Q. We use soft maple and sometimes we get some material that is a lot softer than normal. It even finishes differently. Any ideas on this?
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A. There are two kinds of soft maple in the eastern U.S.: silver and red. These are two different species of trees. There is quite a bit of difference (10 to 30 percent) between the two. Here is a tabulation of several properties with silver first and red second.
Density: 32 vs. 36 pounds per cubic foot
Hardness: 700 vs. 900 pounds
Strength (MOR): 8900 vs. 13,400 psi
Bending (MOE): 1.14 vs. 1.64 million psi
These differences will affect gluing, machining and finishing. So, check with your supplier and, in your case, ask for all red maple.
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