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Thread: Hard vs. Soft Maple

  1. #1
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    Hard vs. Soft Maple

    How much harder is hard maple vs. soft maple? I've got a bunch of soft maple, but was wondering what the difference is? Thanks.
    Alan & Lynette Mikkelsen, Mountain View Farm Gardens & Fine Woodworking, St. Ignatius, MT. Visitors Welcome!

  2. #2
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    IMHO, they are both "hard"!! But the sugar maples, etc., apparently have a higher density and "hardness" and are even more tough. The softness of "soft" maple also varries depending upon species...remember, these designations are groupings, not references to just one kind of Maple tree.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  3. #3
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    I just bought some soft and mixed in was one board of hard maple it is quite a bit heavier and is considerably harder.IMHO

  4. #4
    Fingernail test!
    Tom


    Measure twice, ensure your measuring the right board three times, cut once.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Conger
    Fingernail test!
    Does not work in my experince. Hardwoods wont dent under finger nail pressure but soft woods( conifers) will. People seem to think soft maple is a soft wood. Its harder than alot of hard woods and supposedly almost as hard as cherry.
    Last edited by Rob Bourgeois; 01-19-2006 at 3:58 PM.
    What if the light at the end of the tunnel is a train?

  6. #6
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  7. #7
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    Specific gravity, multiply by 32.2 to get density in lb/ft^3

    Hard Maples:
    <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
    Sugar 0.56
    Black 0.52


    Soft Maples: <o></o>
    Red 0.49
    Silver 0.44
    Bigleaf 0.44

    So for eaxample Sugar Maple is ~18 lb/ft^3 (or about 12 per board foot)
    <o></o>

  8. #8

    How appropriate

    This discussion comes from me looking at prices for hardmaple and after I woke up from fainting.. One place here locally had it at $7 plus a bd ft...
    I did find a considereable better prices at around $5 , however "soft maple" is about $4 bd ft depending on grade... I am looking to build an entertainment center and wanted a light colored wood as the otehr things in my basement are maple .. cabinets shelves etc... WOuld soft maple match the other stuff made form hard maple fairly close?

    Chris
    "I have worked myself up from nothing to extreme poverty." Groucho Marx
    http://www.youtube.com/user/TheChrisPineWorkshop

  9. #9
    Generally speaking and I live in the heart of most north american maples, there is very, very little difference. Some of the soft maples work a little harder than others, I find quilted for example which is a soft maple a pain at times. Personally I find hard maple a little easier to work with.....too used to exotics I guess

  10. #10
    It would certainly depend on the tree, but in my experience, soft maple has a slightly browner color than hard maple. Will they match? Well, I’ll just say that I have mixed them before on projects and now wish I didn’t.

    This bed has soft maple posts and the balance is hard maple (just to offer an example) http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=17446

    Lars
    Last edited by Lars Thomas; 01-19-2006 at 5:25 PM.

  11. #11
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    It really depends on what you mean by "soft" maple. Out here our local (bigleaf) maple is about the same as cherry. It is softer than sugar maple but that doesn't make it soft like red cedar.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob Bourgeois
    Hardwoods wont dent under finger nail pressure but soft woods( conifers) will.
    What about hardwoods like...tulip poplar, aspen, basswood...umm... balsa!!??
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  13. #13
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    We use a lot of soft maple for kitchens and as for as I am concerned it is "Soft" in name only. We did several kitchen in a row of soft maple and then did one in red oakl. I could hardly believe that red oak cut that easier.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker
    What about hardwoods like...tulip poplar, aspen, basswood...umm... balsa!!??

    forgot the "most" in front of that..
    What if the light at the end of the tunnel is a train?

  15. #15
    my experience with what i find as soft maple is not so much that it's soft, just that the color varies more and leans more tan than what is labeled hard maple. oh, and it's significantly cheaper.

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