Latin name: Acer saccharum

Origin: North America

Characteristics: Color is stark white to creamy white depending on the region, the cooking schedule and whether it is hard or soft maple. The heartwood is minimal and generally red brown in color and not desirable. The term “curly” is often over used to describe many types of figure. Soft maple tends to have a larger scale pillow like figure while hard maple a finer more defined line figure generally just running in the quarter grain. Maple is best produced in the winter time to avoid the sugar running in the tree but is now produced year round to meet the demand. To minimize the red heart most maple is produced as half round which produces a slightly broad cathedral.

Use: Architectural woodwork, fine furniture and musical instruments.