Maple wood
| Maple wood | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Tree species |
Sycamore maple , Norway maple , sugar maple and others |
| origin |
Eurasia, North America |
| colour |
yellowish-white, white, reddish-white |
| Material properties | |
| Bulk density mean | Sycamore maple 623 kg / m 3 Norway maple 653 kg / m 3 |
| Raw density limit values | Sycamore maple 530–790 kg / m 3 Norway maple 560–810 kg / m 3 |
| Flexural strength |
Norway maple 114–137 N / mm 2 |
| Compressive strength | Sycamore maple 58 N / mm 2 Norway maple 59–62 N / mm 2 |
| tensile strenght | Sycamore maple 82 N / mm 2 Norway maple 100–155 N / mm 2 |
| Brinell hardness | 30 N / mm² |
| Thermal conductivity | Sycamore maple 0.16-0.18 W / mK Norway maple 0.14 W / mK |
| Fuel properties | |
| Calorific value | 3.75 |
As maple is wood of maples (genus Acer ) denotes a species of deciduous trees and bushes that in up to 200 species over much of the Eurasian and North America are common. It is mainly used as furniture wood.
Types (selection)
- In Eurasia, the wood of some tall species such as the sycamore maple ( A. pseudoplatanus ) and the norway maple ( A. platanoides ) is commercially relevant.
- There are four main types of concern in North America:
- Sugar maple ( A. saccharum ) and black maple ( A. nigrum ) as "American hard maple" as well
- Red maple ( A. rubrum ) and silver maple ( A. saccharinum ) as "American soft maple".
- The Japanese maple ( A. pictum ) plays a central role in the East Asian region .
Other species such as the field maple ( A. campestre ) or the Greek maple ( Acer heldreichii ) are of subordinate or regional importance.
properties
The wood of the sycamore maple is one of the most valuable hardwoods. Both the sapwood and the heartwood are yellowish-white to white in color, whereas the Norway maple is more reddish-white. The color of the sapwood and core is therefore not or hardly any different from one another. The annual rings are clearly recognizable, between the annual rings the irregularly arranged pores and often the medullary rays are clearly recognizable as spots or stripes.
The wood has an average density of 623 or 653 kg / m 3 (sycamore or Norway maple) and is therefore a medium-weight type of wood. It is elastic and tough, but at the same time hard and has only a low degree of shrinkage. The flexural strength is good. For comparison, the table on the right shows the physical properties of the most important maple woods as a wood supplier.
Maple wood is very durable in the dry, especially when it is used in interior construction. The surfaces are easy to work on, easy to polish, stain and color, and they can also be treated with paints without problems. The wood is also easy to split. However, the wood tends to discolour during the drying process, so the logs must be cut very quickly after felling and stored vertically.
Sycamore veneer
Sycamore cross section
use
Maple wood is mainly used in furniture construction and interior design. In the 1950s to mid-1960s in particular, both plain and figured maple veneers were a very popular furniture wood. Due to its tendency to yellow relatively quickly, however, its use for exterior fronts in furniture construction has declined sharply. Today it is still used for the interior lining of high quality furniture. Maple wood is used by cabinet makers to produce the finest furniture and inlay work.
A special type of use of maple are table tops made from solid wood, for example for pub tables, which traditionally remain unpainted. Maple is also well suited for parquet floors and stair construction.
Selected sycamore maple wood has long been used in musical instrument making as a decorative and resonance wood for the production of plucked, string and wind instruments and drum kettles.
Turners, carvers and sculptors like to use fine-pored maple wood for their work. For household, play and kitchen appliances, the fine pores and chemical properties of the wood are important, which even allow contact with food.
Web links
literature
- Eberhard Thun: Types of timber. Verlag V. Thun, Vechte 1993, ISBN 3-9803347-0-8 , pp. 52-53.
- Josef Fellner, Alfred Teischinger, Walter Zschokke : Wood spectrum. Views, descriptions and comparative values. proHolz - Working Group of the Austrian Wood Industry to Promote the Use of Wood, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-902320-31-1 , p. 12.
- D. Grosser, W. Teetz: Maple . In: Local timber (loose-leaf collection) . Information service wood, wood sales fund - sales promotion fund of the German forest and wood industry, 1998, ISSN 0446-2114 .