Maple Wood Grain Pattern

Look for brown broad grain lines with a flame pattern to identify oak.

Maple wood grain pattern. Some like basswood and holly have almost no visible grain while catalpa and red oak usually have striking patterns. Ash wood may show a similar pattern but with more complex grain lines that come to a sharp point. This effect is often mistakenly said to be part of the grain of the wood. Flame maple tiger maple also known as flamed maple curly maple ripple maple fiddleback or tiger stripe is a feature of maple in which the growth of the wood fibers is distorted in an undulating chatoyant pattern producing wavy lines known as flames.

Maple grain has broad patterns of differing colors with fewer sharp edges than oak or ash. There are three basic types of wood grains produced by different methods of sawing wood. By observing the grain patterns many times you can tell how the board was cut from the tree. Hard maple can also be seen with curly or quilted grain patterns.

It is more accurately called figure as the distortion is. Some wood species have dramatically different grain patterns from plainsawn to quartersawn surfaces. For instance on their quartersawn surfaces lacewood has large lace patterns oak has flecks and maple has the characteristic butcher block. Maple wood has a fine uniform texture with generally straight grain but variations such as birdseye tiger flame curly wavy rippled or fiddleback grain occur and are often selected for specialty custom artisan furniture.

Grain is generally straight but may be wavy. You might have even heard of spalted or figured maple where the wood has been affected by the initial stages of a fungus but is then dried to prevent further decay. It refers to the patterning inside the wood. Beyond that there are as many different wood grain patterns as there are trees.

Has a fine even texture. We know that this can cause some confusion when you need a special type of veneer and the issue becomes even more confusing when you are making an order. Another characteristic that helps with the identification of maple is its typically unusual and varied grain patterns as opposed to straight grains. Hickory typically forms consistently straight close grain lines with few curves.

Rated as non durable to perishable and susceptible to insect attack. Generally straight grained with a consistent texture maple also can have a bird s eye or curly also called fiddle back pattern. Many people have some understanding of how wood grain looks and feels but many people are not aware that there are several types of veneer figures and maple grain patterns that can be chosen. The grain forms into several different and unique patterns such as birdseye tiger quilted and other interesting grain effects.

The wood is sought after but is not a type of maple. Fairly easy to work with both hand and machine tools though slightly more difficult than soft. Curly maple is a variety of wood that is favored by musical instrument craftsmen.