The term ‘Canadian maple’ refers to the wood of the sugar maple(Acer saccharum). Other common names are ‘hard maple’, ‘rock maple’ or ‘Michigan maple’. The distribution is limited to the northeastern USA and southeastern Canada. Hard maple rarely occurs in pure stands. It is often associated with birch, aspen and American poplar. The wood is readily available.
Sapwood and young heartwood can hardly be distinguished from each other. It is strikingly white to light yellow-pink in color. The latewood zones are reddish in color, which distinguishes the species from the European species. Sycamore maple. The facultative core often occurs to varying degrees, but does not have to. When it appears, it is brown to greenish brown. The wood is dense and fine-pored, the overall structure is simple, the grain is straight. Simple. Barred logs and bird’s eye maple are special forms, very decorative precious woods, and priced accordingly above the regular product.
The specific weight is given as approx. 0.75 – 0.80 t/m3 at a wood moisture content of 12%. Drying is unproblematic, but should be done slowly. Hard Maple is easy to work with all tools; smooth surfaces are produced. As the name suggests, ‘hard maple’ is one of the hardest wood species in the boreal zone.
Furniture making, turnery, instrument making.
Europ. Sycamore maple, Norway maple.
| References: |
Parquet flooring, WELLA head office, Darmstadt Parquet flooring, house in Maintal-Hochstadt Floorboards, Bogner Shop, Frankfurt |
| Sources: |
Wood Information Service (1987), leaflet series on wood species, sheet no. 80 ditto (1998) Native timbers and their use WAGENFüHR (1996) Wood atlas |
