Soft Maple does not refer to any specific species of maple, but rather, it’s a broad term which includes several different species of maple. The term Soft Maple is merely used to differentiate these species from Hard Maple. Each of these other maples species have their own characteristics regarding strength, hardness, weight, etc. But overall, they are not as hard nor as strong as Hard Maple. Hard Maple (1,450 lb_f Janka) is roughly twice as hard as Soft Maple (700-950 lb_f Janka)