Figured wood

Overview

Figure is the pattern on a cut surface that comes partly from the grain and partly from how the log was cut or from innate properties of the wood (Wikipedia). Most figured furniture wood is maple: curly (also tiger or fiddleback), quilted and birdseye. Figure is a feature, not a species, and the same tree can give figured and plain boards. People pick it for tops, drawer fronts and instruments where the grain should shimmer.

Pros

• Striking depth and chatoyance with a clear finish.
• Curly maple is one of the more economical figured woods (Wood Database).
• Widely available as veneer as well as solid; birdseye is commonly sold as veneer (Wood Database).
• Hard maple (Hard maple) is a hard base: Janka 1,450 lbf (Wood Database).

Cons

• Price climbs with figure intensity. Quilted maple boards computed to about $28.50-36.90 per actual bf, and the Wood Database says high grades are expensive.
• Hard to work. Wikipedia notes care is needed with tear-out on birdseye, a claim it marks as lacking a citation, so read this as common shop experience.
• Blotches when stained, and hard maple can burn when routed (Wood Database).
• Quality varies: curly maple is graded by colour, curl frequency and curl intensity (Wood Database).
• Allergy reports exist for the maple genus (Wood Database).

Variants and subspecies

• Curly, tiger, fiddleback, flame: curly maple is not a species (Wood Database). Hardness runs 700-1,450 lbf and weight 30.2-44.0 lb/ft3 (485-705 kg/m3) depending on the maple species. Best on quartersawn faces.
• Quilted: mostly soft maples, with bigleaf maple giving the highest grades. Janka 700-950 lbf, weight 30.2-38.0 lb/ft3. Also called blistered, sausage-quilt, tubular-quilt and angel-step. Best flatsawn, and often dyed for guitar tops.
• Birdseye (Acer saccharum): 44.0 lb/ft3 (705 kg/m3), Janka 1,450 lbf. Eyes 1/8-3/8 in wide. The cause is unknown, as Wikipedia discounts the pecking-bird and fungus theories. It is mostly in sugar maple but also in red maple, white ash, Cuban mahogany, beech, black walnut, yellow birch and Huon pine. Most pronounced on flatsawn faces.
• Other figure types Wikipedia lists: angel step, bear scratches, blister, burl, dimple, ghost, pin stripe, ribbon curl, wide flame and spalted. For two of these see Burl wood and Spalted wood.

Working and finishing

Wood Database warns hard maple can burn in a router, so keep bits sharp and feed steady. For curly and birdseye, expect tear-out and consider scraping or sanding rather than planing (my suggestion, in line with the Wikipedia tear-out note).

Staining and finishing colour

The Wood Database says hard maple blotches when stained and recommends a pre-conditioner, gel stain or toner. Figured maple is hard maple, so the same advice applies. I found no sourced dye-then-clear recipe, so I do not give one. Test every board.

Sustainability and handling

Hard maple is not CITES-listed and not on the IUCN Red List (Wood Database). Figure is a quirk of the individual tree, so look for FSC-certified maple if that matters to you. The Wood Database notes allergy reports for the maple genus.

Popular projects

Guitar tops, drawer fronts and door panels where the pattern should show, pool cues, humidors, and veneered panels (Wikipedia on birdseye lists veneer, instruments, pool cues and humidors; Wood Database notes quilted maple is often dyed for guitar tops).

Buying notes

Buy by figure and grade, not just species. Rare Woods USA sells soft curly maple in 20 BF packs, 4/4, at $243-263 (about $12.15-13.15 per bf; 6/4 packs ran higher, up to about $16.75), birdseye packs from $248 to $400 for 20 BF, and quilted maple as individual boards at about $28.50-36.90 per bf. See pictures of the actual boards, and choose the cut (quartersawn for curly, flatsawn for quilted and birdseye) that shows the figure.