Replies

1. 
   Ronaway | Jan 19, 2006 11:07pm | #1

   Alan I can't tell you what the difference would be on something like a Rockwell scale, however
   I have worked with the soft maple quite a bit and can tell you that it seems to be about the
   same density as cherry and works quite the same with hand tools. The hard rock maple is
   considerably harder than either of these.

   Ron

2. 
   Pondfish | Jan 20, 2006 07:02pm | #2

   Hard maple is noticably harder, but figured woods are found more often in soft maple (though there are figured hard maples).  I use soft maple for drawer sides, but would never consider using soft maple for a table top unless I was being cheap and didn't care about denting the table top.

   Recommending the use of "Hide Signatures" option under "My Preferences" since 2005
3. 
   Thew | Jan 20, 2006 09:23pm | #3

   From a technical perspective, the Forest Products lab lists silver maple hardness at 700 lbf and sugar maple at 1450 lbf. I guess that would make it twice as "hard".

   For what it's worth,
   Thew

4. 
   mrbird90 | Jan 21, 2006 05:28am | #4

   Soft maple is more like cherry for cutting, routing , etc. Hard maple compares with hickory. Sharp tools cut it fine but dull tools will burn the wood.

1. 
   mudman | Jan 22, 2006 09:50pm | #6

   I too agree with the cherry comparison. Most of the figured maple I find is "soft" maple.

5. 
   notDusty | Jan 22, 2006 07:25pm | #5

    Hello Alan ,

                        The comparison of Cherry is very accurate imo also . Hard Maple while certainly denser and harder then the soft species, but  works for the most part the same . As has been mentioned blades and cutters will burn if dull .

                   The hard Maple machines great although it may be a bit more brittle believe it or not , imo it sands with better results then say Alder . Also once you finish Hard Maple you will instantly appreciate its properties . The wood is so hard and closed grained opposite of say Red Oak that when I spray a Lacquer finish on it , the results are as near perfection as a person can expect .

                Don't be nervous about using the hard Maple , try it you'll like it .

                                        regards      dusty

6. 
   gb93433 | Jan 24, 2006 06:53am | #7

   Soft and hard maple can be just as hard and heavy as one another. The way hard maple is identified is by the ray exposure. The rays glisten. Soft maple has tracks on the surface which look much like a chicken walked on the surface and the rays are not noticeable. Birch looks much like hard maple except that the rays do not glisten nor does the surface have tracks on it.