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The wood has a close fine texture and is generally straight grained, but it can also occur as ‘curly’, ‘fiddleback’, and ‘birds-eye’ figure. Hard maple is strong, heavy and hard with heartwood that is light reddish-brown with deeper-coloured late-wood bands. The sapwood is white in colour, and furnishes the white maple prized for certain uses. It differs mainly from the soft maples in its greater density and firmer texture.