Replies

1. 
   saschafer | Sep 07, 2007 07:49pm | #1

   From a commercial lumber point of view, there are four North American species of maple: sugar maple (Acer saccharum), black maple (Acer nigrum), red maple (Acer rubrum) and silver maple (Acer saccharinum).

   Sugar and black maple are collectively referred to as "hard" maple. "Rock maple" is just another way of saying "hard maple." Some botanists consider black maple to be a subspecies of sugar maple, rather than a full-fledged species.

   Red and silver maple are collectively referred to as "soft" maple, although they're still fairly hard compared to really soft hardwoods like yellow poplar (which is actually a kind of magnolia and not a poplar at all, but that's a story for another time).

   Ask for "hard maple" at your lumberyard, and assuming they know what they're doing, you'll get the stuff you need. If they just have "maple," it's at least as likely to be soft maple as hard maple. Unfortunately, it's difficult to distinguish the two kinds without a magnifier to look at the end grain pores.

   -Steve (I am not now nor have I ever been John White)

    

   
   

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   Edited 9/7/2007 12:52 pm ET by saschafer

1. 
   GEide | Sep 07, 2007 08:01pm | #2

   Hi Steve,

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   Thanks for chiming in. I initially tossed this question to John W.’s folder because he’s the expert on most things, but I’ll put this in the You’re the Expert folder instead. Thanks for the help.

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   (I tried looking the question up in Jon Arno’s maple primer but didn’t find “rock maple” listed. I wondered if it was synonymous with hard maple. Thanks for clarifying.)

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   GinaFWW.com

   Edited 9/7/2007 1:01 pm ET by GEide

2. 
   user-252936 | Sep 07, 2007 09:00pm | #3

   Steve, thanks for your help.  I thought they might be one and the same but it's great to have some expert advice and opinions.

1. 
   saschafer | Sep 09, 2007 09:48pm | #4

   I realized after I had posted that I had given an "Eastern-centric" response (which is ironic, since I'm originally from California). In addition to the four species I mentioned, there is of course bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) in the Pacific northwest.

   -Steve