Downed Sycamore tree

[Ravenlost]

We lost a huge Sycamore tree a week or so back. Top broke out of it. We're thinking about using it to construct a table and benches for outdoor use.

Anyone ever work with Sycamore wood? Any tips?

[boonieman]

I know that tables, butcher blocks, etc can be made from sycamore. Seems like most uses are for indoors for some reason. I personally have only worked with it splitting it for firewood. My splitter really complains if I try to split a piece right thru the middle. (I'm talking about round pieces like when you cut the trunk up) It's very hard to split. However, if you start at the edge of the piece and work your way around the piece until you get to the middle, it slabs off very easily and is easy to split. Sorta like peeling an apple. It's like the tree is composed of about inch thick rings. Kinda weird.

[Ravenlost]

Is it as hard as Elm?

[boonieman]

Do you mean hard as in splitting? To me, Elm is harder to split than sycamore. If you're asking which wood is harder, it's elm. According to the Janka hardness rating for wood, Elm is 830, and sycamore is 770. The higher the rating, the harder the wood. Neither of these two are particularly hard.

[Ravenlost]

Both. Thanks for the info!

[RosewoodfarmVA]

Sycamore is BEAUTIFUL wood to work with. It's grain is like poplar, that is that it has no sharp contrast between rings. After it has been planed, it has a pinkish look to it, and if you clearcoat it before it ages, that pink will stay in the finish. Don't stain it, just polyeurethane it, in my opinion. It would make good interior trim, paneling, etc. Just make sure whoever you get to saw it up racks it to dry properly, as it does have a tendency to twist and warp if not racked up tightly. I would say let it air dry for 6 months to a year, then bring it into the house it will live in for awhile to acclimate it before building anything with it.

[RosewoodfarmVA]

Another comment, Sycamore isn't suited for outdoor use. It is a softer wood than most hardwoods, and will rot quickly.

[goatsareus]

yep, worked with sycamore. As stated above, not a wood for outdoor use. We successfully made cutting boards from it, but a person can only use so many cutting boards....

[Ravenlost]

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. I suspected it might be to soft for outdoor use. Guess we'll just build a table for indoor use! About middle of the top that broke out is a three-pronged fork. I have an old glass tabletop that I fished out of a dumpster. I want to use the fork and trunk as the base of the tabletop, leaving the beautiful bark on the wood.

Guess I can try my hand at making some wood bowls, etc. with some of it.

[lgslgs]

Originally Posted by Ravenlost

the beautiful bark on it wood.

You might find that the bark slides off a lot faster than you'd expect as the wood dries.

We took down two 100+ foot sycamores this spring and just recently found someone who valued the free firewood enough to haul it off and deal with the work of splitting sycamore. Most of the pieces shed their park as they were moved.

I've got no idea what it would do in the house, but ours was sure a barky mess outside. Not as messy as the live trees were but still quite a cleanup. (Side note - we didn't kill such lovely trees because they were messy, we took them out because they had forked trunks, leaned right over the house, and would have killed us if a trunk ever split.)


It sure is a pretty wood though. I'm glad ours is at least going to keep a neighbor family warm this winter. I hear it's not the greatest firewood but they've got enough to burn lots and lots of it. A lot of the trunk sections were more than a yard wide, and between the 2 trees there were 3 full trunks.

Lynda

[Ravenlost]

LOL...then I'll have to glue it back on!

[ldc]

The old name for sycamore (native ones) is buttonwood. In colonial times, buttons were made of this! ldc

[Farmerwilly2]

I wonder how it would chisel out for a nice dough bowl.

[lgslgs]

Originally Posted by Ravenlost

LOL...then I'll have to glue it back on!

That's the right attitude!

I bet you are going to get that wood turned into something nice whether it wants to do it the easy way or the hard way.

Lynda

[Ravenlost]

Originally Posted by Farmerwilly2

I wonder how it would chisel out for a nice dough bowl.

I saw some photos online of beautiful bowls made of Sycamore wood. I plan to try my hand at it.

[PD-Riverman]

It is also a Beautiful Wood if you let it Spalt. You would need to do a search on spalted Syc. Spalted makes some beautiful wood for projects that does not require alot of traffic/strength.

[Ravenlost]

Found a great article on spalted wood: http://www.hiltonhandcraft.com/Artic...us_Amongus.asp

[snettrecker]

It also makes absolutely stunning guitars.

Josh

[Rocky Fields]

Hey.

You can use it for a table and benches if you use an outdoor stain on it.

RF

[Ohiogal]

Could it be used for flooring?