What is Quilted Maple?
Quilt or quilted maple refers to a type of figure in maple wood. It is seen on the tangential plane (flat-sawn) and looks like a wavy “quilted” pattern, often similar to ripples on water. The highest quality quilted figure is found in the Western Big Leaf species of maple.
source: Wikipedia
The name Quilted Maple comes from its visual resemblance to a fabric quilt pattern. Typically, this figure is associated with Western Big Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum). Additionally, Bigleaf maple or western maple, is a large deciduous tree, genus Acer.
Like Birdseye Maple, quilted maple is most obvious when the lumber’s grain orientation is plain-sawn or flat-sawn.
Additionally, Quilt figure is sometimes referred to as Angel Step, Tubular Quilt, or Blister figured.
Quilted Maple Technical Information
- Scientific name: Acer macrophyllum
- Alternative Names: West Coast Maple, Pacific Coast Maple, Big Leaf Maple, PC Maple, Western Maple, Oregon Maple
- Region of Origin: North America (primarily West Coast) Average Dried Weight: 32 LB/cubic foot
- Janka Hardness Rating: 825
- Specific Gravity: .56
- IUCN Red List: No
- CITES wood: No
What Causes Quilt Figure?
In Understanding Wood, R Bruce Hoadley explains how quilt figure occurs in wood. Significantly, Hoadley, was Professor Emeritus of Building and Construction Materials in the Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
“in hardwood trees, reaction wood forms predominantly toward the upper side of the leaning stem. because gravity causes the upper side to be in tension, it is termed tension wood. tension wood … sometimes looks silvery, other times dull and lifeless, and in some cases there is little if any visual difference. upon finishing, stain is absorbed irregularly and the surface appears blotchy.”
source: Understanding Wood (R Bruce Hoadley)
Is Quilted Maple Expensive?
Yes, highly figured quilt maple is expensive. Additionally, the cost is similar to highly figured birdseye sugar maple lumber.
Specifically,as of December 2020, prices range from $3 per board foot for lightly quilted maple to $150 per board foot for extremely dense quilt figure.
As with Birdseye figure, there is no universal standard for grading quilt figure. Thus, vendors market grades such as A, AA, AAA, AAAA, 5A, musical grade, exhibition grade, etc. with little consistency.
Quilted Maple Lumber For Sale
Significantly, many lumber yards do not sell quilted maple lumber. There are 3 reasons why.
First, Big Leaf Maple is not widely produced specie among the maples.
Second, quilt figure is relatively rare to find.
Third, to avoid confusion most yards like to sell one item for one price. For example, Quilted Maple has one price, $10/BF. Unfortunately, if the store sells the quilted maple lumber at $10/BF, the high-end figure sells quickly while the lower-end figure remains unsold and appears over-priced. Moreover, this is the dilemma for many exotic wood sellers.