The sugar maple tree or acer saccharum is classified as a hard hardwood maple tree.
Is maple a hardwood tree.
Taking the hardness data within context of other hardwoods soft maple may be used as a valid substitute for hard maple in most situations where a hardwood of moderate density is called for.
The wood of the sugar maple is strong heavy and hard with a light brown to reddish color.
Its wood is stronger stiffer harder and denser than all of the other species of maple commercially available in lumber form.
The texture and density of the wood a tree produces puts it in either the hardwood or softwood category.
This condition occurs randomly in individual trees of several species and often cannot be detected until the wood has been sawn though it is sometimes visible in the standing tree as a rippled pattern in the bark.
It s also the state tree in four different states in the us for more information please see the article on the differences between hard maple and soft.
All maples are hardwoods but the species found in america are further classified as hard or soft maples.
The most common hard maple is the sugar or rock maple.
It grows natively in the northeastern regions of the united states and can reach a height of more than 100 feet at maturity.
Also note that black maple not pictured isn t quite as hard as its close relative hard maple and ranks in the mid range with a hardness of 1 180 lb f.
Hard maple ought to be considered the king of the acer genus.
Most hardwood trees are deciduous trees which lose their leaves annually like elm or maple.