How close is big leaf maple to sugar maple in color?

[Alex Zeller]

I've never used big leaf maple, not even sure I've seen it in person. I'm looking to do some 1" wide inlays in cherry that will also have some hard maple. I was thinking of spending extra and getting quilted to make it really stand out. Quilted big leaf maple it easier to obtain. When I try to search Google loves to lump in all soft maples together. Does big leaf have a good contrast to cherry? Is it possible to find boards similar color to hard maple or should I just plan on only using big leaf? It's not a local wood so I'll most likely pay a premium for it over hard.

[Richard Coers]

In my opinion, quilted doesn't come through so well on 1" strips. The big leaf I have is closer to soft maple and not crisp white like sugar maple. Some curly hard maple with the pattern perpendicular to the strip will really pop when the cherry darkens with age. Even tight birds eye hard maple will look great.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I am still trying to get educated on the various Maples. I took some NH sugar maples down this summer and tried to get a few billets out for small projects. One broken splitting maul and a broken sledge + damaged wedges later I find the center of the sugar maple to be too dark and rustic to use. Big leaf is a western wood and is more processable is what I have read on the web. Our local log finding hero at Old Standard Wood gets most of his logs from the Adirondacks. It is silly that I am not sure which spices he provides. It is beautiful with lots of figure. All white too.

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[Jamie Buxton]

Bigleaf is somewhat more yellow than most hard maple I've seen. I think it is a very pretty wood -- prettier than hard maple. But that's just me. YMMV.

I'd agree with Richard: quilting is a larger pattern than will show well in a 1" strip. You might consider birdseye maple. That's usually hard maple, so you don't get any color conflict, and the little birdseyes are easy to see in 1"-wide strips.

[Steve Demuth]

I am still trying to get educated on the various Maples. I took some NH sugar maples down this summer and tried to get a few billets out for small projects. One broken splitting maul and a broken sledge + damaged wedges later I find the center of the sugar maple to be too dark and rustic to use. Big leaf is a western wood and is more processable is what I have read on the web. Our local log finding hero at Old Standard Wood gets most of his logs from the Adirondacks. It is silly that I am not sure which spices he provides. It is beautiful with lots of figure. All white too.


I'm curious, too dark and rustic to use for what? That's pretty nice looking maple, to my eye.