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Overheard a guy say soft maple is just as good for face frames and I had to bite my tongue
I was at the lumber yard last Tuesday and some younger guy was telling his buddy that soft maple is fine for face frames because it machines the same. I get that it cuts okay but the wear and tear over time is totally different. I've been building cabinets for 12 years and I've seen soft maple face frames warp and dent way worse than hard maple after a few years in a kitchen. Hard maple holds up to the constant opening and closing and banging around that face frames take. Has anyone else noticed more callbacks on soft maple frames or am I being too picky?
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mary_patel593mo ago
Hard maple is the way to go for face frames. Soft maple just doesn't hold up long term in a busy kitchen.
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bettywilson3mo ago
Actually thats a good point about hard vs soft maple, but theres something nobody ever talks about - the finish you pick matters way more than the wood type. I've seen beautiful hard maple frames get wrecked after a few years because someone used a water-based poly that just peeled right off in a humid kitchen. Meanwhile my buddy's kitchen built in '95 with soft maple and a good conversion varnish still looks near perfect (not that I'd ever tell him that, ha). The hard maple will dent less for sure, but if the finish fails first it doesnt matter how tough the wood is underneath.
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