Wood Haul - American Sycamore

[Mike Goetzke]

SMC member Matt was getting rid of wood from a sycamore tree on his property (see classifieds). It was about 100 miles from my house but I'm a new turner looking for wood so what the heck:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/WoodTurning/IMG_0016_zps51f1f048.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/mbg/media/WoodTurning/IMG_0016_zps51f1f048.jpg.html)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/WoodTurning/IMG_0018_zps7810b907.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/mbg/media/WoodTurning/IMG_0018_zps7810b907.jpg.html)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/WoodTurning/IMG_0017_zpscadd5304.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/mbg/media/WoodTurning/IMG_0017_zpscadd5304.jpg.html)

The larger pieces are 22" - 24" in diameter. This should keep me out of trouble for a while.



I'm complete worn out, must be getting old. Would not have gotten this much wood if Matt didn't help me. Now few questions:

1) I have anchorseal. Can I just coat the end grain of the logs or do I need to half them first?

2) This American sycamore has thin bark - do I seal the outside too?

3) This was the first use of my new 20" Husqvarna 450E chainsaw. When slicing the first big log in half the chainsaw really bogged down and I discovered under the chain drive cover was stuffed with fluff. Anyway to prevent this?


Thanks,

Mike

[Dave Mcintire]

Split the logs in half. This will help minimize cracking. Coat the end grain and down the sides about an inch or so. No need to anchor seal the bark area.

[John Thorson]

When cutting them in half make sure to remove the pith and any cracked center area. The more of the pith you remove the better. From the 'good parts' of the center slab, eliminate the pith and you've got quartersawn platter blanks.

[Michael Mills]

Unless you want to turn something really huge (22-24) I would start by removing about a 3-4 inch thick guartersawn section. You will then cut this in half to remove the pith. The remaining parts will still be huge. You may want to cut some with two pieces from each side of the pith for platters also. Bing "quartersawn sycamore" for pics of the grain pattern.
You will probably still have at least 18-20" diameters left.
The pith does need to be removed one way or the other. I would then just seal the end grain and about 1" down on the cut surface.

[Dale Miner]

When splitting a section thru the pith, the saw should be cutting lengthwise to the log, not straight across the end grain. The pieces in your pics look like they were cut correctly. Cutting this way is known as 'noodling'. By cutting lengthwise though, the shavings do not cross over the early wood/late wood boundries and break up like they do when cross cutting. This is what fills the sprocket cover on a chain saw. This problem can be lessened by cutting the log section with the bar at about ten degrees from parrallel with the pith. In other words, keep the end of the bar either up a bit or down a bit. This allows the cutting action to cross the boundries and help the shavings to break. The more angle, the better the shavings break, but the more of an end grain cutting action is encountered and more of a strain is placed on the saw.

When noodling, it is common to have to stop and clear shavings from the sprocket cover to prevent the condition you described.

[charlie knighton]

after crosscutting the log with chainsaw, I use a maul and splitters to split the log down the pith, it keeps the shavings from the sprocket

congratulations on your haul, sycamore is nice to turn and usually good for pyro or carving

[Bob Bergstrom]

Since you are worn out, pull some large contractor bags over the full round. I rarely use anchor seal. Just slip them into plastic bags? They will keep quite a while and may give more color to the wood. That way you can process at you discretion. Bags are a lot cheaper that Achorseal and reusable.

[Reed Gray]

I believe it is in the maple family, and can spault quickly because of the extra sugars in it End grain down on the moist lawn, and plastic bag to cover top if it gets warm and sunny). The medullary ray patterns in it can be striking. The best way to get them to show is with quarter sawn pieces, or your bowl bottoms need to have the center/pith area of the tree at the bottom, or upside down from what we normally do to get the biggest bowls out of each piece. Good score!

robo hippy

[Mike Goetzke]

When splitting a section thru the pith, the saw should be cutting lengthwise to the log, not straight across the end grain. The pieces in your pics look like they were cut correctly. Cutting this way is known as 'noodling'. By cutting lengthwise though, the shavings do not cross over the early wood/late wood boundries and break up like they do when cross cutting. This is what fills the sprocket cover on a chain saw. This problem can be lessened by cutting the log section with the bar at about ten degrees from parrallel with the pith. In other words, keep the end of the bar either up a bit or down a bit. This allows the cutting action to cross the boundries and help the shavings to break. The more angle, the better the shavings break, but the more of an end grain cutting action is encountered and more of a strain is placed on the saw.

When noodling, it is common to have to stop and clear shavings from the sprocket cover to prevent the condition you described.

Thanks - this is exactly when I filled the sprocket area with those long strings.






Thanks for all the comments. Early this morning I dug out a book I purchased about 6-months ago but never opened it yet. "The Art of Turned Bowls" by Richard Raffan. I thought this book just showed a bunch of fancy bowls and artistic form but in an early section chapter he takes the time to show various cuts of the wood and pictures of how to cut the log. Now I understand comments above on quarter sawn blanks. Guess I was just thinking of big blanks for 20" bowls to try on my lathe but the somewhat smaller QS bowls shown in his book are stunning.


Mike

[Thomas Canfield]

I don't know what size lathe you are turning on, but I had some sycamore over 24"D several years back that was cut to 20"lenght which is limit of my Powermatic 3520. I cut the the section in 4 sections and then cut off a triangular pith section. The sections were then turned NE making long oval bowl/platters that had some very nice grain ray patterns. I would like to do it again, but have not found any wood. Great score.

[Brad Adams]

Good score. I love turning Sycamore, it turns really nice.

[ken gibbs]

I have 40 years of chainsawing experience and ANY saw cuts that you rip in green wood will pack up the chain, sprocket, and housing. You just have to watch it when you rip cut. Take the bar loose and clean everything. Oil down the bar, sprocket, and rollers in the bar. Remount the chain and bar and oil again.