Acer platanoides – maple family

A characteristic trait of maple is its unusually light-coloured wood, used in production of the lightest
of all wood floors. Maples are considered to be one
of the most beautiful trees due to their leaf and bark colouration.  

Maple wood is most often used in production of furniture, floors and musical instruments (Stradivari made the lower cover of his violins from maple wood). Moreover, maple
is often used as fuel wood as well. 

There are around 120 known species of maple, which are found primarily in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. 

The Norway Maple is found in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Southwest Asia. Other varieties can be found in North America. 

Curiosities

• Most likely, the oldest maple in Poland grows in Kamienica,
  in Nowosądecki Province. It has a circumference of 459 cm,
  a diameter of 118.5 cm and a height of 28.5 m.  
• In old cultures, the maple fulfilled a magical function as the guardian of the dead. Before burial, the dead would lie on a so-called ‘grave board,’ which was made of unpainted maple board.
• According to belief, the maple wood had the power to drive away
  the devil, which is why even today some people, usually unconsciously, follow the custom of ‘knocking on unpainted wood.’

Hardness on the Brinell scale:
- European Maple: 29 MPa
- Canadian Maple: 47 MPa

Change of colour from exposure to sunlight: maple changes colour moderately with time, maturing to a golden-yellow colour.

Density: 670 kg/m³

Installation over floor heating: not recommended