Brown Maple Furniture

Brown maple furniture features multiple shades of brown, a smooth grain ripe for painting or staining, unique patterns, and a brown maple price that makes it a top competitor for cherry wood.

Make no mistake when it comes to brown maple,
It’s elegant, strong and more than able,
Unique with brown shades vibrant and merry,
It’s easy to paint and as friendly as cherry.

 

What Does Brown Maple Wood Look Like?

Let’s take a moment to distinguish brown maple wood from hard maple wood. They are both from maple trees. The wood used in brown maple furniture comes from the heartwood of maple trees-- that’s the wood that’s closer to the center of the log. Hard maple comes from the sapwood of the maple, located in the outer rings of the tree log.

Brown maple wood is rich with a rainbow of brown shades that include browns, tans, whites and creams. The color can include light and dark streaks.

Brown Maple Wood Grain

Brown maple furniture is a playground for painting. Why? Because brown maple wood has a sleek, smooth grain and fine uniform texture that make it ideal for painting, as well as staining or distressing. Distressing creates an antique, time worn look and brown maple wears it well. Brown maple can handle it all!

Where staining is concerned, a darker stain is often recommended for brown maple furniture. There may be some gray greenish mineral streaking in the wood and with a light stain, this streaking could show through. It doesn’t look as flattering as a medium or darker stain. In a dark stain, the streaks create a unique look, leaving some areas of the wood significantly darker than others. This just adds to its appeal.

Some brown maple wood is figured, meaning it contains variations. These variations have names like birds eye, tiger, flame, curly, wavy or rippled, and they are quite sought after for their unique look. Figuring often occurs as the result of some kind of trauma or disease the tree experienced as it grew.

This shows greenish streaks in natural brown maple wood.

 

Is Brown Maple Strong? Why is It Called Soft Maple?

Yes, brown maple wood is strong though it is called a soft maple. Brown maple is considered soft in comparison to the hardness of hard maple wood. Brown maple furniture can be compared to cherry here. Both are hardwoods—they are strong and durable.

Brown maple has a Janka Hardness rating of 950, which is the same as cherry wood. It is behind, but not that far behind, oak wood’s 1290.

*The Janka Rating is used to test the relative hardness of wood. The Janka test measures the amount of force required to embed a 0.444” steel ball into the wood to half of the ball’s diameter.

Like with cherry, you want to be careful with your brown maple furniture as it might sustain nicks and dents a bit more easily than oak furniture would.

Unique Characteristics of Brown Maple

Some brown maple figured wood includes a bird’s eye pattern that contains swirly figures that look like eyes. Flame maple or “fiddleback” involves a pattern that includes wavy lines that look like flames.

Brown maple wood is also considered a tone wood, meaning it is a wood that carries sound waves. It is used in several musical instruments.

What is Brown Maple Often Used For?

Brown maple is highly versatile and is used for high-end furniture, flooring and cabinets. It’s easy to cut and shape and can be crafted into many different furniture styles for most rooms in the home.

Where Do Maple Trees Grow?

There are dozens of species of maple trees.

It is important to note that brown maple is not a type of tree. It is lumber that comes from the heartwood of different maple trees.  Brown maple wood comes from several different variations of maple trees including red maple (acer rebrum) and big leaf maple (acer macrophyllum). Red maples grow in abundance in eastern North America, reaching a height of 100 feet. Big leaf maples can grow in excess of 65 feet tall and are native to western North America, with a large concentration along the Pacific Coast. These are two popular maple trees that brown maple wood comes from, but it is found in many other species as well.

Cost of Amish Brown Maple Furniture

Brown maple is often compared to cherry wood, but with a cheaper price tag. One of the least expensive hardwood options along with oak, brown maple wood costs less than cherry wood or hard maple.

Brown maple is less expensive than many other woods, but this does not mean that it is inferior to other hardwoods. The cost is lower because it is a more common wood that grows quickly in North America.

Brown Maple Furniture Benefits

• Strong and durable
• Unique colors
• Best wood type for a painted finish
• Easy to apply distressing techniques for an antique look
• The look of cherry wood for less

Caring for Brown Maple Furniture

For tips on maintaining your hardwood furniture, please visit our Caring For Wood Furniture Page for more information.

Email or call our team of furniture specialists at 1-866-272-6773 about our brown maple furniture as well as our other wood types.