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Maple wood for frames/Keel

Years ago around the 1990s a model ship guild promoted the used of Boxwood and Steamed Pearwood for model ship building. Anytime the subject of what wood to use came up, it was always suggested you have to use Boxwood or pearwood anything else was considered subpar.
Woods like Cherry, Maple, Beech and others were banished to the side lines and considered not good enough.
 
Dave Stevens (Lumberyard) said:
Years ago around the 1990s a model ship guild promoted the used of Boxwood and Steamed Pearwood for model ship building. Anytime the subject of what wood to use came up, it was always suggested you have to use Boxwood or pearwood anything else was considered subpar.
Woods like Cherry, Maple, Beech and others were banished to the side lines and considered not good enough.
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This is very interesting !!!!
 
A couple pointers when selecting which Maple to use
Hard Maple also called Sugar Maple is hard and dense, if your blade is not sharp you will burn the wood. Small hobby 4 inch table saws might have a hard time cutting Hard Maple if the blade is dull. Power sanding Hard Maple will burn if you try to take too much off in one pass.

Soft Maple, Red Maple same wood different names

this has more color in the wood unlike Hard Maple which is a light honey color. Personally, i like a little figure to the wood rather than an even color with no figure. I like wood that looks like wood and not plastic.

All my joinery work is done by hand with a knife Red Maple you can cut with a knife not so easy with Hard Maple.

as for Maple taking a stain i do not consider an issue in model building because why stain the wood?
 
Dave Stevens (Lumberyard) said:
A couple pointers when selecting which Maple to use
Hard Maple also called Sugar Maple is hard and dense, if your blade is not sharp you will burn the wood. Small hobby 4 inch table saws might have a hard time cutting Hard Maple if the blade is dull. Power sanding Hard Maple will burn if you try to take too much off in one pass.

Soft Maple, Red Maple same wood different names

this has more color in the wood unlike Hard Maple which is a light honey color. Personally, i like a little figure to the wood rather than an even color with no figure. I like wood that looks like wood and not plastic.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this info !!!

I will read more about red/soft Maple to educate myself.

Is this Red/Soft Maple better than Cherry ?
What is your experience?

If they are similar, I have already a lot of Cherry.

Thank you !!!!!!
Daniel
 
Dave Stevens (Lumberyard) said:
Woods like Cherry, Maple, Beech and others were banished to the side lines and considered not good enough.
Click to expand...
This is not true, Dave. No one said that Cherry, Maple, Beech, and Birch are not good enough. I think, we already have had this discussion. The choice of wood used is dictated by the visibility of grains, natural color, physical properties, cost, personal preference, and taste. Also worth mentioning is the presence and availability of certain wood species at modelers' locations.
For example, In my mother country (doesn't exists anymore) Peartree was the type of wood that grows in almost every garden house alone with Apple and Cherry. The fruits were used and processed for winter, dry trees were used to heat the houses.
boxwood (not Castello), real boxwood was also available. But we didn't have much Maple wood. We also have a lot and cheap linden (lime) wood. This was used to make famous Russian carvings (spoons, bowls), it holds the edge and carves like butter.
 
This is not true, Dave. No one said that Cherry, Maple, Beech, and Birch are not good enough.

you missed the opening of my comment i was not talking now this was and i repeat years ago

Years ago around the 1990s

 
Dave Stevens (Lumberyard) said:
A couple pointers when selecting which Maple to use
Hard Maple also called Sugar Maple is hard and dense, if your blade is not sharp you will burn the wood. Small hobby 4 inch table saws might have a hard time cutting Hard Maple if the blade is dull. Power sanding Hard Maple will burn if you try to take too much off in one pass.

Soft Maple, Red Maple same wood different names

this has more color in the wood unlike Hard Maple which is a light honey color. Personally, i like a little figure to the wood rather than an even color with no figure. I like wood that looks like wood and not plastic.

All my joinery work is done by hand with a knife Red Maple you can cut with a knife not so easy with Hard Maple.

as for Maple taking a stain i do not consider an issue in model building because why stain the wood?
Click to expand...
Thank you for sharing your extensive knowledge with us. I enjoy working with the hardwoods that grow in my native Canada. My work with them has been in cabinet making but I am now moving into wooden boat building. You are a wonderful resource for us here, I always look forward to your postings. Thanks again.
 
Portia Takakjian built a model of the Essex out of Maple, here is a pic of it on the cover of her book…. I think it makes a fine model, but I would still prefer Pear Or Boxwood (Castello) if I were to scratch build something that awesome. Maple still has out of scale grain structure at 1/48 - pear and box don’t have any discernible grain - at all…. And it probably still wouldn’t cost as much as some kits do done in those, well Pear, Castello is getting ridiculous. I just bought 8bf of primo, all usable (not rough cut - finish sized) Pear from Germany for $300 shipped. But Maple holds an edge, machines well and finishes well - looks awesome without stain.

974D9F84-4F24-4DE3-990D-0EE5FAD35006.jpeg
 
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Castello is sold under a long list of names like Brazilian maple
in addition to pau marfim and guatambu. In the U.S. market, it sometimes has been referred to as ivorywood. In Argentina a common name for the wood is moroti and guatambu moroti. In Brazil it might be called farinha seca, quatamba, guatambu blanco, guatambu or pau liso. Other names include quillo bordon, yomo de huero and kyrandy. One name for the wood, Brazilian maple,

i use Maple for heavy timbering like frames and deck beams then natural pearwood for planking and finer detail work
 
As a long time woodworker I can attest that any of the maple species will provide tight, even grain that works well....not as cleanly as Buxus or Castello, but nearly so.

Thing to remember, particularly in the softer versions (Soft maple, red maple, etc) is that stain absorption will be uneven....sugar maple can be particularly variable.

On furniture finishing of maple, a sanding sealer is commonly used to even out the staining.

If using clear finish maple will be fine.
 
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