On Sun, 14 Sep 2003 16:30:36 -0400, "Mike G"
wrote:

I don't know where you do your shopping but when I go to my suppliers I can
tell the difference by the little tag they put over the stacks.

At my supplier I have to pick my way past the cowpats and I'm expected
to help swing the engine on the tractor-powered sawbench if I want any
big ripping done. They're not big on barcodes or shelf labels.

One says hard maple and the other says soft maple.

The density is probably the best guide. Hard maples have a specific
gravity over 0.55, soft maples below this (total range is about 0.45 -
0.65). Although there's a correlation with species, there are no
single "hard maple" or "soft maple" species. Sugar maples are hard,
red maples soft. The rest are variable.