Types of Maple

[Mark Kelly]

Unfortunately where I live, I have to order my wood (most of the time). However, I have found a place that offers four types of Maple. I was curious about the differences, since it seems each place has their own name for different types of maple.

These are the names (and priced highest from top to bottom):

Northern Hard Maple (I assume this is Sugar or White Maple)
Northern Soft Maple (is this also white?)
Natural Soft Maple (how does this compare to Northern Soft?)
Western Maple (I am told it has a similar color to Alder - is it a soft maple also?)

Please help me with the differences (hardness and color).

[Robert Ducharme]

Don't forget maple syrup Even though it is a lot cheaper, I hear it is realllllly soft though.

[Mark Kelly]

Hmmmm, I have tried Maple Syrup. It turns real well...especially over pancakes.

[Jim Becker]

Mark, There are over 125 species that come under the heading of Maple, or Aceraceae! Terms like "Hard Maple" and "Soft Maple" refer to groups of maple species with certain characteristics. Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) would be an example of hard maple--some call it "rock maple", but there are several that get sold under that label and you generally can't tell them apart. Same goes for soft maple...which is still pretty hard! Unfortunately, the "marketing" names don't aways match to a particular species in any way and unless you examine each board microsopically, you may not know exactly what kind of tree that board specifically came from!

[Jamie Buxton]

At least in my understanding, Western Maple is the variety that grows on the west coast, and up into Canada. The common name is Bigleaf maple. It is generally considered a soft maple. (But I have to say that I don't see much difference in wear in furniture between hard maples and soft maples. Maybe there'd be a difference in flooring.) I think of most eastern maples as white, while western maple has a lot more copper tone in it. Western maple grows curly more often than eastern maples, and some boards are just jaw-dropping. For my taste, western maple is a much better-looking wood than eastern maples.

[Chris Padilla]

Interesting. I started a thread Figured Maple and I got all of mine from a woman in Eugene, OR. I got a lot of curly/quilted maple from her...a lot of it is very, very nice. The choices piece from her was some spalted maple, however. I am betting most of my maple is Western....