Hard Maple. Is there a better option?

When you want a light-color hardwood with a mild grain pattern that’s easy to work with, Maple has historically been the go-to hardwood. But it’s no secret, Maple is notoriously difficult to stain. Sure, you can use a pre-stain conditioner, but achieving a commercial quality application using home-shop techniques is usually futile. You spend so much of your time and money creating a beautiful project, only to be foiled by maple’s genetic inability to accept stain like a nice hardwood should. Well, today is the day to end the heartache and disappointment! Allow me to introduce you to European Beech. In European, Beech is an important and widely-used hardwood. It boasts a Janka hardness rating of 1,450, so it’s durable enough for high wear applications like tables and countertops. Beech has good workability, machines and glues well, and it also has excellent bending capabilities. (Bonus!) But what really makes Beech a contender for American woodworkers is that is has a mild, fine grain and a natural pale cream color, sometimes with pink or brown hues. It’s this base color palette that creates a wide variety of staining options. AND, IT TAKES STAIN GREAT! OK, that’s worth repeating. IT TAKES STAIN GREAT! Try a little Euro Beech next time you’re in the shop & share your experience.