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Blunting Effect
Boring
Comments
Common Names
Common Uses
Countries of Distribution
Cutting Resistance
Distribution Overview
Drying Defects
Ease of Drying
Environmental Profile
Family Name
Gluing
Grain
Heartwood Color
Kiln Schedules
Mortising
Moulding
Movement in Service
Nailing
Natural Durability
Numerical Data
Odor
Planing
Product Sources
References
Regions of Distribution
Resistance to Impregnation
Sanding
Sapwood Color
Scientific Name
Screwing
Staining
Steam Bending
Strength Properties
Substitutes
Texture
Trade Name
Tree Size
Turning
Veneering Qualities

Scientific Name
Acer nigrum

Trade Name
Black maple

Family Name
Aceraceae

Wood Image 1

Common Names
Black maple, Black sugar maple, Hard maple, Hard rock maple, Maple, Rock maple, Sugar maple

Regions of Distribution
North America

Countries of Distribution  [VIEW MAP]
Canada, United States

Common Uses
Baskets, Boards, Bowling Pins, Boxes and crates, Building materials, Casks, Chairs, Charcoal, Chests, Clogs, Concealed parts (Furniture), Crossties, Decorative veneer, Desks, Dining-room furniture, Domestic flooring, Dowell pins, Dowells, Drawer sides, Dressed boards, Drum sticks, Figured veneer, Fine furniture, Floor lamps, Flooring, Food containers, Furniture , Furniture components, Furniture squares or stock, Handles, Hatracks, Interior construction, Kitchen cabinets, Living-room suites, Lumber, Musical instruments , Office furniture, Organ pipes, Paneling , Railroad ties, Tool handles, Windows

Environmental Profile
Abundant/Secure
Questionable
Widespread
Relative endangerement is based on the number of occurences of the species globally
May be rare in some parts of its range, particularly at the periphery
Globally secure
Data source is Nature Conservancy
Abundant


Distribution Overview
Black maple in North America grows in the Upper Midwest, Southern Ontario and Quebec south to Tennessee. It grows from New York west to Missouri, Iowa, and barely into Kansas. Disjunct populations occur in New England, North Carolina, Virginia, and Arkansas. Black maple is very tolerant of competition, and slow growing. It grows in mixed stands with other mesic site species, particularly with: American basswood, American beech, white ash, yellow buckeye, northern red oak, yellow-poplar, and eastern hemlock. On floodplains, black maple is found on the upper bottoms with American basswood, slippery and American elm, and red maple. On poorer, more xeric sites black maple may be abundant in the understory but rarely reaches the canopy. Ecologically as well as botanically, black maple closely resembles sugar maple.

Heartwood Color
Brown
Purple
Red
Reddish brown

A uniform color.

Sapwood Color
White


White with a reddish tinge

Grain
Even
Closed
Figure
Wavy
Straight
Other (figure)
Birds-eye (figure)

Straight
May be wavy or curly
Bird's eye occasionally

Flecks caused by insects may be present in the wood

Texture
Very fine
Even or uniform
Uniform
Very fine
Even textured


Natural Durability
Perishable


More durable than some maples and more fire resistant compared to other wood species

Susceptible to attack by decay causing fungi, furniture beetle, and is liable to blue stain.

Odor
No specific smell or taste


Kiln Schedules
8 - C3 (4/4); T5 - C2 (8/4) US


Drying Defects
Internal Honeycombing Possible
Collapse
Discoloration
Sapwood discoloration possible due to extractives.
Collapse and honeycomb in heartwood is possible due to mineral stains and wetwood.


Ease of Drying
Fairly Easy
Thick Stock Requires Care
Easy


Tree Size
Tree height is 20-30 m


Product Sources
Plain hard maple is readily available in both lumber and veneer forms. Figured hard maple is rather limited in availability and is therefore more expensive.

Substitutes
African celtis (Celtis mildbraedii ) dance floors

European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus )

Pau marfim (Balfourodendron riedelianum )

Comments
Black maple and Sugar maple are very difficult to differentiate. They are up to 25 percent harder than the soft maples, and are used more often for visible parts of furniture. They are also valued for their strength, wear resistance and beauty, which make them a popular choice for applications such as flooring in high volume traffic areas

Blunting Effect
Moderate
Medium effect

Cutters may need to be checked periodically and sharpened if necessarily.

Boring
Very good to excellent results
Fairly easy to very easy
Excellent results


Cutting Resistance
Fairly Difficult to Very Difficult to saw


Fairly difficult to saw because of its density and hardness.

Gluing
Fairly Difficult to Very Difficult
Fairly difficult to glue


Mortising
Very Good to Excellent Results
Fair to Good Results
Fairly Easy to Very Easy
Mortises well

Number of fair to excellent pieces out of one hundred = 95

Moulding
Fair to Good Results
Fairly Easy to Very Easy
Fair moulding properties

Percent of good to excellent pieces = 72

Movement in Service
Fair to Good Stability - Medium Movement
Moves moderately in use
Medium


Nailing
Poor to Very Poor Results
Fairly Difficult to Very Difficult
Poor nailing properties

Number of pieces free from complete splits out of one hundred = 27

Planing
Fair to Good Results
Fairly Difficult to Very Difficult
Fairly Easy to Very Easy
Fair planing properties

Number of pieces without any machining defects after planing one hundred pieces = 54

Resistance to Impregnation
Resistant heartwood
Resistant sapwood
Heartwood is resistant

Heartwood impregnated with liquids with difficulty

Sanding
Fairly Difficult to Very Difficult
Poor to Very Poor Results
Difficult to sand (expect < 50 out of 100 good to excellent results)


Screwing
Fair to Good Results
Fairly Difficult to Very Difficult
Fairly Easy to Very Easy
Fair screwing qualities (expect < 70% of screwed pieces to be free from complete splits)


Turning
Fair to Good Results
Good results

Number of fair to excellent pieces out of one hundred = 82

Veneering Qualities
Veneers easily
Suitable for slicing
Various figures can yield decorative veneers
Fiddleback
Birds-eye


Steam Bending
Fair to Good Results
Fair/moderate (,50% of pieces are unbroken during steam bending)


Staining
Fair to Good Results
Fairly Easy to Very Easy
Good staining properties


Strength Properties
Resists denting and marring
Heavy
Hardness = medium
Crushing strength = high
Compression strength (parallel to grain) = high
Bending strength (MOR) = high


Numerical Data
ItemGreenDryEnglish
Bending Strength774213034psi
Crushing Strength5881000psi
Hardness1156lbs
Impact Strength4739inches
Maximum Crushing Strength32056546psi
Shearing Strength1784psi
Stiffness130315881000 psi
Work to Maximum Load1213inch-lbs/in3
Specific Gravity0.450.52
Weight4335.lbs/ft3
Radial Shrinkage5%
Tangential Shrinkage9%
Volumetric Shrinkage14%
ItemGreenDryMetric
Bending Strength544916kg/cm2
Crushing Strength4170kg/cm2
Hardness524kg
Impact Strength11998cm
Maximum Crushing Strength225460kg/cm2
Shearing Strength125kg/cm2
Stiffness911111000 kg/cm2
Work to Maximum Load0.840.91cm-kg/cm3
Specific Gravity0.450.52
Weight689560.kg/m3
Radial Shrinkage5%
Tangential Shrinkage9%

References
Boone, R.S., C.J. Kozlik, P.J. Bois and E.M. Wengert. 1988. Dry Kiln Schedules for Commercial Woods: Temperate and Tropical. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, General Technical Report FPL-GTR-57, Madison, Wisconsin

Canadian Forestry Service. 1981. Canadian Woods - Their Properties and Uses. Third Edition. E.J. Mullins and T.S. McKnight, Editors. Published by University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Canada.

HMSO, 1981. Handbook of Hardwoods, 2nd Edition. Revised by R.H. Farmer. Department of the Environment, Building Research Establishment, Princes Risborough Laboratory, Princes Risborough, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire

Kaiser, J. Wood of the Month: Hard Maple - The Most Popular Maple. Wood and Wood Products, February 1991, Page 38.

Kaiser, J. 1989. Wood of the Month - Maple: The Star of Autumn, the Sweetness of Spring. Wood of the Month Annual, Volume, Supplement to Wood and Wood Products. Pages 37-38.

Lincoln, W.A. 1986. World Woods in Color. Linden Publishing Co. Inc. Fresno, California.

Little, E.L. 1980. The Audubon Society Guide to N. American Trees - Easter Region. Published by Arthur A. Knopf, New York.

Panshin, A.J. and C. deZeeuw. Textbook of Wood Technology. McGraw-Hill Series in Forest Resources. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York.

USDA. 1987. Wood Handbook:Wood as an Engineering Material. Agriculture Handbook No. 72. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Madison, Wisconsin.

USDA. 1988. Dry Kiln Operators Manual, Preliminary Copy. Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin.









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