Trade names: Hard Maple, Sugar Maple Origin: North America Range: Eastern area of North America, from Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mexico. Exploited commercially mainly in the north of the USA. Uses: Hard Maple is one of the most used furniture woods in the USA. Over the last two years Hard Maple has established itself in Europe as a furniture wood, above all as a „substitute“ for Pear, Alder or European Sycamore in unsteamed white or steamed pink color shades. Due to its resistance to friction it is also suitable as hard-wearing parquet in gymnasiums, etc. Turned into bobbins, loom shuttles and billiard cues. Kiln drying in particular must be carried out very slowly and carefully because the wood tends to easily check or warp. Hard Maple can easily be stained and can be surface-treated with any finish with no difficulty. Character: The wood of the Hard Maple is one of the precious precious woods. The wood is yellowish-white to white, sometimes reddish-white. Therefore, the sapwood and heartwood do not differ in color or hardly differ from one another. The annual rings are clearly recognizable, the irregularly arranged pores and often streaks are clearly visible between the annual rings. Particularities: Apart from its use as wood also significant as the source of maple syrup. Special forms of Hard Maple are the Curly Maple, Quilted Maple, Fiddleback Maple and the Birdseye Maple.