American Hard Maple

By ITI Timspec
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American Hard Maple is strong, heavy, hard, and straight-grained with a fine texture. The colour is cream with fine red/brown bands. The sapwood is creamy white with a slightly reddish brown tinge and the heartwood varies from light to dark reddish brown. The amount of darker brown heartwood can vary significantly according to the region it is grown. 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" or "fiddle back".

Details
  • Category
    Timber, Flooring, Timber Decking
Specifications

Botanical Name
Acer Saccharum 

Other Names
Hard or Rock Maple 

Origin
North American

Scope of use

Interior

  • Wall/Ceiling
  • Furniture
  • Flooring 

Exterior

  • Doors/Windows
  • Wall/Cladding 

Music Related 

Marine

Features

Physical Properties
The wood is hard and heavy with good strength properties, in particular, it is highly resistant to abrasion and wear. It also has good steam-bending properties. 

Working Properties
American Hard Maple dries slowly with a high degree of 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. 

Durability
Rated as slightly or non-resistant to heartwood decay. The heartwood is resistant to preservative treatment, but the sapwood is permeable.

In tree form, American Hard Maple is usually referred to as Sugar Maple and is the tree most often tapped for maple syrup. Sugar Maple leaves are the shape that most people associate with maple leaves; they typically have either 5 or 7 lobes, with vivid autumn colouring ranging from yellow to purplish red.
American Hard Maple ought to be considered the king of the Acer genus. Its wood is stronger, stiffer, harder, and denser than all of the other species of Maple commercially available in lumber form. 

Common Uses
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.

Overview

Seasoning
Dries well with little degrade. 

Working Qualities
Rather difficult to work. Reduction of the cutting angle to 20º assists the finishing operation. It can be stained, polished and glued satisfactorily but it is hard to nail or screw. 

Uses
Flooring, high-class joinery, boat interiors, musical instruments and sporting goods.

Basic Info

Durability In GroundPerishable/Non Durable
Durability Above GroundPerishable/Non Durable 

Density Air Dry 740 kg/m3 

Shrinkage Radial 3 %
Shrinkage Tangental 5 % 

Stability Kiln Dry Stable
Stability Green Prone to Shrinkage and Distortion

Mechanical Properties

Janka Hardness 7.3 kN
Modulus of Rupture 115 MPa
Modulus of Elasticity 14 GPa
Max Crush Strength 56 MPa
Strength Group UnseasonedS4
Strength Group SeasonedSD4 

ASTM Flame Spread 104

Get in touch
ITI Timspec is a wholesaler supplier for the Trade. For all non-trade pricing enquiries, please contact your preferred Timber supply Merchant.
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Timspec was established in 1990 as a wholesaler of specialty timber and was wholly New Zealand owned. In March 2019 Timspec was acquired by ITI Australia and became ITI Timspec LTD.  

Today we import, export, and wholesale a huge range of timber to builders, joiners, home owners, floor layers, landscape builders and furniture manufacturers. We pride ourselves on being environmentally responsible and strive to source the most sustainable timber options available. Timber stocked includes species from North America, South America, Europe, Africa, South East Asia, Australia, and New Zealand's exotic as well as indigenous species. 

The ITI Timspec team are extremely knowledgeable about the various types of timber, treatments and uses available and are happy to help you in choosing the right product for your project.