soft maple for turning??

[Dan Beckman]

I just picked up two nice 4 foot logs of soft maple, about 10" dia. Price was good - free. I was driving down the street and saw the tree trimmers working, so I stopped and talked to them and they gave these to me. Even loaded them in my truck for me.
Now that I have them the question is whether soft maple is good for turning! Does soft maple finish OK? I had heard it has a fuzzy surface which is difficult to sand. Is that true?
Also, these logs were just cut this morning and already 5 hours later they are beginning to crack radially from the center. What do I need to do to stop the cracking??
Thanks.

[Jim Burr]

I can only speak to the checking thing Dan...but if you can, saw off the ends that are checked and use a sealer of some kind...latex paint works in a pinch and it's not to bad. A lot of us have good results with plastic, saran type wrap. I have it on 12 blanks now and no checking at all...some over a year. BUT!! I do have some mold on a few walnut blanks from 12 months ago, I don't know where that will lead me, but respiratory protection for sure!!! Good luck and let us know how it goes!

[Dennis Ford]

Soft maple is great for turning, get those logs sealed up on the end grain and turn them as soon as possible.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Dan,
The two most common soft maples in our area are Norway maple and Silver Maple. They are easy to tell apart by the bark. The Norway maple, including the red Crimson King, has a tight bark while Silver maple has kind of a shaggy bark. Both are wonderful turning woods and range from plain and light to very patterned with curl or ripple. Process the blanks and rough turn them as quickly as possible because the blanks do not save well even if you cut away the pith and the dark center and use Anchorseal on the ends. If the wood is cut now, the sap is running and the wood will be very wet and will mold easily. Bag the rough outs but change the bags almost daily for a while so the rough bowl is not overly exposed to moisture prompting mold growth. The finished results will be beautiful wood that is a joy to turn.
faust

[Roger Chandler]

Faust..........that was good advice you gave.........just wanted to say that I appreciate your response to Dan's question......a lot of folks can learn from your post!

[Rich Aldrich]

I have turned some soft maple - the heart wood is really interesting. I like to pick it out of my dads pulpwood piles by looking at the end grain. Faust is right about molding. It does crack easily while turining as well. After the wood is dry and you start to finish turn, I take lighter cuts than normal to keep the wood from cracking. The larger the bowl, the easier it is to crack.