Maple, American Hard

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 means 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.