Western Maple? (aka Bigleaf Maple or Pacific Coast Maple)

**Alien** · 06-09-2004, 11:31 AM

Does anyone have any experience with western maple? I have searched the internet and only found out that it has a slight honey color compared to sugar maple.

My questions are:

How hard/soft is it compared to sugar or rock maple and soft maple?

Do you have any project pictures that you can share to show off it's color?

Thanks!

**Gary B** · 06-09-2004, 11:57 PM

I've played with the different maples, can't tell you which was which, but if you look at the lighter woods on the projects on my website you'll see some of the different maples. None of them were any easier or more difficult to work with, or at least in my opinion.

If you have any questions, catch me at gbanks6472@aol.com and I'll try and explain each of the different pieces and what each was like to do. No two pieces of wood I've ever worked with has ever worked the same or maybe it was just the way things went at the time.

Wood seems to have an attitude. One day it likes you and the next it doesn't. Sometimes things just happen. Not sure if it's the wood, me, or just the alignment of the planets.

Anyway, just chase my link.

**FrankC** · 06-10-2004, 12:09 AM

There is a bit about it here:
http://www.hardwood.org/species_guid...sp?species=PCM

Sawdust Making 101
http://sawdustmaking.com

**Alien** · 06-10-2004, 09:42 AM

Very impressive projects, I must say. Thanks for the input.

**Alien** · 06-10-2004, 09:45 AM

This was a huge help. I appreciate it! I really like the color of western maple and think I will give my next project a try with it.

**jfstrmn** · 06-02-2010, 09:02 AM

I just built this vanity with pc maple.

The wood seems as hard as ordinary maple, but I've had way better luck finding good boards at the hardwood shop, as opposed to the standard maple piles that always seem to be thoroughly picked over. It takes stain consistently, and it's considerably cheaper than standard maple. But the cabinetmakers are beginning to use a lot of it because alder has become so popular and expensive. I even used pc maple mdf, both 3/4" and 1/4" on the vanity. Great stuff, and I highly recommend it!

Jeff