Is A Red Maple A Hardwood Or Softwood

Common soft maples include the silver red and box elder.

Is a red maple a hardwood or softwood.

Red maple can also be seen with curly or quilted grain patterns. The term hardwood tree is a botanical grouping of trees with similar characteristics. Generally the sapwood is greyish white sometimes with darker colored pith flecks. What are hardwood trees.

Grain is generally straight but may be wavy. Silver maple red maple and boxelder are soft maples. But hardwood is a term biolog to group together trees with certain similar characteristics. The wood of soft maple is not as heavy or as strong as that of hard maple.

All maples are hardwoods but the species found in america are further classified as hard or soft maples. On a soft maple board the chemical will turn dark blue to black in color. The maple tree is a member of a group of 200 species of trees and shrubs worldwide that belong to the acer family. Now it may look like hard maple is heads and tails above the rest and to a certain extent it is but for reference black cherry has a janka hardness of 950 lb f the same as red maple and black walnut is rated at 1 010 lb f also note that black maple not pictured isn t quite as hard as its close relative hard maple and ranks in the mid range with a hardness of 1 180 lb f.

If you want information about hardwood tree characteristics as well as a hardwood vs. Unlike most other hardwoods the sapwood of maple lumber is most commonly used rather than its heartwood sapwood color ranges from almost white to a light golden or reddish brown while the heartwood is a darker reddish brown. Softwood discussion read on. The specific gravities of sugar maple and black maple are 0 63 and 0 57 respectively.

Bigleaf maple is moderately hard. If it is on a hard maple board iron sulfate will create a pale blue or green coloration on the board. The wood is heavy and soft which makes it ideal for commercial uses such as making furniture pallets and crating. The red maple or acer rubrum is classified as a soft hardwood tree.

From angiosperm or flowering plants such as oak maple or walnut that are not monocots the hardwood is formed by these while from gymnosperm trees usually evergreen conifers like pine or spruce the softwood is formed. The most common hard maple is the sugar or rock maple. Janka ratings for maple range from 700 for silver maple to 1 180 for black maple. The heartwood varies from light to dark reddish brown.

Whether you are choosing between hard or soft maple rest assured that both can produce fantastic results for a variety of hardwood lumber products.