Red Maple

[CaseyForrest]

Anyone mill some? I have about 100-150 BF I may get into this week.

 

[woodshop]

Casey I've milled plenty of silver maple, another soft maple with about the same density and weight. Relatively easy to mill, about the same as cherry or walnut.

 

[CaseyForrest]

I did some ripping on some of the chinks of silver I had taken down last winter. For a "hardwood" it was pretty soft.

I wonder what its going to look like when I get it opened up...Ive heard some use it for truck beds in their show trucks.

 

[woodshop]

Thing about soft maples in general, are the variations in grain and color. I had some silver maple streaked almost dark brownish/green, and the rest was not entirely uniform in color, but more of a "dirty blonde" with variations of browns and tans. Rarely solid white. Hard maple on the other hand, for example sugar maple, is usually pretty uniform white like what you see in a bowling alley. With the soft maples, a lot depends on where it grows and what minerals are in the soil there.

 

[TedChristiansen]

The silver maple I have milled also moved alot while drying. In fact it moved the most out of any wood I have milled so far.

Ted

 

[woodshop]

The silver maple I have milled also moved alot while drying. In fact it moved the most out of any wood I have milled so far.

Ted

My silver maple did also Ted... some of it twisted up like a pretzel. I'm glad I sawed most of it 5/4 and not 1 1/8 as I often do. Apple is another wood that twists up and moves a lot when drying.

 

[CaseyForrest]

Was in the book store today, saw one called the "wood bible." I didnt catch the author, but looked up a few species, one being Red Maple. As for movement as its drying, the book said it doesnt move much, and dries nicely. I should have picked it up, but at $29.99, it was a little out of my price range, ended up getting some books for my son instead.

 

[woodshop]

I should have picked it up, but at $29.99, it was a little out of my price range, ended up getting some books for my son instead.

Good move casey... my three daughters always came first also when it came to buying books and such. Now they make their own money (yessssssss!!!)

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Red and silver are very similar. They also will use stright clear logs for veneer.

Any fast growing tree will move more because of the greater water content. Also hwy they tend to smoke more burning. Takes too long to dry.

I've turned some silver and red maple vessles rough and with 1.5 inch walls were still too twisted to turn dried for 6 months in double paper bags. flat bowls and trays work much better.

 

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I've turned some silver and red maple vessles rough and with 1.5 inch walls were still too twisted to turn dried for 6 months in double paper bags. flat bowls and trays work much better.

I respectfully disagree with respect to red maple. I don't care for silver maple much, but I turn more red maple than anything else. If you are leaving 1.5" walls, the diameter of your piece should be 15" or so, if it's not that big you are leaving the walls too thick.

These are all red maple rough outs, the one with the red arrow was probably 19" in the first pic with 1.5" walls, it finished @ about 7" x 17 (2nd pic)

 

[CaseyForrest]

Real nice bowls Dave.

 

[woodshop]

Beautiful bowls... I wish I knew how to turn... got the lathe... got the tools... rarely use the thing because of the steep learning curve and limited time in my shop just for "playing and learning".

 

[trimmmed]

Thanks, I got few more I'm gonna post. I really love red maple for turning.

 

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[CaseyForrest]

The second one looks awesome!!!

 

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