Hard Vs Soft Maple. Soft maple holds the same hardness rating as cherry at 950 on the janka hardness rating scale, making it harder than african mahogany at 830, alder at 590 and poplar at 540. Hard maple, soft maple, white oak & red oak lumber. Despite being called soft maple, both hard and soft maple are considered hard woods.
Soft maple holds the same hardness rating as cherry at 950 on the janka hardness rating scale, making it harder than african mahogany at 830, alder at 590 and poplar at 540.
Hard maple has nice distinct medullary rays where soft maple does not. Where you use the hardwood is more important than its density and hardness. Most maple trees (acer spp.) rise swiftly from saplings to shade our backyards in summer and light up our forests in autumn with fiery foliage. Maple is a hard wood (from a leafed tree) and pine is a soft wood (from a conifer). Given the janka hardness ratings, look up the hardness for red oak and do your own comparison. Hard maple 29.7 shagbark hickory 27.5 soft maple 19.1 to 24. Heck, i have better than a half a dozen sugar maple trees in my back yard that are *all* less than fifty years old. Thats what i was wondering.i know there is hard and soft maple, but i thought sugar and rock maple were the same tree.
