Hard maple vs soft maple
Hard maple is sugar and black maple; soft maple is mainly red and silver maple, plus bigleaf maple in the West. The wood looks much the same.
- Sugar maple is about 53% harder than red maple.
- Sugar maple is about 17% heavier than red maple.
- Sugar maple has about 22% more movement across a flatsawn board than red maple.
Each column is the species its page leads with: sugar maple for hard maple, red maple for soft maple.
Side by side
| Property | Hard maple | Soft maple |
|---|---|---|
| Janka hardness, 12% MC | 1,450 lbf | 950 lbf |
| Weight, 12% MC | 44.1 lb/ft³ (706 kg/m³) | 37.8 lb/ft³ (605 kg/m³) |
| Specific gravity, 12% MC | 0.63 | 0.54 |
| Tangential shrinkage | 9.9% | 8.2% |
| Radial shrinkage | 4.8% | 4.0% |
| 12 in flatsawn board, 6% → 12% MC | 0.254 in | 0.208 in |
| 12 in quartersawn board, 6% → 12% MC | 0.119 in | 0.099 in |
| Bending strength (MOR), 12% MC | 15,800 psi | 13,400 psi |
| Stiffness (MOE), 12% MC | 1.83 million psi | 1.64 million psi |
| Crushing strength, 12% MC | 7,830 psi | 6,540 psi |
One source: USDA Forest Products Laboratory, the authority for species properties it measured
Wood Handbook Tables 5-3b, 4-3 and 13-5; weight and movement worked with its Eqs. 4-14 and 13-1. A dash means the Handbook prints no value.
What sets them apart
- Looks
- Soft maple’s heartwood and sapwood look like hard maple’s; its sapwood is somewhat lighter than its heartwood. Hard maple heartwood is usually light reddish brown, sometimes much darker. (Wood Handbook, p. 2-8 to 2-9)
- Weight and strength
- Soft maple resembles hard maple but is not as heavy, hard or strong. Hard maple is heavy, strong, stiff, hard and tough, with high shrinkage. (Wood Handbook, p. 2-8 to 2-9)
- Figure
- Hard maple’s grain is generally straight, but birdseye, curly and fiddleback figure is picked out for furniture and novelty items. (Wood Handbook, p. 2-8)
- Uses
- Hard maple goes into flooring, furniture, cabinets, cutting boards, bowling alleys and dance and gym floors. Soft maple goes into furniture, veneer, wooden ware, boxes, pallets and crossties. (Wood Handbook, p. 2-8 to 2-9)
For any other pair, open each species page from the wood hub; every page uses the same layout and the same sources.