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Oregon Maple
Oregon Maple is popular in veneer production for furniture and cabinetry. Its highly figured wood is sought after for musical instruments such as guitar bodies, stringed instruments and piano frames, as well as salad bowls. The Indigenous Lakwungen people of Vancouver Island knew it as the ‘Paddle Tree’ and created paddles and spindle wheels from its wood.

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American Hard Maple | Accer saccharum

American Hard Maple is a creamy-white timber with a pinkish tinge that is used in flooring, furniture, cabinet making and interior joinery.

American Hard Maple produces timber with good strength properties and an attractive appearance. Its most common applications are flooring, cabinet making, furniture and interior joinery.

Other Names: Sugar Maple, Black Maple, Rock Maple, White Maple, Sap Maple

Overview
Properties
Description
Applications
Suppliers

Overview

American Hard Maple is a cold weather tree that grows across the north-east States of the US and in Canada. It produces an attractive timber with creamy-white sapwood, sometimes with a pink tinge, and light to reddish brown heartwood. Higher grades of the timber are selected for the white colour of the sapwood, and this can limit their availability. While generally straight-grained, American Hard Maple can have a distinctive curly, fiddleback or birdseye figure. Figured Maple is generally only commercially available as veneer.

American Hard Maple, as the name suggests, is a hard, heavy wood with a fine texture that is high in all strength properties except for stiffness, which is medium. It is a hardwearing timber, making it ideal for flooring applications where there is a high volume of foot traffic, such as gymnasiums or concert halls. It also has a very good steam bending classification.

American Hard Maple is considered to be quite difficult to work with due to its blunting effect. Pre-boring is recommended when nailing or screwing. The timber does not take glue well. When care is taken, the timber machines and turns well, and it can be stained and polished to achieve an extremely attractive finish.

Readily available in Australia as both sawn timber and veneer, American Hard Maple is used in a variety of interior applications, such as furniture, panelling, cabinet making and interior joinery. It is also used in stairs, handrails, mouldings and doors. As mentioned above, the hardwearing properties of American Hard Maple mean that it is an excellent timber for flooring applications in gymnasiums, theatres, concert halls and basketball courts. In its veneer form, American Hard Maple is also used in the construction of skateboards.

Properties

Shrinkage

	Very Low	Low	Medium	High	Very High
Tangential:
Tangential:			6.0
Radial:			3 - 4
Unit Movement:			11.9 %

Strength Group

	Very High	High	Reasonably High	Medium High	Medium	Reasonably Low	Low	Very Low
Unseasoned:	S1	S2	S3	S4	S5	S6	S7
Unseasoned:
Seasoned:	SD1	SD2	SD3	SD4	SD5	SD6	SD7	SD8
Seasoned:

Stress Grade

Unseasoned:
	Structural No. 1	Structural No. 2	Structural No. 3	Structural No. 4	Structural No. 5
Seasoned:	F22	F17	F14	F11	F8

Density per Standard

Unseasoned:	0 kg/m³
Seasoned:	705 kg/m³

Joint Group

	Very High	High	Reasonably High	Medium	Low	Very Low
Unseasoned:	J1	J2	J3	J4	J5	J6
Unseasoned:
Seasoned:	JD1	JD2	JD3	JD4	JD5	JD6
Seasoned:

Colour

White, yellow, pale straw to light brown	Pink to pink brown	Light to dark red	Brown, chocolate, mottled or streaky

Mechanical Properties

Modulus of Rupture - Seasoned:	108.941
Modulus of Elasticity - Seasoned:	12.618
Maximum Crushing Strength - Seasoned:	53.998
Hardness - Seasoned:	6.450

Durability

	Low	Moderate	Reasonably High	High
	(0 - 5 yrs)	(5 - 15 yrs)	(15 - 25 yrs)	(more than 25 yrs)
In-Ground:
	(0 - 7 yrs)	(7 - 15 yrs)	(15 - 40 yrs)	(More than 40 yrs)
Above ground:
	(0 - 20 yrs, usually < 5)	(21 - 40 yrs)	(41 - 64 yrs)	(More than 60 yrs)
Marine Borer Resistance:

Lyctid Borer Susceptibility:	Susceptible

Fire Properties

	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
EFH Ignitibility:

	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
EFH Spread-of-Flame Index:
EFH Smoke-Developed Index:

	1 - non-combustible	2 - reasonably non-combustible	3 - slightly combustible	4 - combustible
Fire Properties Group Number:

Bushfire Resistance:	Not tested

Description

Botanical Name:	Accer saccharum
Preferred Common Name:	American Hard Maple
Other Names:	Sugar Maple, Black Maple, Rock Maple, White Maple, Sap Maple
Photographer Name:	Copyright AHEC
Species Type:	Hardwood

Appearance

American Hard Maple is an attractive creamy white timber with a pinkish tinge. Heartwood can vary from a light to dark reddish brown, depending on the growing region. Both the heartwood and sapwood can have a pith fleck. The timber is fine-textured and generally straight-grained. Sometimes a curly, fiddleback or birdseye figure can occur, which is considered to enhance the appearance of the wood. American Hard Maple sapwood darkens over time when exposed to UV light.

Common Applications

American Hard Maple is used in a wide range of interior applications such as flooring, panelling, cabinet making, table tops, joinery, stairs, handrails, mouldings and doors. Its hardwearing properties make it ideal for flooring in areas with a high volume of foot traffic. It is also used in boat building and in the construction of musical instruments and skateboards.

Common Form

Sawn, Veneer

Workability

A hard, heavy timber, American Hard Maple is considered to be quite difficult to work. However, when care is taken it machines and turns well, and can be glued satisfactorily. Pre-boring is recommended when nailing and screwing. The timber steam bends well. When sanded, stained and polished, the timber has an extremely attractive finish.

Origin of Timber

North America

Readily Available

NSW, VIC, SA, TAS, QLD, WA, NT

Availability - Further Information

American Hard Maple is imported into Australia in fairly high quantities and is readily available from specialist timber suppliers.

Source of Timber

Native Forest

Applications

Flooring

Whether for structural or finished flooring applications, timber offers durability, versatility and adaptability. The warmth, strength and natural beauty of timber flooring has proved enduringly popular in a wide variety of interior settings.
Interior Rails and Balustrades

With its natural beauty and inherent strength, timber is a popular material choice in internal balustrade construction. Commonly built from treated softwoods and durable hardwoods, interior balustrades and handrails are typically finished with a clear lacquer to generate the most natural result.
Interior Stairs

Timber should be the material of choice for designers seeking internal staircases of strength, beauty and durability. The construction procedure described here applies to most general type stairs of either conventional or contemporary construction.
Internal Paneling

Timber paneling creates interiors as warm as they are stylish. Commonly utilising an MDF or plywood substrate, internal timber paneling is natural and versatile and comes as either solid natural timber panels or as sheets of engineered wood products
Timber Joinery Products

Timber joinery products offer a classic, unique and stylish touch to any interior design.
Timber Mouldings

Mouldings are extremely versatile and durable, enhancing the aesthetics of any interior and functioning as the icing on the cake for designs with a focus on beauty and splendour.