Scientific Name
Acer nigrum
Trade Name
Black maple
Family Name
Aceraceae
Common Names
Black maple, Black sugar maple, Hard maple, Hard rock maple, Maple, Rock maple, Sugar maple
Regions of Distribution
North America
Countries of Distribution [VIEW MAP]
Canada, United States
Common Uses
Baskets, Boards, Bowling Pins, Boxes and crates, Building materials, Casks, Chairs, Charcoal, Chests, Clogs, Concealed parts (Furniture), Crossties, Decorative veneer, Desks, Dining-room furniture, Domestic flooring, Dowell pins, Dowells, Drawer sides, Dressed boards, Drum sticks, Figured veneer, Fine furniture, Floor lamps, Flooring, Food containers, Furniture , Furniture components, Furniture squares or stock, Handles, Hatracks, Interior construction, Kitchen cabinets, Living-room suites, Lumber, Musical instruments , Office furniture, Organ pipes, Paneling , Railroad ties, Tool handles, Windows
Environmental Profile
| Abundant/Secure | ||||||||||||
| Questionable | ||||||||||||
| Widespread | ||||||||||||
| Relative endangerement is based on the number of occurences of the species globally | ||||||||||||
| May be rare in some parts of its range, particularly at the periphery | ||||||||||||
| Globally secure | ||||||||||||
| Data source is Nature Conservancy | ||||||||||||
| Abundant |
Distribution Overview
Black maple in North America grows in the Upper Midwest, Southern Ontario and Quebec south to Tennessee. It grows from New York west to Missouri, Iowa, and barely into Kansas. Disjunct populations occur in New England, North Carolina, Virginia, and Arkansas. Black maple is very tolerant of competition, and slow growing. It grows in mixed stands with other mesic site species, particularly with: American basswood, American beech, white ash, yellow buckeye, northern red oak, yellow-poplar, and eastern hemlock. On floodplains, black maple is found on the upper bottoms with American basswood, slippery and American elm, and red maple. On poorer, more xeric sites black maple may be abundant in the understory but rarely reaches the canopy. Ecologically as well as botanically, black maple closely resembles sugar maple.
Heartwood Color
| Brown | ||||||||||||
| Purple | ||||||||||||
| Red | ||||||||||||
| Reddish brown |
A uniform color.
Sapwood Color
| White |
White with a reddish tinge
Grain
| Even | ||||||||||||
| Closed | ||||||||||||
| Figure | ||||||||||||
| Wavy | ||||||||||||
| Straight | ||||||||||||
| Other (figure) | ||||||||||||
| Birds-eye (figure) |
| Straight | ||||||||||||
| May be wavy or curly | ||||||||||||
| Bird’s eye occasionally |
Flecks caused by insects may be present in the wood
Texture
| Very fine | ||||||||||||
| Even or uniform | ||||||||||||
| Uniform | ||||||||||||
| Very fine | ||||||||||||
| Even textured |
Natural Durability
| Perishable |
More durable than some maples and more fire resistant compared to other wood species
Susceptible to attack by decay causing fungi, furniture beetle, and is liable to blue stain.
Odor
| No specific smell or taste |
Kiln Schedules
| 8 – C3 (4/4); T5 – C2 (8/4) US |
Drying Defects
| Internal Honeycombing Possible | ||||||||||||
| Collapse | ||||||||||||
| Discoloration | ||||||||||||
| Sapwood discoloration possible due to extractives. | ||||||||||||
| Collapse and honeycomb in heartwood is possible due to mineral stains and wetwood. |
Ease of Drying
| Fairly Easy | ||||||||||||
| Thick Stock Requires Care | ||||||||||||
| Easy |
Tree Size
| Tree height is 20-30 m |
Product Sources
Plain hard maple is readily available in both lumber and veneer forms. Figured hard maple is rather limited in availability and is therefore more expensive.
Substitutes
African celtis (Celtis mildbraedii ) dance floors
European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus )
Pau marfim (Balfourodendron riedelianum )
Comments
Black maple and Sugar maple are very difficult to differentiate. They are up to 25 percent harder than the soft maples, and are used more often for visible parts of furniture. They are also valued for their strength, wear resistance and beauty, which make them a popular choice for applications such as flooring in high volume traffic areas
Blunting Effect
| Moderate | ||||||||||||
| Medium effect |
Cutters may need to be checked periodically and sharpened if necessarily.
Boring
| Very good to excellent results | ||||||||||||
| Fairly easy to very easy | ||||||||||||
| Excellent results |
Cutting Resistance
| Fairly Difficult to Very Difficult to saw |
Fairly difficult to saw because of its density and hardness.
Gluing
| Fairly Difficult to Very Difficult | ||||||||||||
| Fairly difficult to glue |
Mortising
| Very Good to Excellent Results | ||||||||||||
| Fair to Good Results | ||||||||||||
| Fairly Easy to Very Easy | ||||||||||||
| Mortises well |
Number of fair to excellent pieces out of one hundred = 95
Moulding
| Fair to Good Results | ||||||||||||
| Fairly Easy to Very Easy | ||||||||||||
| Fair moulding properties |
Percent of good to excellent pieces = 72
Movement in Service
| Fair to Good Stability – Medium Movement | ||||||||||||
| Moves moderately in use | ||||||||||||
| Medium |
Nailing
| Poor to Very Poor Results | ||||||||||||
| Fairly Difficult to Very Difficult | ||||||||||||
| Poor nailing properties |
Number of pieces free from complete splits out of one hundred = 27
Planing
| Fair to Good Results | ||||||||||||
| Fairly Difficult to Very Difficult | ||||||||||||
| Fairly Easy to Very Easy | ||||||||||||
| Fair planing properties |
Number of pieces without any machining defects after planing one hundred pieces = 54
Resistance to Impregnation
| Resistant heartwood | ||||||||||||
| Resistant sapwood | ||||||||||||
| Heartwood is resistant |
Heartwood impregnated with liquids with difficulty
Sanding
| Fairly Difficult to Very Difficult | ||||||||||||
| Poor to Very Poor Results | ||||||||||||
| Difficult to sand (expect < 50 out of 100 good to excellent results) |
Screwing
| Fair to Good Results | ||||||||||||
| Fairly Difficult to Very Difficult | ||||||||||||
| Fairly Easy to Very Easy | ||||||||||||
| Fair screwing qualities (expect < 70% of screwed pieces to be free from complete splits) |
Turning
| Fair to Good Results | ||||||||||||
| Good results |
Number of fair to excellent pieces out of one hundred = 82
Veneering Qualities
| Veneers easily | ||||||||||||
| Suitable for slicing | ||||||||||||
| Various figures can yield decorative veneers | ||||||||||||
| Fiddleback | ||||||||||||
| Birds-eye |
Steam Bending
| Fair to Good Results | ||||||||||||
| Fair/moderate (,50% of pieces are unbroken during steam bending) |
Staining
| Fair to Good Results | ||||||||||||
| Fairly Easy to Very Easy | ||||||||||||
| Good staining properties |
Strength Properties
| Resists denting and marring | ||||||||||||
| Heavy | ||||||||||||
| Hardness = medium | ||||||||||||
| Crushing strength = high | ||||||||||||
| Compression strength (parallel to grain) = high | ||||||||||||
| Bending strength (MOR) = high |
Numerical Data
| Item | Green | Dry | English |
| Bending Strength | 7742 | 13034 | psi |
| Crushing Strength | 588 | 1000 | psi |
| Hardness | 1156 | lbs | |
| Impact Strength | 47 | 39 | inches |
| Maximum Crushing Strength | 3205 | 6546 | psi |
| Shearing Strength | 1784 | psi | |
| Stiffness | 1303 | 1588 | 1000 psi |
| Work to Maximum Load | 12 | 13 | inch-lbs/in3 |
| Specific Gravity | 0.45 | 0.52 | |
| Weight | 43 | 35. | lbs/ft3 |
| Radial Shrinkage | 5 | % | |
| Tangential Shrinkage | 9 | % | |
| Volumetric Shrinkage | 14 | % | |
| Item | Green | Dry | Metric |
| Bending Strength | 544 | 916 | kg/cm2 |
| Crushing Strength | 41 | 70 | kg/cm2 |
| Hardness | 524 | kg | |
| Impact Strength | 119 | 98 | cm |
| Maximum Crushing Strength | 225 | 460 | kg/cm2 |
| Shearing Strength | 125 | kg/cm2 | |
| Stiffness | 91 | 111 | 1000 kg/cm2 |
| Work to Maximum Load | 0.84 | 0.91 | cm-kg/cm3 |
| Specific Gravity | 0.45 | 0.52 | |
| Weight | 689 | 560. | kg/m3 |
| Radial Shrinkage | 5 | % | |
| Tangential Shrinkage | 9 | % |
References
Boone, R.S., C.J. Kozlik, P.J. Bois and E.M. Wengert. 1988. Dry Kiln Schedules for Commercial Woods: Temperate and Tropical. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, General Technical Report FPL-GTR-57, Madison, Wisconsin
Canadian Forestry Service. 1981. Canadian Woods – Their Properties and Uses. Third Edition. E.J. Mullins and T.S. McKnight, Editors. Published by University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Canada.
HMSO, 1981. Handbook of Hardwoods, 2nd Edition. Revised by R.H. Farmer. Department of the Environment, Building Research Establishment, Princes Risborough Laboratory, Princes Risborough, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
Kaiser, J. Wood of the Month: Hard Maple – The Most Popular Maple. Wood and Wood Products, February 1991, Page 38.
Kaiser, J. 1989. Wood of the Month – Maple: The Star of Autumn, the Sweetness of Spring. Wood of the Month Annual, Volume, Supplement to Wood and Wood Products. Pages 37-38.
Lincoln, W.A. 1986. World Woods in Color. Linden Publishing Co. Inc. Fresno, California.
Little, E.L. 1980. The Audubon Society Guide to N. American Trees – Easter Region. Published by Arthur A. Knopf, New York.
Panshin, A.J. and C. deZeeuw. Textbook of Wood Technology. McGraw-Hill Series in Forest Resources. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York.
USDA. 1987. Wood Handbook:Wood as an Engineering Material. Agriculture Handbook No. 72. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Madison, Wisconsin.
USDA. 1988. Dry Kiln Operators Manual, Preliminary Copy. Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin