Acer spp. of the family Aceraceae. Generally Acer rubrum (more commonly called "red maple" rather than "bigleaf maple") or Acer macrophyllum (often called "Western maple" rather than "bigleaf maple"). On this site, I have broken out A. rubrum / "red maple" with its own page, because it is a widely used name and ONLY A. rubrum is called that. Native to North America. It is possible that other species in the genus Acer are sold as bigleaf maple, but in the USA at least, it's generally one of these two and I don't know that they can even be told apart by the naked eye.
sample plank and end grain, listed as A. macrophyllum.
end grain closeup of the piece directly above. NOTE: there is a razor-cut end grain closeup of a piece early in the web pics below that is MUCH better than this one.
curly bigleaf maple pic sent to me by Reid Schoonover, whom I thank. Reid tells me it has tung oil on it except for the whitish areas at the very left.
a mix of figured veneers to show some color variety
curly veneer
crotch veneer
figured veneer
quilted veneer
burl veneer --- these are mostly burl clusters, and these sheets are not as strong a burl as is frequently found in bigleaf maple
flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum, also listed as Oregon maple, broad leaf maple and just "maple") from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views
web pics
plank and closeup
end grain and razor-cut end grain closeup of the piece directly above
planks
a curly piece and a burl turning square. I don't seem to have a picture of "normal" big leaf. I'll work on it. I have no idea if the orange/red color in the burl is real.
fiddleback
fiddleback veneer
figured --- note elements of curly, fiddleback, and mild quilting
curly
pics, submitted by a correspondant named Mark, of curly western bigleaf maple with a cluster burl and what appears to be mineral stain.
curly veneer
quilted
quilted veneer
burls --- this was not listed as veneer, but I believe it is --- all 3 of these pics are of the same sheets
figured veneer
spalted
advertised as spalted figured and I agree on the figured but I don't see much spalting (especailly for maple, which produces some stunning spalted wood --- see the "maple, spalted" page)
"coral figured" big leaf maple from the BogusColorVendor which means the colors are not to be believed
