Maple wood is incredibly strong, looks great, and stains nicely. Woodworkers and furniture aficionados gravitate towards maple for its light, creamy color, smooth grain pattern, and impressive durability.
Hard Maple has a Janka Hardness Scale value of 1,450, while its soft maple relative, the Red Maple, has a rating of 950 lbf. When compared with other hardwood species, Hard Maple wood falls in the middle of the Janka Hardness Scale.
That being said, maple is a slightly stronger hardwood product than oak. Maple is one of the strongest and most durable natural wood options available. It holds up well resisting significant dents or dings. We'll use the Janka Hardness Scale as reference.
Softwoods come from gymnosperm trees such as conifers — trees such as fir, pine, or cedar. Hardwoods include cherry, oak, and maple.
Sensitive to Humidity and Heat – Like most hardwood varieties, maple is sensitive to extreme humidity and temperature changes. If summer humidity is an issue in your home, this wood isn't suitable as it can expand and contract, warp and split.
The tree tends to crack easily at branch unions, which leads to broken branches and property damage after even mild storms.
Note: A hardwood named Quipo (Cavanillesia platanifolia) is commonly reported as the softest known wood, with an alleged Janka hardness of 22 lbf (98 N).
2. Maple: Maple firewood burns very similarly to Ash. When properly seasoned, it produces long and steady burns in your wood burning stove. Maple can be found throughout the entire continental United States, making it a favorite firewood choice for wood stoves.
Maple Wood Cost and Purchasing
Hard maple is slightly more expensive than soft maple. Expect to pay anywhere from $8 to $12 per board foot, depending on the board width and grade. For highly figured variations like bird's eye maple or quilted maple, prices go up to $20 to $30 per board foot.
Hard maple refers to Sugar Maple and Black Maple trees and is a popular choice for flooring, furniture, cabinets, and even baseball bats. Soft maple trees, including red maple, boxelder, silver maple, and bigleaf maple, are commonly used for veneers, crates, and home woodenware due to their soft and lightweight wood.
The higher the rating, the harder the wood species is. Maple has an impressive hardness rating of roughly 1450, while walnut measures at a still respectable 1010.
Most experts are of the opinion that the Australian Buloke, which is an ironwood tree, provides the hardest wood in the world, with a Janka hardness rating of 5,060 lbf. Others argue that Quebracho (which translates to 'ax-breaker' in Spanish) is the tree with the hardest wood in the world.
As you can see in the accompanying graph, rock maple is the hardest of these four hardwoods - about 15% harder than red oak, which ranks second. Black walnut ranks third in hardness - about 20% below red oak.
Ash, Maple, and Cherry are more abundant as they grow larger but have highly sought after aesthetics in the grain which make them less expensive than Walnut but more expensive than some hardwoods. Birch is slightly cheaper than all of these because the natural tones in the wood grain are not as even.
Pros: Maple is affordable and ultra-durable. It can take a beating and look great for years. Because it takes dark stains well, maple is often stained to mimic a pricier wood, like cherry or mahogany (which is a controversial pick itself because of deforestation in the regions where it's harvested).
Of the two, maple is a stronger and denser wood product than birch.
Sequoia has attained the status of the most expensive wood in the world, costing up to €1500 per cubic metre. The tree, named in honour of the Cherokee chief Sequoyah, is an emblem of the United States. Its habitat is found almost exclusively in North America, more specifically on the coasts of California and Oregon.
Australian Buloke – 5,060 IBF
Known as the hardest wood in the world, this particular type has a Janka hardness of 5,060 lbf.
Watch out for any wood covered with vines. Burning poison ivy, poison sumac, poison oak, or pretty much anything else with "poison" in the name releases the irritant oil urushiol into the smoke. Breathing it in can cause lung irritation and severe allergic respiratory problems, the Centers for Disease Control state.
Hardwoods such as maple, oak, ash, birch, and most fruit trees are the best burning woods that will give you a hotter and longer burn time.
What is the hardest wood in North America? Of locally available woods, Black Ironwood is typically the strongest type of wood you can find in America. It's found in Florida and has a 3,660 lbf (16,280 N) Janka rating. Other strong North American woods include species of hickory, maples, oaks, walnuts, and beeches.
Hemlock – The hemlock is one of the worst coniferous trees to burn because of its extremely hard knots, making them difficult to split into logs. They also produce a lot of sparks.
Cottonwood. A Cottonwood tree's rapid growth leads to a weak wood structure, making it susceptible to limb breakage and damage from storms and wind. “Cottonwood trees are not hardy enough to withstand years of exposure to the elements,” advises Parker.