Natural Maple Wood Furniture

Natural maple wood furniture is made in many parts of North America since it is a common tree that grows there. Over the centuries the natural beauty of the maple wood has made it a popular choice for dinning room tables and other fine wood furniture. These natural maple wood furniture pieces can be found in everything from the most the relatively inexpensive mass-produced totally computer controlled machine made pieces to the highest quality custom built hand made furniture.

Maple is so highly prized for wooden tables that a lot of the cheap plywood and pressboard furniture available for self-assembly in the variety store have been fitted with a artificial maple veneer. Artificial veneers have the grain patterns of the desired wood printed on the material being used. Then it is finished so that it is the correct color and looks and feels like a real wood surface.

Craftsmen prefer using the maple tree to build natural maple wood furniture because of the broad tree trunk. This allow them to use wider board that create a more pleasing appearance in larger dining and conference room tables than is possible with the more narrow board trees.

The most commonly used maple trees for building natural maple wood furniture are the red maple and the big leaf maple tree.

Natural Red Maple is a hardwood that is also known as soft maple, scarlet maple, swamp maple, and water maple. It grows throughout eastern North America. The tree has a broad trunk and creamy white sapwood with beige or tan-colored heartwood. It is a moderately heavy, hard and strong wood. The boards stiff with low shock resistance and weak decay resistance. Red maple is softer and weaker than hard maple but easier to work.

Big leaf Maple is a hardwood that is also known as broadleaf maple, Oregon maple, Pacific coast maple, western maple, white maple, or just plain maple. It grows in the western area of North America. The tree has a pale pinkish-brown to almost white wood that often has a slight grayish cast. It is moderately heavy, hard and strong. It is also quite stiff with low bending strength, shock and decay resistance. But is does tend to resist dents very well.