I'm starting a few furniture projects for my home and feeling a bit lost on which type of wood to choose. Specifically, I'm looking at making a shoe storage/bench unit and considering using maple. I hear there are different types like hard maple and ambrosia maple, but I found some sources saying ambrosia is suitable for furniture while the Wood Database rates it as relatively soft. The Janka hardness scale is new to me, and I'm not sure how to interpret the difference between ambrosia's 700 lb-ft rating and black maple's 1180 lb-ft. Any experienced woodworkers have insights or advice?
1 Answer
Honestly, you can't go wrong with maple for your project. Any type of maple is generally tough enough for a shoe storage bench. Just to give you an idea, I have a mallet made from hard maple that’s taken quite a beating over the years, and it only has minor dents. So, hard maple could be a bit overkill for most furniture applications, but you should be all set with either option.