Sapwood
The paler outer wood of a tree, still conducting sap when the tree was standing. Permitted, limited or required depending on the grade.
Sapwood is a grading variable rather than a defect. NWFA/NOFMA Clear oak permits up to 3/8 inch of bright sapwood along the full length of a board, or 1 inch wide for a third of its length; Select permits unlimited sound sapwood.
In hard maple the relationship inverts, because the pale wood is the product. Special Clear hard maple requires 95% sapwood on the face, free from stain, with the heartwood portion nearly white — a grade that exists to exclude the darker wood other species are graded to include.
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