Hard Maple
Hard Maple 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 texture and is generally straight grained, but it can also occur as “curly”, “fiddleback”, and “birdseye” figure.
Other Common Names: American Hard Maple, Sugar Maple, Black Maple
Sourcing Region: Eastern United States
Color, Pattern, Texture: The lighter coloured sapwood will tend to darken over time on exposure to UV light. Hard maple lumber is often sorted for the white (sapwood) colour, which the NHLA grading rules define as White maple or Sap maple.
Common Uses and Applications: The wood is hard and heavy with good strength properties, in particular its high resistance to abrasion and wear. It also has good steam bending properties. Flooring, furniture, panelling, kitchen cabinets, worktops and table tops, interior joinery: stairs, handrails, mouldings, and doors. The hard wearing properties and tight smooth grain make this species ideal for high traffic flooring applications, such as theatres, concert halls, gymnasiums and basketball courts.
Working Properties: Hard maple dries slowly with a large shrinkage, so it can be susceptible to movement in performance. Pre-boring is recommended when nailing and screwing. With care it machines well, turns well, glues satisfactorily, and can be stained and polished to an outstanding finish.
Hard Maple FAS, or Select and Better
The FAS grade, which derives from an original grade "First and Seconds", will provide the user with long, clear cuttings - best suited for high quality furniture, interior joinery and solid wood moldings.
We grade after drying and surfacing, and against all natural drying or surfacing defects (pin knot no defect).
Grades: FAS, Select & Better
Length and Width: Minimum board size is 6" and wider and 8' and longer. The FAS grade includes a range of boards that yield from 831⁄3% (10⁄12ths) to 100% clear-wood cuttings over the entire surface of the board. The clear cuttings must be a minimum size of 3" wide by 7' long or 4" wide by 5' long. The number of these cuttings permitted depends on the size of the board with most boards permitting one to two. The minimum width and length will vary, depending on species and whether the board is green or kiln dried. Both faces of the board must meet the minimum requirement for FAS.
Hard Maple #1 Com
#1 Common grade is often referred to as the Cabinet grade in the USA because of its adaptability to the standard sizes of kitchen cabinet doors used throughout the United States. #1 Com is widely used in the manufacture of furniture parts as well for this same reason.
We grade after drying and surfacing, and against all natural drying or surfacing defects (pin knot no defect).
Grades: #1 Com
Length and Width: #1 Com grade includes boards that are a minimum of 3" wide and 4' long and will yield clear face cuttings from 662⁄3% (8⁄12ths) up to, but not including, the minimum requirement for FAS (831⁄3%). The smallest clear cuttings allowed are 3" by 3' and 4" by 2'. The number of these clear cuttings is determined by the size of the board. Both faces of the board must meet the minimum requirement for #1 Common.
Hard Maple #2 Com
The Number 2 Common grade is often referred to as the Economy grade because of its price and suitability for a wide range of furniture parts. It is also the grade of choice for the US hardwood flooring industry.
Grades: #2 Com
Length and Width: #2 Common grade includes boards that are a minimum of 3" wide and 4' long that yield from 50% (6⁄12ths) up to, but not including, the minimum requirement for Number 1 Common (662⁄3%). The smallest clear cutting allowed is 3" by 2' and the number of these cuttings depends on the size of the board. If the poorest face meets the minimum requirements for #2 Common, it does not matter what the grade of the better face is.