A maple tree promises you more than just a beautiful sight. The stately maple also provides an excellent raw material with its wood. Sometimes the question arises as to whether this is hardwood or softwood. You can get an overview here.
Is maple wood a hardwood or a softwood?
Maple wood belongs to the hardwood category and has a hardness of around 27-28 Brinell. This hardness lies in the middle range between hardwoods and softwoods, with maple wood being valued for its stability and beautiful light color.
Is maple hardwood or softwood?
The wood of maple is usually classified ashardwoods. The hardness of the wood is in the middle range between hardwoods and softwoods, but it has many positive properties. The beautiful light color of the wood is also considered an advantage by many carpenters.
How hard is maple wood?
The hardness of maple wood is approximately27-28 Brinell The Brinell scale indicates the indentation hardness of certain materials in wood. It was introduced by a Swedish engineer around 1900 and is still considered the benchmark for the hardness of wood today. The exact hardness of maple wood can vary depending on the species and how the wood is deposited. These are the typical wood hardness of other types of wood:
- Oak: 34-35 Brinell
- Olive: 51-53 Brinell
- Birch: 23-27 Brinell
- Spruce: 12-13 Brinell
How does maple hardwood differ from softwood?
Hardwood ismore stableand has a differentcalorific value This means that the hard wood of maple does not get nicks as quickly as this This is the case, for example, with the soft wood of spruce or pine. In addition, hard and heavy woods have a higher calorific value than softwood. The hardness of the wood also entails other properties.
How do I get hardwood or softwood from maple?
Also use anoccasional pruning to gain wood. You don't have to cut down an entire maple tree if you want to get hard or soft wood from the maple tree. Longer branches are also cut off from time to time on large trees. You should not throw away the wood obtained in this way. You can use it in many ways thanks to its qualities. However, if the maple bleeds heavily at the cut site after such a cut, you should apply a wound closure agent (€10.00 on Amazon).
Tip
Store maple wood properly before processing
Only the deposition of hard or soft wood reveals the best qualities of the type of wood. As a result of the deposition, the wood loses moisture and becomes solid. Before you process maple wood further, you should store it for a few years or at least let it dry artificially.