Maple plywood - Hard or Soft

[Michael Merrill]

I'm considering to begin a project that I will be mixing maple solids with maple plywood. I've used the maple the is periodicaly available at HD in the $30 price range and it's nice but doesn't have the same tone or grains to match up well with solid maple upon stain and finish.

If I go to a hardwood dealer and step up to the better quality plywood what is the veneer? Does it typically match soft or hard maple? I'm trying to match so existing furniture so I want to plan this correctly. Also not sure of what type core I should use, but I do want as much strength as possible.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Cabinet grade core. It's got many thin plys is quite strong and won't easily warp into a hypoid parabaloid like so much ply does.

Type of maple: Ask for what you want to match the lumber you are using: hard / soft.
If the higher end dealer can't help you head off down the road to another. They should at the very least be able to tell you what they inventory. They should also be able to take an order for something they don't inventory.

[mark koopman]

I have done some mixing of maple ply and solid maple in projects and have only used hard maple as the solid material. The finish has always matched great. I got the plywood from a dealer though not at HD.

[Michael Merrill]

Maybe I'll be in good shape then as the items I would like to match seem to be hard maple so maybe I should just pick out my hard maple stock and make sure it matches well to the sheet material as far a grain and get the word from the supplier that its the same species.