Acer saccharum

I interrupted myself today - as I usually do. I’ve learned over the years that working green wood into furniture parts works best if you prep the stock twice. Once right when you split the log apart. Then some weeks/months later, bring it down to its final dimensions and continue on to make furniture from it. So when I’m making a piece of furniture, I’m working with stock that I’ve prepped well ahead of time. The boxes I’m making now are with oak boards I split and planed in late July. They’re now in perfect condition to go ahead and carve and join, assemble, etc. When Jennie Alexander and I started making oak furniture in the late 1980s/early 1990s, we’d sometimes go right ahead with dead-green wood - but that’s not the best approach. We figured it out after a while. 

maple stiles some done some not

So today I stopped what I was doing to prep some stock for work I plan to tackle in late January. But today’s work wasn’t oak - it was sugar maple/hard maple (Acer saccharum). I’ve worked a little green maple here and there in recent years - for turnings on the cupboards I built in the past two years. The last time I worked it with any regularity was 30 years ago making Windsor chairs. To me, it’s a funny tree. Some will split beautifully, others are perfectly nasty inside. That’s true of any tree, but the ring porous woods like ash and oak are much more reliable - a good straight one will usually split easily and accurately. Not so maple. Except sometimes, like this week. I stopped by Joel Paul’s - he said I could have some of the log he recently busted up for chair parts. I only needed a short length, maybe 20-22” and I was aiming for 1 1/2” squares.