Hard maple offers a variety of sweet bounties.

Hard maple is a triple threat. Its lumber is the most prized of the North American commercial species of maple, its leaves are the most spectacular in the fall, and its sap is used to produce the delicious maple sugar and maple syrup.

There are some 150 species of maple in the world; approximately 115 are located in North America. Acer saccharum, the dominant species, is also known as hard, rock or sugar maple. Other prominent species include silver maple, (Acer saccarinum); big leaf or Oregon maple (Acer macrophyllum); striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum); mountain maple (Acer spicatum); and red maple (Acer rubrum).

Hard maple grows from Newfoundland to the Great Lakes, south to Georgia and west to Manitoba and Texas. It has grey bark and dark-green leaves that turn a brilliant mix of yellow, orange and red in the fall. The maple leaf is Canada's national emblem.

Maple itself is a light-colored wood - a creamy white with just a reddish tinge and fine brown lines on some areas. Maple dries slowly and without trouble. It has a non-durable heartwood and a sapwood that is susceptible to attack.

In vogue for furniture use

Maple as a commercial timber tree has a lot to boast about. This light-colored wood has been in vogue for some time now. The hardness of the wood coupled with a natural resistance to abrasion and wear makes it good for heavy-duty flooring. Its other uses include paneling, textile machinery rollers, musical instruments, piano actions, butcher block, sporting goods and dairy equipment. It is a high-quality turnery wood.

Maple has gained the most recognition and popularity as a furniture and cabinetry wood in the United States. Also within the last five years, the world market for maple has greatly expanded. Connie Burton, sales manager for Amos-Hill Associates Inc., in Edinburgh, Ind., said his company works strictly in the export market for maple veneer. "The U.S. market for maple continues to be strong, but the real increase in the last five years has been in the world demand. Maple is a light-colored wood and it is very popular in Japan, Europe and the Pacific Rim. The markets that accepted birch are now accepting maple," said Burton.

He added that maple is being seen more in its natural state instead of with a high-sheen lacquer such as almond or black, made popular with Oriental-style furniture.

Differences in exported cuts

Readying maple for export requires some changes from how the wood is prepared for domestic consumption. At Amos-Hill, for example, the maple earmarked for export is sliced thinner than for the domestic market. "The U.S. market typically cuts maple in 1/34 to 1/36 inch thickness while the world market uses it cut in 1/46 to 1/50 inch thickness. The Japanese, who at times buy maple logs and cut them in Japan, have the technology to slice maple from 1/85 to 1/100 of an inch. You see the potential for higher yield when you consider that at one time maple was routinely cut to 1/28 of an inch," said Burton.

Besides the conservation and higher yield benefits, Burton said that thinner slicing of maple reduces the problems of pitting and gives a more uniformly smooth veneer that aids in the manufacturing process. Burton added that maple is good to work with from a cutting standpoint, compared with more porous woods like oak. It is similar in texture to birch and cherry.

The maple that Amos-Hill exports is sent "clipped and bundled - we clip any heart defects," Burton said. For the American market, maple is usually just sliced and put in crates. Amos-Hill gets its supplies of maple from the Eastern United States. The best supplies of maple are said to come from Michigan, particularly the Upper Peninsula. Some maple is available from other states, but it can have more defects and therefore produces a lower yield.

Sweet returns from sugar maple

Hard or sugar maple is the tree responsible for maple syrup. Areas of prime syrup and sugar production from sugar maples include Vermont, New York, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Quebec and Ontario. Quebec produces more maple sugar and maple syrup than all the U.S. states combined.

Sap is collected from the trees in late winter and early spring. The sapping season is distinguished by cold nights and warm days which work in combination to start the sap flowing. Syrup is collected in two ways. The old-fashioned way is to drill holes into the tree and then insert a metal spout into each hole. The sap runs from the tree into a metal bucket hanging from the spout. The filled buckets are transported, often by sled, to the sugarhouse. There the sap is poured into large collecting containers.

With the newer method of collection, plastic spouts are inserted into drilled holes; the sap runs through plastic tubing directly into a pipeline system. This newer method results in more sap being collected and is less labor intensive.

Sap at the sugarhouse is boiled in a long, shallow "evaporator" pan. It takes 35 to 45 gallons of sap to make just 1 gallon of maple syrup. Native Americans and Indians around the Great Lakes produced maple syrup and called it sweet water. Until the advent of white cane sugar's use in North America, maple sugar was a major food item.

RELATED ARTICLE: Family Names

Principally from Acer saccharum of the Family Aceraceae; also from Acer nigrum.

Other Names

Hard maple, sugar maple, white maple, rock maple, black maple, black sugar maple and silver maple.

Height/Weight

Average height is 100 feet to a maximum of 135 feet with diameters of 2 to 3 feet. Weight is 44 pounds per cubic foot.

Properties

Heavy, strong, stiff wood. Dries slowly with little degrade. Medium density with good bending and crushing strengths. Good for steam bending. Prebore for nailing. Finishes well. Reduced cutting angle for planning or moulding on quartered surfaces.