Acer rubrum of the family Aceraceae. Actually, A. glabrum is also sometimes sold as red maple, among its many other common names, but if you buy red maple you are most likely getting A. rubrum. Red maple (both species) is a form of soft maple, so the soft maple page on this site contains maple species that are soft maple OTHER than red maple.
I have noticed that curly red maple is sometimes indistinguishable from curly hard maple and also that although red maple is a form of soft maple, it does NOT fuzz up the way some other maples species that are soft maples do.
my samples:
both sides of a sample plank sold to me as red maple / Acer rubra (which is an incorrect specific epithet ... it should be rubrum)
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above --- this is one of the very few woods I've seen where the end grain update has LESS pronounced rays than the original, and the difference is quite striking on this one, but it is exactly what shows up on the wood in both cases.
plank and closeup. Plank has light curl along one edge
curly red maple plank and closeup --- nice color variety, but also some ugly gray mineral stain
curly red maple plank with some spalting and a closeup of the spalted section
curly red maple plank and closeup --- this one is REALLY rife with ugly gray mineral stain
another curly red maple plank with heavy mineral stain
curly red maple plank and end grain
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
curly red maple planks
bird's eye red maple plank and closeup --- this is a VERY weak/sparse set of eyes and much of the plank has no eyes at all
a pair of spalted red maple pieces and a closeup --- there are several more pics of these pieces on the "maple, spalted" page. Extreme enlargements are present
fiddleback red maple veneer and closeup
a sheet of red maple veneer and a closeup from it --- despite the name, the white color is accurate, although I'm not familiar enough with the species to know how representative that color is.
flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
red maple (Acer rubrum, also listed as swamp maple, soft maple, and red flowered maple) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views
web pics:
planks
curly planks
curly red maple sapwood plank --- this is the kind of piece that is impossible to distinguish from curly hard maple
curly red maple plank dry and a closeup moistened
curly red maple plank and closeup; note the severe mineral stain
curly red maple plank with severe mineral stain
bookmatched pair of curly red maple planks
burl
red maple burl veneer
bowl blank
bowl made from red maple burl --- the bright pink color seems unlikely, but I cannot say for sure that it is incorrect.
the bottom of a laminated bowl, with two sections of curly red maple. The pic was taken after the application of one coat of natural stain, and the bottom view shows up the curly red maple to better effect that the pic of the top view, which is why that view is shown here. The wood between the two pieces is padauk and behind that is wenge and white limba. This is a very nice example of curly red maple although it is heartwood and very brown, as opposed to the sapwood which is more white. I somehow neglected to get a pic of the raw plank from which these pieces were taken, so it is not shown in the section of my own samples at the top of the page.
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