The sapwood is creamy white with a slight reddish brown tinge and the heartwood varies from light to dark reddish brown. The amount of darker brown heartwood can vary significantly according to growing region. Both sapwood and heartwood can contain pith fleck. The wood has a close fine, uniform texture and is generally straight-grained, but it can also occur as "curly," "fiddleback," and "birds-eye" figure.

BOTANICAL NAME: 

Acer Saccharum

ORIGIN: 

North America - Commercial species are concentrated in the eastern United States and Canada, particularly in the mid-Atlantic and Lake states. A cold weather tree favoring a more northerly climate, its average height is 130 feet

COMMON NAMES: 

Bird's-eye Maple, Black Maple, Curly Maple, Hard Maple, Rock Maple, Rough Maple, Sugar Maple, Sweet Maple, Thumbnail Maple

JANKA HARDNESS:

1450

DIMENSIONAL STABILITY:

Average - Change Coefficient .00353 - 4% more stable than Northern Red Oak.

RELATIVE ABUNDANCE: 

Readily available and moderately priced. The higher quality grades of lumber are selected for their white color, although this can limit availability. Figured maple (birds-eye, curly, fiddleback) is generally only available in commercial volumes as veneer - 4 percent of total  U.S. hardwoods commercially available.

INTERESTING FACTS: 

Until the turn of the century, the heels of women's shoes were made from maple. Maple has been a favorite of American furniture makers since early Colonial days. Hard maple is the standard wood for cutting boards because it imparts no taste to food and holds up well.

The Hard Maple is the state tree of Wisconsin, Vermont, New York and West Virginia.

In the North, during the cold nights and warm days of late winter, the Sugar Maple is tapped for its sucrose-containing sap, the source of maple syrup. It may take up to 30 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. A single sugar maple tree produces up to 12 gallons of sap a year. Early American settlers used maple ashes to make soap and Native Americans crafted their spears from Hard Maple.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: 

The sapwood of sugar maple is a lovely creamy white, while the heartwood ranges from creamy white to light reddish brown. This wood has a closed, subdued grain and a uniform texture, with medium figuring. The figuring is variously described as quilted, curly, "bird's-eye," and "fiddleback." During the grading process, interestingly figured boards are often culled from the group and sold at a premium. Due to its light color and durability, maple is a popular choice when a "contemporary" look is desired for a wood floor.

COLOR CHANGE: 

North American Maple undergoes a medium degree of color change, with slight ambering from a creamy white to a more golden cream color over time.

MAIN USES: 

Sugar maple has been called "nature's perfect flooring," and it is known to have been used as a flooring for sports activities going back over 150 years. There is practically no limit to the uses that can be found for sugar maple. As flooring, it has been used to create a bright, cheerful, and elegant ambiance in countless homes, as well as providing a highly durable surface in gymnasiums, bowling alleys, and dance floors. In addition, this resilient wood is used for lumber, furniture, cabinetry, shoe lasts, tool handles, bowling pins, musical instruments, spools and bobbins, wooden novelties, piano frames, crates, and pulpwood. Last but not least, its sap provides a delicious, edible distillation in the form of pancake syrup.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES:

Maple wood is dense and heavy with good strength properties, in particular its high resistance to abrasion and wear. It also has good steam-bending properties. Like Black Maple, Sugar Maple is classified as a hardwood (other species of maple are considered soft). And like teak and white oak, it has a high crushing strength. It is stiff, strong, dense, and extremely tough, with excellent shock resistance. It is notably resistant to abrasive wear; and for this reason, it is the hardwood flooring of choice for such high-traffic/hard-use locations as bowling alleys, basketball courts, and other sports facilities.

WORKING PROPERTIES:

Sugar maple is so hard that machining of the wood can be difficult. Yet it does sand satisfactorily. However, because of its density and light color, sanding marks and finish lines will stand out more clearly than in darker woods, so extra care must be taken when sanding and finishing maple hardwood floors. It is fairly resistant to splitting and has good holding ability.