Uses for Maple Lumber

Maple lumber is a popular choice for many carpentry and furnishing projects. It is, as the name suggests, sourced from maple trees and is usually classified as hard maple and soft maple. One of the advantages of using maple lumber is that it can be used for a variety of projects. Another advantage is that its appearance makes it usable with both traditional, heavy designs as well as light, edgy modern ones.

Maple lumber is broadly classified into two groups, hard maples (sugar maple & black maple) and soft maples (red maple, silver maple, bigleaf maple & silver maple).

Hard Maple

Hard maple is used principally for lumber and veneer. A large proportion is manufactured into flooring, furniture, cabinets, cutting boards and blocks, pianos, billiard cues, handles, novelties, bowling alleys, dance and gymnasium floors, spools and bobbins.

Ease of working: Superior
Resistance to splitting in nailing: Fair
Nail holding: Superior
Resistance to splitting in screwing: Intermediate
Ease of gluing: Fair

Soft Maple

Soft maple is used for railroad crossties, boxes, pallets, crates, furniture, veneer, woodenware and novelties.

Ease of working: Intermediate
Resistance to splitting in nailing: Fair
Nail holding: Superior
Resistance to splitting in screwing: Intermediate
Ease of gluing: Fair