Soft Maple is a versatile and reliable hardwood grown in both the Appalachian region and Upper Midwest. While it’s slightly less dense than Hard Maple, it shares a similar fine grain and figure, making it a popular and cost-effective alternative. The sapwood is wide and light in color, while the heartwood ranges from pale gray to light brown. Soft Maple is a go-to choice for furniture, cabinetry, millwork, doors, musical instruments, and turnings.
We offer Soft Maple in a range of styles—stain-grade Northern White, paint-grade, Curly, and Wormy/Ambrosia, allowing for a wide range of applications and aesthetics. Its ease of machining and adaptability make it a top pick for both craftsmen and manufacturers across veneer, plywood, and flooring projects.
FAS Maple represents the highest grade of soft maple lumber, offering long, wide boards with minimal imperfections and a high yield of clear, usable material. Known for its smooth, straight grain and light, even tone, FAS Maple is ideal for high-end applications like fine furniture, cabinetry, architectural millwork, and interior trim. This grade provides the consistency and clarity preferred by designers and woodworkers who need top-quality lumber for visible surfaces and premium finishes.
#1 Maple offers a practical balance of quality and value. Boards in this grade typically yield around 66% clear wood on the best face, making them a solid choice for applications where small, clear pieces are needed. You may see more frequent knots, mineral streaks, or natural variations in color compared to higher grades, but it still provides a clean and usable surface for furniture components, cabinetry, millwork, and other projects where a bit of natural character is welcome.
Paint grade maple is maple lumber chosen for projects that will be painted rather than left with a clear finish, so appearance defects like color variation, mineral streaks, or small knots are acceptable. It’s often more affordable than clear, stain-grade maple and is commonly used for painted cabinets, trim, doors, and furniture where you still want a strong, stable hardwood underneath the paint.
Wormy Maple, also known as Ambrosia Maple, gets its name from the small wormholes, mineral streaks, and other imperfections found throughout the board. It is a visually distinctive type of soft maple, not a separate species, but rather a condition commonly found in Red Maple and occasionally Sugar Maple. Its unique appearance is caused by the ambrosia beetle, which burrows into the tree and introduces a fungus that creates striking gray, blue, or brown streaks across the creamy, light-colored wood. These streaks, along with occasional tiny holes, give each board a one-of-a-kind look without compromising the structural integrity of the wood. Despite the discoloration, Ambrosia Maple remains stable, durable, and easy to work with, making it a popular choice for furniture, cabinetry, flooring, decorative pieces, and even musical instruments. Its soft maple classification means it’s easier to machine and finish than hard maple, appealing to both professional woodworkers and DIY enthusiasts seeking beauty and functionality.
Curly Maple, also known as "Tiger Maple," features a stunning wavy grain pattern that shimmers in the light, creating a three-dimensional effect across the board. This figure is prized for its elegance and is often used in high-end furniture, musical instruments, and decorative millwork. Each board is unique, offering an eye-catching, premium look.
Hard maple is a very dense, fine-grained hardwood with light, creamy color and subtle grain, making it popular for modern, clean-looking projects. It’s quite hard and durable, so it’s commonly used for cutting boards, countertops, workbenches, and flooring that need to resist dents and wear. It machines cleanly with sharp tools and finishes to a very smooth, almost glassy surface.
Soft maple refers to several maple species (like red and silver maple) that are lighter and less dense than hard (sugar) maple but still reasonably strong. It machines and sands more easily, is gentler on tools, and often costs less, making it a good choice for furniture, painted pieces, trim, and general interior work. Visually it can resemble hard maple, with light color and relatively subtle grain, but it dents a bit more easily, so it’s used where extreme hardness isn’t critical.
