In the lumber industry "Acer rubrum" is considered a "soft maple", a designation it shares, commercially, with silver maple ("A. saccharinum"). In this context, the term "soft" is more comparative, than descriptive; i.e., "soft maple", while softer than its harder cousin, sugar maple ("A. saccharum"), is still a fairly hard wood, being comparable to black cherry ("Prunus serotina") in this regard. Like "A. saccharum", the wood of red maple is close-grained, but its texture is softer, less dense, and has not as desirable an appearance, particularly under a clear finish. However, the wood from "Acer rubrum" while being typically less expensive than hard maple, also has greater dimensional stability than that of "A. saccharum", and also machines and stains easier. Thus, high grades of wood from the red maple can be substituted for hard maple, particularly when it comes to making stain/paint-grade furniture. Red maple lumber also contains a greater percentage of "curly" (aka "flame"/"fiddleback") figure, which is prized by musical instrument/custom furniture makers, as well as the veneer industry. As a soft maple, the wood tends to shrink more during the drying process than with the hard maples.