How hard is Soft Maple, and how does it compare to hard maple?

Soft Maple has a Janka hardness of 950 lbf (USDA Forest Products Laboratory value at 12% moisture content), which is about 25% softer than hard maple. It is easy to work under hand and machine and significantly easier to machine than hard maple, so people sub it in for hard maple on furniture frames, painted millwork, and cabinet interiors.

Can Soft Maple be used outdoors?

No. The heartwood is non-durable to perishable and prone to insect and fungal attack, so it should be used indoors only without treatment.

Where does Raw Heartwood's Soft Maple come from?

Raw Heartwood sources urban-salvaged logs from the Chicago area and kiln-dries its lumber to 6-8% moisture content. Soft Maple is a trade group made up mostly of red maple (Acer rubrum) and silver maple (A. saccharinum); red maple is one of the most abundant hardwoods east of the Rockies and is listed IUCN Least Concern.

DomesticAcer rubrum

Soft Maple

Twenty-five percent softer than hard maple. Where wear is not the point.

Soft Maple (Acer rubrum) is a domestic hardwood with a Janka hardness of 950 lbf. Its wood is mostly creamy white to off-white sapwood with darker reddish-brown heartwood, and it machines significantly easier than hard maple.

Category: Domestic
Janka: 950 lbf
Botanical: Acer rubrum
Shipped at: 6–8% MC

Acer rubrum Red Maple (also Silver Maple, A. saccharinum) · Red Maple (also Silver Maple, A. saccharinum) · Red Maple: throughout the eastern United States and southeastern Canada

Red Maple: throughout the eastern United States and southeastern Canada.

Soft Maple is a trade group — mostly red maple (Acer rubrum) and silver maple (A. Sapwood creamy white to off-white, sometimes a little gray or pink.

Detail of Soft Maple grain — figured wood texture, photographed at Raw Heartwood — A close read on the grain. Detail of this specimen

What you see.

Sapwood creamy white to off-white, sometimes a little gray or pink. That is most of what gets sold. Heartwood — when there is any — runs darker reddish brown. Mineral streaks, gray-brown discoloration, and figure (curl, quilt, birdseye) show up in some logs.

Heartwood color detail of Soft Maple (Acer rubrum)

Heartwood, this specimen

How the grain runs.

Mostly straight. Wavy or curly grain is fairly common. Fine, even texture. Good luster — not quite hard maple.

Closer detail of Soft Maple grain figure

Closer in

On the bench.

Heartwood non-durable to perishable. Insect and fungal attack. Indoors only without treatment. Easy under hand and machine. Density variation and figured grain can tear out — sharp tools. Turns, glues, stains, finishes well. Significantly easier to machine than hard maple. None when dry. Maple dust has been linked to skin irritation, runny nose, and asthma-like symptoms. Long exposure has been tied to a hypersensitivity pneumonitis once called maple bark disease. Run dust collection.

The numbers, looked at directly.

Janka Hardness

0lbf

4,230 N. Side-hardness — force to embed a half-inch steel ball halfway into the wood.

Average Dried Weight

0lbs/ft³

610 kg/m³. At 12% MC.

Specific Gravity

0.49/ 0.54 at 12% MC

Basic over green volume; second number at 12% moisture content.

Hardness, in context

A side-hardness measurement. Higher number, harder wood.

Shrinkage — radial / tangential / volumetric

4.0%radial

8.2%tangential

12.6%volumetric

On sourcing

Where this wood comes from matters.

Not on CITES. IUCN Least Concern, both red and silver maple. Red maple is one of the most abundant hardwoods east of the Rockies.

What it's for.

Furniture
Cabinetry
Millwork
Paneling
Veneer
Instrument bodies
Pallets & crates
Turnings

Worth knowing.

Soft Maple is a trade group — mostly red maple (Acer rubrum) and silver maple (A. saccharinum), with box elder and bigleaf sometimes in the mix. About 25% softer than hard maple. People sub it in for hard maple on furniture frames, painted millwork, and cabinet interiors all the time.

Sources & references.

Wood Handbook — Wood as an Engineering Material (FPL-GTR-282) — USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (2021)
Red Maple (Acer rubrum) — FPL Tech Sheet — USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory
Silvics of North America: Acer rubrum L. — Red Maple — Walters, Russell S.; Yawney, Harry W. (USDA Forest Service) (1990)
Acer rubrum — IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — Crowley, D.; Barstow, M.; Rivers, M.C.; Harvey-Brown, Y. (2017)
Acer rubrum — Wikipedia contributors
Soft Maple (Acer rubrum / Acer saccharinum) — The Wood Database
American Soft Maple — Species Guide — American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC)

Common questions.

How hard is Soft Maple, and how does it compare to hard maple?: Soft Maple has a Janka hardness of 950 lbf (USDA Forest Products Laboratory value at 12% moisture content), which is about 25% softer than hard maple. It is easy to work under hand and machine and significantly easier to machine than hard maple, so people sub it in for hard maple on furniture frames, painted millwork, and cabinet interiors.
Can Soft Maple be used outdoors?: No. The heartwood is non-durable to perishable and prone to insect and fungal attack, so it should be used indoors only without treatment.
Where does Raw Heartwood's Soft Maple come from?: Raw Heartwood sources urban-salvaged logs from the Chicago area and kiln-dries its lumber to 6-8% moisture content. Soft Maple is a trade group made up mostly of red maple (Acer rubrum) and silver maple (A. saccharinum); red maple is one of the most abundant hardwoods east of the Rockies and is listed IUCN Least Concern.

From the library to your bench