From the hardness of rock maple to the easier to work soft maple or the almost translucent, porcelain coloured grain of Japanese maple, and from the springiness of skateboards to the hardness of bowling alley floors, maples are characterized as being the timber of hardness and resilience. Apart from soft maple, which has a more distinctive wavy and warmer, reddish tinge, most maples are typified and easy to spot due to an even, creamy-white texture.
The use of the extremely hard, crisp, even texture of creamy-white maple allows for the surface of these knives to be extended beyond traditional wooden handles. The knives are dominated less by the steel and more by natural grain of the wood. The use of maple in these products exploits the high strength and abrasion resistance of this particular wood – the reason it is the material of choice for bowling alley lanes. Compared with other strong woods like oak it has more flexing strength but with similar crushing strength.
Apart from its flat even grain and hardness, one of the other traits of maple is when it is sliced through a part of the tree that exhibits irregular growth it creates what is known as the distinctive ‘bird’s-eye’ maple pattern.
Image: Fusion maple knives by Andrea Ponti
•720 kg/m3 (45 lbs/ft3)
•High resistance to abrasion and wear
•Reasonable staining and finishing
•Fine and even texture
•Usually straight grained
•Medium density
•Steam bends very well
Sources
Rock maple is grown largely in Canada and Eastern USA, although there are many other varieties of maples that grow throughout Europe and Asia Minor.
Cost
Moderately priced.
Sustainability issues
This wood is not listed in the CITES appendices of endangered species.
Production
Good for steam bending but, unless working with soft maple, it is more difficult to work with tools, which it tends to blunt fairly quickly. It finishes with stains and polishes reasonably well. It needs to be pre-bored for nailing and screwing.
Typical applications
Its good strength and resistance to wear make it an excellent timber for domestic and industrial flooring, particularly squash courts, bowling alleys and rollerskating rinks. Also used for shoe lasts, rollers in textile production, furniture and turned ware. Maple syrup is also a derivative of the maple tree. Birdseye maple is sometime referred to as ‘fiddleback maple’ due to its use for violin backs. Jaguar use two kinds of veneer F in its car interiors: walnut F bur for the top of the range models and birdseye maple F for its executive cars. The springy toughness of maple is also put to full use in skateboards, which take advantage of a high strength-to-weight ratio.
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–Extremely hard and resilient –High wear resistance –Steam bends well –Sustainable |
–Can cause allergies –Susceptible to insect attack |