Tiger Maple

Often called Curly Maple, this is one of my personal favorites. In fact, I tend to seek out craftsmen that know how to properly work in the wood and carry their items in my store. Probably everyone has seen a piece of this wood at some time or another, but often its so poorly finished or so weak in graining that its totally unremarkable.

Tiger Maple is an American wood and rarely worked outside the USA. It's not a species of wood, rather when a maple forest is timbered a certain small percentage (usually around 5%) will have this unique pattern evident on the bark of the tree that shows the internals will be figured. At the mill, they separate this beautiful wood from the standard maples and set it aside for furniture makers and string instrument makers. It will fetch 3x the price of regular maple for the mill as well.

The stripe, or curl, is best when used in furniture in wide boards, though its getting more difficult to get widths over 8" without paying a hefty premium. That means on table tops or case sides the lumber has to be carefully matched to keep the 'stripe' patter reasonably aligned. When a craftsman can use the same board for this matching its called 'bookmatching'.

Tiger maple requires sharp tools to work. It tends to rip-out and tear if tools are dull, and that's one reason some cabinentmakers shy away from it. To get a high-end, jazzy finish on it requires a lot of work, and nothing out of can at Home Depot is going to suffice. The fibers need to be cut, rather than belt-sanded, so hand-scraping though not required, tends to allow the finish to shine brighter.

Aniline dyes with shellac topcoats are the way to get the best finish. When done properly the figured area jumps out and looks like a tiger's stripes, hence the name.

Drawer fronts should always be of a single board, as should desk lids on Sectretary desks, etc. As antiques, its highly collectible when done right as it signifies a period piece made in New England, most likely in New Hampshire or Vermont.

Here's a photo of one of the many tiger maple pieces I have in my own home. This one is made by George Beshore of Pennsylvania. He's currently 84 years old and makes two of these a year for me, but he's slowing down a bit more than when he was in his 70's.