Figured maple with no figure?

[FS7]

I ran some maple (that I thought was figured) through the planer only to find out it's as plain as can be. This is my first time working with rough maple (it's not one of my favorite woods at all). Did I simply grab a board from the wrong stack? To be honest I couldn't really tell much of a difference between the stack labeled figured and the other stack. I'm assuming that either I or the shop misidentified what was figured. I remember the guy asking me if it was figured or not, perhaps because they look the same rough.

Has this happened to anybody else?

[Stwood_]

Normally figured lumber of any species is at least skip planed so the figure is visible.

[packerguy®]

Normally figured lumber of any species is at least skip planed so the figure is visible.

+1

And if it isn't, I wont be buying. 

Generally, when paying a premium for a figured wood, I wanna get boards with similar figure, and there is no way to see it clearly in the rough state.  I've had #1 common maple boards that were rough sawn that I thought could be figured because the saw marks made it look like the fibers were interlocked thus hinting it was highly figured....but when planed, plain as a glass of milk.

[MichaelMouse]

I ran some maple (that I thought was figured) through the planer only to find out it's as plain as can be. This is my first time working with rough maple (it's not one of my favorite woods at all). Did I simply grab a board from the wrong stack? To be honest I couldn't really tell much of a difference between the stack labeled figured and the other stack. I'm assuming that either I or the shop misidentified what was figured. I remember the guy asking me if it was figured or not, perhaps because they look the same rough.

Has this happened to anybody else?

Take a sharp gouge or block plane with you to check the figure, though the two maple figures I'm most familiar with are VERY obvious without a slick spot to check.

[joe1086]

Somebody else might have put it in the wrong stack. Once in a while after I get into them I'll find a figured board amongst a bunch of plain boards but not the other way around.

[FS7]

Somebody else might have put it in the wrong stack. Once in a while after I get into them I'll find a figured board amongst a bunch of plain boards but not the other way around.

This is what it was...upon closer inspection (my eyes aren't what they used to be) it's not even maple but birch. I was so caught up in the lack of figure I didn't even pay attention to the grain - not that there's a huge difference, but it's still easy enough to spot.

[EricU]

I asked for figured maple at a place in eastern PA.  Guy said it was figured, he could tell from the way the rough cut wood had dried.  Well, it's just barely figured.  Learned my lesson on that.  Soft maple is a lot easier to tell.  Hate it when people plane that though, it's rare that the surface comes out usable.

[FS7]

I asked for figured maple at a place in eastern PA.  Guy said it was figured, he could tell from the way the rough cut wood had dried.  Well, it's just barely figured.  Learned my lesson on that.  Soft maple is a lot easier to tell.  Hate it when people plane that though, it's rare that the surface comes out usable.

I bought three birch heart boards, 10 feet long, and one piece of soft figured maple, also 10 feet long.

I guess I wasn't paying attention - sure enough, on the bottom of my "birch" pile in the shop was a skip-planed figured maple board.

I was so sure of it too.