Canadian Maple???

[John Miliunas]

OK, so the LOML is looking at some flooring for her sewing room/spare bedroom. She's bent on solid flooring of some sort, probably an engineered laminate. Today, I guess she was cruising the Net and found something, which the top laminate is Canadian Maple. She says to me, "What's the difference between that and "regular" Maple?" I says, "It comes from Canada???" :D

Seriously though, anyone know what the difference (if any, outside of marketing) is? :confused: :) :cool:

[Cecil Arnold]

I think you nailed it John, It's from Canada. It may be something brought on by the recent wood wars between the US & Canada--just my guess.

[Doug Shepard]

Coincidently, while grocery shopping this morning I bought some Canadian Maple Ham in the deli section. Maybe the flooring looks like that? Maybe the flooring smells like that? The dog (if you have one) is gonna love it.:D

[Al Willits]

Recent wood wars???

Musta missed that one too... :)

A floor that smells like ham...hummmm..don't see that everyday.

Al

[Frank Pellow]

Margaret, my wife, who is something of an expert on flora and fauna, tells me that there is no such tree spcies as Canadian Maple, So this is marketing hooey.

[Frank Pellow]

Recent wood wars???

Musta missed that one too... :)

A floor that smells like ham...hummmm..don't see that everyday.

Al
The has been an ongoing dispute for many many years between Canada and the USA over fees/duties/taxes/tarrfis/penalties imposed by the USA on softwood limber imported into the USA from Canada. There is a recent agreement between our goverments to settle thd dispute which certainly is not universally popular on either side of our border.

[Rick Thom]

OK, so the LOML is looking at some flooring for her sewing room/spare bedroom. She's bent on solid flooring of some sort, probably an engineered laminate. Today, I guess she was cruising the Net and found something, which the top laminate is Canadian Maple. She says to me, "What's the difference between that and "regular" Maple?" I says, "It comes from Canada???" :D

Seriously though, anyone know what the difference (if any, outside of marketing) is? :confused: :) :cool:
John, I think you've got it. To the best of my knowledge that isn't a spiecies so other than the possibility that they merely mean it's maple that was grown in Canada, it is likely a marketing ploy where they 'created' that name, so it could be anything.
The lumber issue and dispute relates to softwood. As I understand it, there are concerns about what constittutes government subsidies and fairness of contracts and government policies. Sounds like a stand-off at this point.

Frank, you are a faster typist than I... we are on the same page though. Fellow budding chip carvers too! Shhhhh.

[John Miliunas]

LOL!!! :D I'm going in the house, grabbing the calendar and clearly marking this date: "Hey, he was right!!!" :D Thanks guys, appreciate it. As for the "wood wars", to quote a now infamous line: "Can't we all just get along???" :D :cool:

[Mike Canaris]

Is there any diffrence in maples cultivated in cold climates where the syrup is removed form them yearly..over the ones that grow in warmer climates...?

This is some species found up north..

Sugar Maple Northeast United States & Southern Canada

Black Maple Northeast United States & Southeast Canada

Red Maple Eastern United States & Southeast Canada

the rest of the list is here.. (http://www.massmaple.org/treeID.html)

[John Miliunas]

Is there any diffrence in maples cultivated in cold climates where the syrup is removed form them yearly..over the ones that grow in warmer climates...?

This is some species found up north..

Sugar Maple Northeast United States & Southern Canada

Black Maple Northeast United States & Southeast Canada

Red Maple Eastern United States & Southeast Canada

the rest of the list is here.. (http://www.massmaple.org/treeID.html)

Wow Mike, pretty much everything one ever wanted to know about Maples, heh? Thanks for the info however, for the discussion between the LOML and myself, let's just say I was right! :D (As luck would have it, she doesn't visit SMC! Whew....:p ) :) :cool:

[Mike Canaris]

IMHO ..I do beleive colder climate(northern Canada) maples are harder.


Rick ,did you even bother to check out the link I provided...?

[Eddie Darby]

I think you nailed it John, It's from Canada. It may be something brought on by the recent wood wars between the US & Canada--just my guess.
The fault that was exposed from this "dispute" in Softwood lumber was that the mechanism for settling these things needs to be upgraded, since the Canadians won every court battle, and appeal, yet this thing dragged on, and on, and on. During this long "court' battle, Americans had to pay on average $1000 more per home without Canadian softwood. I don't think the term "war" is appropriate since no one was killed, just egos were bruised, and wallets thinned. The lesson learned is that everyone hurts when trade is disrupted.
Canadian maple is the same as American maple, except that Americans didn't put a maple leaf on their flag. In all the world maple syrup can only be made in the North-East of North America. I hear that some Americans close to the Canadian border even say "Eh?". :D
When it comes to floors, I would stay away from the thin ones, and I would stick to good old thick solid wood ones, 3/4" if you can get it. The reason being that you will get more re-finishings out of a thick solid floor, and thus a longer life span.
Now I hope this doesn't start a Hardwood Dispute.:eek:

[Eddie Darby]

Just as a side note, Americans now use Canadian Maple in their baseball bats. The "Bat" bat is used by Barry Bonds amongst others, and so it will be disputed that he cheated, since the Babe and Hank had to use American Ash.:D

The company is up for sale on EBay, the owner is near retirement age and the business is growing so fast that he needs to expand, but doesn't want to take on the challenge at this stage in his life. So if some American buys it, and moves it from Gatineau Quebec, to the States, then the company could use American maple to help their National past-time.
I can see the adds now "New and improved now with 100% American maple!".:o

"Play Ball! Batter up!"

[Dan Mages]

Don't you know, Canadian maple has a tendancy to end their statements with "eh?", drink lots of John Labats, play hockey, and dress in funny red uniforms?

Dan :rolleyes:

[Jim VanBramer]

... and then there's the question of Canadian bacon!;)
Made the mistake of ordering a Canadian bacon and pineapple pizza up there once ....... got told in a hurry that there was no such thing - it's just
BACON!!!:eek:
How was I suppose to know, eh?!:D

[Alan DuBoff]

John,

Give solid hardwood flooring a good look, lumber liquidators has good prices on all type of stuff. If you're willing to finish it you can get it dirt cheap, but the finished stuff is easy to install.

[John Miliunas]

John,

Give solid hardwood flooring a good look, lumber liquidators has good prices on all type of stuff. If you're willing to finish it you can get it dirt cheap, but the finished stuff is easy to install.

Alan, I wouldn't mind full 3/4" stuff but, that leads to other issues. For one, this is on a slab. :mad: In turn, that means a direct glue-down and a drastic change in height from the hallway.

You're right, otherwise. There are deals out there for the typical solid flooring. If I were on a wooden subfloor, I don't think I'd even hesitate. :) :cool:

[Alan DuBoff]

Alan, I wouldn't mind full 3/4" stuff but, that leads to other issues. For one, this is on a slab. :mad: In turn, that means a direct glue-down and a drastic change in height from the hallway.Yeah, that's a tough one to solve. I was lucky and had a subfloor in my shed.

I have Pergo in my family room and kitchen. Neither me or my wife is happy about the Pergo in the kitchen and she's punctured it a couple times already, one recently when a friend dropped a pot and the handle poked a small hole in it. It's easy to patch, but I don't like the feel of it on my feet (we don't wear shoes in the house).

Glue is not a good answer for solid hardwood, IMO.

Maybe what you're planning with wood on the top laminate is the best. I missed the slab, you probably mentioned it above. I'm a skeptic over these snap-together systems used these days. I know Pergo uses that now also, but ours used glue. It still floats, but the pieces are glued to each other. I'm sure the snap together stuff is proven, I'm just skeptical over it, not sure exactly why but it seems the floating floor would have a chance of popping apart if you drop something heavy on it.

[John Miliunas]

Yeah, that's a tough one to solve. I was lucky and had a subfloor in my shed.

Glue is not a good answer for solid hardwood, IMO.

Maybe what you're planning with wood on the top laminate is the best. I missed the slab, you probably mentioned it above. I'm a skeptic over these snap-together systems used these days. I know Pergo uses that now also, but ours used glue. It still floats, but the pieces are glued to each other. I'm sure the snap together stuff is proven, I'm just skeptical over it, not sure exactly why but it seems the floating floor would have a chance of popping apart if you drop something heavy on it.

You're absolutely right about the glue! Don't like that idea at all.

As for the snap-together stuff, I've checked into some of it and it does seem to be quite durable nowadays. In a previous life, I used to install flooring for a living and still stay in contact with some of the installers. They seem to thing that, as long as you get decent quality stuff, the locked seems are OK. Part of that is also dependent on how flat the surface is to start with. Now that may be an issue! :eek: I'll find out once the carpet comes up!:) :cool: