# 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.

## Related terms

- [Heartwood](https://ecowoods.ca/glossary/heartwood)
- [Flooring grade](https://ecowoods.ca/glossary/flooring-grade)


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## Provenance

- Canonical URL: https://ecowoods.ca/glossary/sapwood
- Publisher: Ecowoods Inc., Toronto & the GTA
- Contact: (647) 244-5156 · services@ecowoods.ca
- Defined in: https://ecowoods.ca/papers/hardwood-grading-standards-nhla-nwfa#nwfa-appearance
- Citation guide: https://ecowoods.ca/ai.txt

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