Soft versus hard maple

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

I used hard maple for a hope chest for my wife, but I'm thinking of using soft maple on my daughter's desk, to save a few $. Anyone have thoughts or opinions (haha, of course they do...) on using one over the other?

[Gary Breckenridge]

First of all, what is the expected lifetime of the desk? If you expect it to last 5 years go as cheap as possible. If it is to be a lifetime, heirloom quality piece go with as much quality as possible.:D

I have a plate glass piece on the top of my desk. A too soft desk top will quickly show wear. You may possibly use hard maple for the top and soft for the rest of the desk.:D

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

The top will most likely be plywood with a solid border, so I would probably go for hardmaple ply (if available).

I'd like it to last a while - I'm not going to go with pine or particleboard - and I don't mind going with hard maple. just a thought, since soft is a little cheaper. I can get 4/4 hard maple 6' lengths random widths for about 3.38/BF. Mayybe I'm thinking about it too much....

[Jason Beam]

Soft maple is still pretty daggum hard, relatively speaking. Cherry desks have lasted generations and it's softer than even the softest soft maple. Plus, soft maple is more prone to curling so maybe you can find some deals on really beautiful wood? :)

[Gary Curtis]

There is a hardness scale for woods called the Janka Scale. The right two columns indicate kilonewtons and ft. lbs, denoting the force required to push a steel ball measuring about .4" into the wood up to a depth of half the width of the ball.

Hardrock Maple is Sugar Maple. Soft maple out here in California, at least, is called Silver Maple. I bought a bunch of 4|16 soft maple for the legs and trestles of my workbench. It milled beautifully and is pretty strong stuff.

Here are the Janka numbers


Gary Curtis

[Chip Lindley]

Soft Maple is to Chevrolet, as Rock Maple is to Cadillac??

It is all in the perceived value of a wood species. You cannot brag that you made the desk of "hard maple" but it will serve its purpose for eons. Hard Maple is touted for its figure as much as hardness. (curly/fiddle back) Plain figured hard maple is about as benign as it gets.

Psssttt....Nobody will know the difference, unless you "Tell" them!

[Frank Drew]

Figured soft maple can be terrific looking, if at times difficult to machine, but the plain stuff is, well, pretty plain; think poplar plain. Unfigured hard maple isn't dazzling but it has a nice elegance to the graining, and figured hard maple is simply one of the most stunning timbers ever.

A desk for your daughter, I'd go first class all the way, or as much as your budget and experience warrants.

[Mark Roderick]

I am making a jewelry box of "soft curly maple" which I assume is the stuff you're talking about. The grain is beautiful. The wood is not soft relative to what you think of as softwoods.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

It milled beautifully and is pretty strong stuff.


Thanks for the info....this is sorta the feedback I was looking for.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

I wanted to match most of her current bedroom furniture, which (somewhat sadly) is pretty "plain"grained stuff...but it's a nice clean look.

[Jim Becker]

The only thing you need to deal with relative to soft vs hard maple in most cases is that soft maple tends to have more dark heartwood that may not match what you want in a project. So choose your boards carefully to avoid this if it matters to you.

[Prashun Patel]

I always thought soft maple is kinda like poplar; can be squirelly to finish, but good stuff structurally.

[Rick Thom]

John, just to give you an example of some soft maple available, here's a small tea chest that I'm about finished with.. soft spalted maple with tiger strips, banding and feet are walnut. Finish is beeswax over linseed oil (Lee Valley "tried and true-Original").
This particular board had lots of stripes but didn't have much colour outside of the spalting. Often I choose the more highly coloured boards for projects I am going to dye as it gives an interesting variation to the colour. Please excuse the flashes 'brightness' reflecting off the legs and skirt of the table.. the colour/tone is actually fairly uniform with subtle differences where darker coloured wood exists.

[Jeff Duncan]

The soft maple I get is usually easily distinguishable from hard maple, and I use several hundred bd. ft. a year of each. Hard maple is generally very clean and creamy white, whereas the soft is usually darker with more spalting, knots, mineral streaks, and other such 'defects'.
I use hard maple for anything clear or stain grade, soft maple gets painted. I've heard many say soft maple and hard look the same so it may vary by the part of the country one lives in. If I were you I'd take a good look before buying to make sure it will match the other pieces.
good luck,
JeffD

[David Keller NC]

Honestly, I don't think you'll notice any difference between hard maple and soft maple when it comes to machining/sanding or finishing. In my experience, it works almost identically. Here on the East Coast, curly maple is generally soft maple, while blistered figure is hard/sugar maple. However, the USDA's info suggests that either kind of figure can be found in either groups of species. I suspect the price difference for the stuff has more to do with the prevelance of the species in the forest than anything else. Particularly in the mid-atlantic states, red maple ("soft" maple - the term in my opinion is a misnomer!) is the most common maple encountered in the forest.