Curly Maple

[Thomas Prondzinski]

I was wondering what the difference is between soft and hard maple other than one is hard and one is soft. I'm building a table that will have one end hang out 36" at least with no support. Will soft maple sag after time? would hard maple do the same? Would like to use curly maple,I can get some good soft maple much less $$ than hard. Any thoughts?


Thanks Tom

[Quinn McCarthy]

Tom

The difference between the 2 maples is the family they are in. Red and silver maple are in the soft maple family and sugar maple is in the hard maple family. Soft is relative. Both hard and soft maple are very strong and dense. Quite often maple gets lumped together at the sawmill into the hard and soft maple group. The soft maples have a V in the sinus of the leaf and hard maples have a U in the sinus. If you go to the USDA Forest service wood products lab you can get data on the strenghth on each wood in your application. Generaly the soft maples are a bit bit less money but both can have some really nice grain.

Hope that helps.

Quinn

[Pete Brown]

I haven't worked hard maple, but I have found soft maple to be sufficiently hard for the cabinets and other things I've built.

I also like the coloration more; it tends to go more red, but also more gray.

I'm not sure anything would handle 36 unsupported inches. Will you have an apron or anything to help handle the forces? How about center supports?

How thick is the top?

Pete

[Richard Ferment]

Both soft and hard maple are quite hard. You stated you wanted to use soft because it is less costly. Then you are going to have sticker shock when check prices on curly maple. Around here in North Carolina soft goes for about 2.50 bf Hard about3.25 Curly about 6.00bf:)