What are differences between Hard Maple and Soft Maple (say Red Leaf)?

[Nick Sorenson]

I recently ordered some figured hard maple and when it arived I question if it is infact Sugar Maple. How do you tell if it's hard or soft? Even soft maple is pretty hard and they both look similarly in color and grain etc. Any clues that set them apart?

[David Thompson 27577]

I agree that there is little, if any, visible difference between hard maple and soft maple. But I've been told that figured maple (fiddleback, tiger, quilted, blister) almost never grows in hard maple (sugar maple). Those figures are found in soft maple, and in bigleaf maple.

Of course, the answer I just gave is, quite possibly, worth exactly what you paid for it.

[Peter Quinn]

Well, I'm no expert for sure. i don't know how the figure plays in, but the hard maple I see is generally more of an even creamy white color with fairly even grain patterns around the cathedrals. Soft maple tends to be just a bit lighter in weight, it generally has grey to tan mineral streaks on at least one face of many boards, and it is in fact a bit softer when you tap with a knuckle or press it with a fingernail. I have seen some soft maple that has no or little of the characteristic mineral streaking, but the grain is almost always more irregular and the color a bit less creamy white with a yellow to orange glow like the hard maple, and usually more tan with redish highlights. Now hows that for vague and general? It could be just my local area, or it could be just my main local supplier always buys from the same mill that gives me this impression. I have seen some pretty impressive curly figure in soft maple being sold not as figured but just in the regular lumber pile, never really see that kind of thing in the hard maple except in a very limited area of a very occasional board.

[Gary Curtis]

On the Janka Hardness Scale, hard maple (sugar, or broadleaf) is about 35% harder. In practical terms, it is much harder to apply a stain or finish to hard maple. I have two kitchens with maple cabinets. Ooh, do I know about the difficulty of applying finish to hard maple.

[Jim Becker]

Peter identifies one particular trait...hard maple is almost always sold as sap-wood only and it has a nice, creamy color...the small dark heart is cut out. Not so for soft maple species...there is less difference between the sap and heart, although it's still noticeable in many boards.

[Chris Fournier]

I agree that there is little, if any, visible difference between hard maple and soft maple. But I've been told that figured maple (fiddleback, tiger, quilted, blister) almost never grows in hard maple (sugar maple). Those figures are found in soft maple, and in bigleaf maple.

Of course, the answer I just gave is, quite possibly, worth exactly what you paid for it.

There is plenty of figured hard maple out there! Some of the most spectacular tiger/curly/flamed maple I have seen has been hard maple. If you have any lumber that has som bark on it you can quickly tell what you have. The layer between the bark and sapwood is orange in colour on hard maple and purplish on soft maple. the colour of the sapwood is tricker to make absolute statements about because I have seen some very white soft maple and some greyer hard maple but the mineral satining of the heart can usually help distinguish the two species as others have pointed out.

[Scott Driemel]

I'm here in BC, and cut 1000's of brd feet of maple. The variety I cut is all "bigleaf". (leaves up to about 14" across). I had been under the impression that "Bigleaf" was in fact "softmaple". That only "sugar" maple was infact called "hard" maple. Now hey, I could be wrong as I'm not looking it up in a book and believe me I'd love to know if "Bigleaf" maple isn't the same as "soft maple". The amount of mineral staining is all over the map. I've cut and milled trees off the same hillside that are stained with grey, yellow, purple and not far away, similar aged trees with creamy solid white. Always comes down to the soil grown in for mineral streaking I believe. Once dried, "Bigleaf" maple is pretty hard to dent with a fingernail. Probably every 3rd tree I mill has some curl or flame in it. Not always throughout the tree, just in pockets of stress inside or along an outer edge if the tree was leaning say. The only "figure" hard to find in all my "bigleaf" is birdseye. I get a chunk here & there, spectacular for sure but seldom covers more than about a say .. TV tray size area. Now I'm dying to know if Bigleaf is "soft maple" or not.

[Jerome Hanby]

This isn't at all a scientific test, but at the hardwood place I frequent, he verifies hard maple with a utility knife along the corner of one edge. If it doesn't make a dent, he calls it hard maple...

[Nick Sorenson]

... Now I'm dying to know if Bigleaf is "soft maple" or not.

I believe Bigleaf is common in the NW in the US. It's considered a soft maple by all of the lumber suppliers I've talked to.