown]

Oh, I'm sure the dye would have worked better. With all the research I did that was what was recommended time after time. I had just already bought this $30 can of wiping stain from the cabinet manufacturer to match the cabinets.

[Michael Dromey]

Sure its soft maple.