Acer Rubrum - Other Uses

Other Uses

In the lumber industry Acer rubrum is considered a soft maple. The wood is close grained and as such it is similar to that of A. saccharum, but its texture is softer, less dense, and has a poorer figure and machining qualities. High grades of wood from the red maple can nonetheless be substituted for hard maple, particularly when it comes to making furniture. As a soft maple, the wood tends to shrink more during the drying process than with the hard maples.

Red maple is also used for the production of maple syrup, though the hard maples Acer saccharum (sugar maple) and Acer nigrum (black maple) are more commonly utilized. One study compared the sap and syrup from the sugar maple with those of the red maple, as well as those of the Acer saccharinum (silver maple), Acer negundo (boxelder), and Acer platanoides (Norway maple), and all were found to be equal in sweetness, flavor, and quality. However, the buds of red maple and other soft maples emerge much earlier in the spring than the sugar maple, and after sprouting chemical makeup of the sap changes, imparting an undesirable flavor to the syrup. This being the case, red maple can only be tapped for syrup before the buds emerge, making the season very short.

Red maple is a medium quality firewood, possessing lower heat energy, nominally 5.4 MJ/m³ (18.7 million BTU (mbtu) per cord), than other hardwoods such as Ash: 7 MJ/m³ (24 mbtu/cord), Oak: 7 MJ/m³ (24 mbtu/cord), or Birch: 5.8 MJ/m³ (20 mbtu/cord).

Red Maple make vibrant and colorful Bonsai, and have year around attractive features for display.