Creative Woodworks & crafts 2003-11, страница 35

Hard maple is about, as descriptive as a name can get. It is classified as hard, heavy, stiff, and strong, but not resistant to rot. For the best quality of lumber, the tree should be cut in the winter, the log cut as soon as possible after it falls, and the lumber stacked and stickered as soon as it comes off the mill because it will soon start to stain if not properly cared for. The sapwood's color is most often nearly white with a hint of very pale red and the heart wood ranges from pale brown to a reddish brown and darker. The grain is usually very tight with no obvious texture and has a figure that ranges from plain lo extremely figured with curley. bird's eye, or fiddle back patterns.

Maple has been used for centuries with all types of hand and now machine tools, but not without some difficulty. Machine tools have to be sharp and clean to prevent burning and tear-out, and the same goes for hand tools. By clean I mean no buildup of resin and/or fine sawdust in the gullets or tooth edges or in the hollow ground portions of any blade. Cross cutting and ripping are not much of a problem, whereas planing and shaping can be with consumer-rated tools. The most common complaint is tear-out. and there are several ways around it. We keep a set of planer blades ground to a 16° angle for wood we know lo be a problem, and we also have a planer with a variable-speed in-feed motor. Although a slow feed rate helps, burning fast becomes a problem. Feeding die board at an angle also helps, but the surest method is to plane the wood while it is wet. It can be green or sprayed, but wet really works. Just be sure to dry the machinery when you are done to prevent rust.

Wc have used all the commonly available glues on maple with good results, and it holds nails and screws well; however, as with most woods, be sure to drill pilot holes for both and use a lubricant on the screws. We have also used all commonly available finishes with good results, but staining can be blotchy and require the use of toners in the surface coats to get an even color.

A 12" board will shrink nearly 5/8" in width from 20% lo 6% JMC. Once dried, it will move 1/4" between 6% and 12%, so be sure to allow for seasonal movement in any furniture or cabinets you build. The wood is used in furniture, flooring, novelties, cabinetry, veneer, and bobbins. It is also an excellent firewood; however, wc have found that wood cut while the sap is rising will not dry fast enough and will often start, to rot rather than season, thus lowering its BTU content considerably. jjrjj

Creative Woodworks S. Crafts November 2003 • 35

The Black maple on the other hand is sballowly lobed with drooping edges, and often has slightly hairy leaf undersides and stalks.

Sugar maple and Black maple, the "hard maples," will be combined in this description because they are similar in both usage and appearance.

Sugar maple, Acer saccharum Marsh, is also know as hard maple or rock maple, while Black maple, Acer nigrum Michxf., is also known as Black sugar maple or black hard maple. They grow in fertile, well-drained soils from Newfoundland to Georgia, from (he east coast to the Mississippi River drainage in the west. They can be found in pure stands, mixed with Birch and Beach in northern forests, as ornamentals, and in mixed hardwood forests in the southern and western areas of their growth range. Economically and esthetically. they arc among the most important trees available to us, providing lumber, maple syrup, shade and beauty. Their crowns are somewhat distinctive vvilh their globular shape when open grown, and will crowd out competing trees in a woodlot. We have not thinned our stand (in Northwest NJ) since my Dad logged it off in the late 50's and only several black oaks and while ash have survived, but are barely enduring the spreading crowns of the maples. These trees can grow to a height of 125' and a girth of over 48", and some can live 400 years; however, most specimens today are somewhat smaller.

■ The bark has different characteristics throughout its growth, starting out with a slightly furrowed bark and growing more shaggy with rough vertical grooves. Asdic tree matures, the Sugar maple becomes a grayish dark brown, and Black maple turns nearly black in color. One of the most asked questions we get about maple is: "IIow do we tell which trees will have bird's eye or curly wood?" In many cases, the bark will have telltale markings, but not always. That is one of the thrills we get when we open a log on the sawmill and see a spectacular pattern before our eyes.

The most obvious distinction between Sugar and Black maple arc the leaves; the other differences require closer examination with a hand lens. Sugar maple has deeper V's between the lobes.

are also pale green on the underside and the leaf edges arc firm and do not droop.