Red maple or sugar maple?

[TinStar]

What is better in general for building longrifles? Are both suitable for carving?

TinStar
Soli Deo Gloria!

[Birddog6]

Suger maple is the best, and  make sure it is hard...........  Red maple will work if it is hard but generally is not as hard as the sugar maple.. 
And the harder the wood, the cleaner it cuts, carves, & cleans up.   

[Don Getz]

I'm working on a gun right now that is red maple.....soft, almost too soft.   It was supposed to have some carving on it
but I have changed my mind, no way will I attempt it.   Will probably do some mouldings, maybe some incised carving,
but that's going to be it.  Also, very light in weight...............Don

[eagle24]

The stock on the Southern Rifle I am finishing up is Red Maple.  It was very hard at the buttplate, but had some soft areas around the entry thimble and lockplate.  Hard is good and works very clean and crisp.  Soft......better have some razor sharp tools and be carefull.

[woodsrunner]

The question asks "in general", and IMO the answers so far are correct. Maybe it should be pointed out, though, that every stock blank should stand on its own. Given the nature of wood characteristics it's not uncommon for a sample of red maple to be a little harder than sugar maple, but usually Don's experience is what you'll get.

Several things cause wood characteristics within a species to differ somewhat. Rate of growth, exposure to the sun's angle, soil fertility, etc etc. In the Southern Mountains, for example, a red maple growing in a mountain cove with a northeast exposure to the sun may-probably will-have better characteristics than a sugar maple growing on the opposite side of the mountain with a southwest exposure. With hardwoods generally, usually, the faster the growth the heavier and harder the wood--but also the more prone to warping and twisting when drying. Everything is a "tradeoff" but usually we know that sugar maple is best. Pays to be friends with fellows like Wayne Dunlap, Freddie Harrison and Ed Price, too .

[Dphariss]

Northeastern grown hard suger maple.

Dan

[Swampwalker]

A couple of years ago, I finished the third rifle out of a large red maple plank which I purchased from Dunlop's.  The plank was quite hard, and one of the rifle's is extensively carved with no problems.  The curl is very good, and the rifles look great, but I don't have the visual "depth" of color and figure that you see with sugar maple; the final product, while beatiful, looks a little "flatter" than an equal finish with sugar maple.  Still, it's highly dependent on the particular piece of maple.

[erdillonjr]

Sugar maple is best for carving. A good hard piece of red maple that is highly figured gives the bast colors when finished. Ed

[Stophel]

Red maple can be OK, but I have to pick it out in person, and it has to be exceptionally hard for red maple.  Generally, I just avoid it and don't have to worry about it.  Sugar maple.  No fuss, no muss.    It makes for a MUCH better stock than softer wood.  Carves better, finishes better, stronger, more durable, more dent and scratch resistant...better in every way imagineable.

I will NEVER buy any piece of wood simply labeled "soft maple"....because it will be.  Soft, and very possibly silver maple.

[Colonial Riflesmith]

I like to use Red Maple. It has fine grain, cost less that Suger Maple and does not chip as easily. I know there are different opinions on this, but that's just me.

[Acer Saccharum]

Red Maple can vary in hardness from piece to piece.... so it's best to pick your wood in person.

Red can be quite hard, suitable for carving, but again, not all red is suitable.

Red Maple, Acer Rubrum

Sugar Maple, Acer Saccharum.

[Jim Filipski]

Sugar Maple, Acer Saccharum.

And that why we calls him "SUGAR"! 

[volatpluvia]

The last gone I built was red maple and so hard the whole way through that I had to chase the chisel and gouge with a mallet the whole way through the inletting, and shaping.  It was from the stump of a spreading tree in the front yard of a parsonage.  I don't know if being from the stump made a difference or not.  It was a very large tree.  Had nice curl and grain and looked really nice stained with Jim Chamber's cherry stock stain. 
volatpluvia

[Stophel]

I made this early attempt many yarns ago out of a really nice, hard, flamy piece of red maple.  Every bit as hard as sugar maple.


Yes, I know, it's too fat around the lock/breechtang area.  I'd like to have that one (and a couple others) back to reshape them better!

I also have a Lehigh gun I have been "working on" for years now, that is plainer red maple, but also every bit as hard as sugar maple, but other pieces I've seen are not so good.

[eagle24]

I made this early attempt many yarns ago out of a really nice, hard, flamy piece of red maple.  Every bit as hard as sugar maple.


Yes, I know, it's too fat around the lock/breechtang area.  I'd like to have that one (and a couple others) back to reshape them better!

I also have a Lehigh gun I have been "working on" for years now, that is plainer red maple, but also every bit as hard as sugar maple, but other pieces I've seen are not so good.

The scraps from the stock I am working on stained (aqua fortis) very similar in color to that gun.  Sort of a coffee/honey color with more gold tones and no reddish tint.  Is that common of red maple?  and the sugar causes the red tones in sugar maple?

[Stophel]

I have no idea why, but so far it seems that red maple (and also other lesser maples) tends to color darker and more brown with A.F. and sugar maple tends towards more orange.

I imagine I neutralized that stock with baking soda. If I were to have used lye, I think that the color would have been more red-orange....