Is Maple A Hardwood Tree

With leaves that look very similar to the sugar maple the silver maple s leaves are thinner with more defined points.

Is maple a hardwood tree. The maple tree is a member of a group of 200 species of trees and shrubs worldwide that belong to the acer family. Some maple wood has a highly decorative wood grain known as flame maple quilt maple birdseye maple and burl wood. Hard maple ought to be considered the king of the acer genus. The most common hard maple is the sugar or rock maple.

All maples are hardwoods but the species found in america are further classified as hard or soft maples. They produce a fruit or nut and often go dormant in the winter. It grows natively in the northeastern regions of the united states and can reach a height of more than 100 feet at maturity. 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.

America s forests contain hundreds of different hardwood tree species. Taking the hardness data within context of other hardwoods soft maple may be used as a valid substitute for hard maple in most situations where a hardwood of moderate density is called for. In fact about 40 percent of american trees are in the hardwood category. Hardwoods such as red cedar elm cherry balsa teak mahogany maple and oak.

The texture and density of the wood a tree produces puts it in either the hardwood or softwood category. The sugar maple tree or acer saccharum is classified as a hard hardwood maple tree. Silver maple this tree is close behind the sugar maple in terms of being the most prolific tree in north america. Most hardwood trees are deciduous trees which lose their leaves annually like elm or maple.

A few well known hardwood species are oak maple and cherry but many. Hard maple dries slowly with high shrinkage so it can be susceptible to movement in performance. The trees have broad leaves rather than needle like leaves. A sugar maple s wood is the most dense of all maple wood and is used frequently in furniture and flooring.

Pre boring is recommended when nailing and screwing. Its wood is stronger stiffer harder and denser than all of the other species of maple commercially available in lumber form. The wood of the sugar maple is strong heavy and hard with a light brown to reddish color. This condition occurs randomly in individual trees of several species and often cannot be detected until the wood has been sawn though it is sometimes visible in the standing tree as a rippled pattern in the bark.

That would depend on the type of hardwood but generally the name comes from the tree type.