It does machine, sand and finish very well though. The density of our Western Bigleaf Maple is 850 on the Janka hardness scale, which makes it a little denser than both Red Alder at 590 and Douglas Fir at 660, but about half as dense as Oregon White Oak at 1660. This fast growth makes for a relatively soft wood though. Wood Characteristics Wood Type: temperate hardwood Wood Texture: even and fine Grain Pattern: straight but can be wavy or quilted Janka Rating: 850 Density: 0. Since maple is fast growing for a hardwood and its optimal harvest age is between 75-100 years, we produce a lot of it at Zena. The center of the tree will start to turn a dark red, and will eventually show blackline spalt, as it continues to decay. The strength of brown rotted wood is significantly reduced or lost entirely shortly after decay begins. This is what creates much of the amazing color that you see in our maple lumber. Brown rots, with at least 3 fungi reported on big leaf maples from the PNW, cause most of the cell wall polysaccharides to degrade, but the lignin component is unchanged or slightly modified. This slow decay from the inside out has its benefits though. The center will continue to rot until there is just a hollow shell left, and eventually the tree can no longer support the massive form. It is rare for a Maple to stay standing for more than 120 years. Once they pass 75 years or so, the center of the tree will start to decay. Most all of the forest of Western Europe were coppiced in order to create large volumes of wood charcoal before the discovery of coal.Īll of this vigorous early growth means that Maples don’t live to be all that old. Coppicing can yield up to 7 times the growth that you can get from traditional replanting methods. The result is that 10 years after being cut, a stump can have twenty or more new trunks all over 5” in diameter. The stump sprouts will grow incredibly fast, because they can immediately utilize the existing root structure of the old stump. Coppice is an age old forest management tradition that works on certain trees that will sprout back their stumps. This fast growth can be sped up even more by coppicing. It can even outgrow the notoriously fast growing Douglas Fir in its younger years.
It is also the most vigorous tree in the forest. It can grow well under the towering Douglas Fir, and it grows equally well side by side with the Oregon White Oak. The bigleaf maple ( Acer macrophyllum ), also known as the Oregon maple, is a deciduous, long-lived tree native to the Pacific Northwest. Maple is also a friendly tree and gets along with its neighbors well. Latin Name This maple tree is classified as Acer macrophyllum and belongs to the Sapindaceae (soapberry) family.
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