Sycamore Score

[steve fleischmann]

Today while driving through the mountains of N.C. I saw a dump truck pulled over full of wood. A few hours later we passed the same locartion and there was a man next to the truck unloading. We did a u-turn, and pulled next to him. He approached our car and I asked him if the truck was his, he shook his head yes, and said he broke down yesterday. Throttle stuck, and he had to run it up the hill. I asked if the wood was for sale, and he looked at me as if I was crazy. He said it was just a bucnh of sycamore that he cut down, tree was dying anyway. I told him I would love to have a piece or two for turning, he told me a friend of his had a lathe and it was a beautiful machine. He seemed more excited than me. He apologized for cutting some of the bigger pieces, I couldn't believe he was for real. He pulled off 10 pieces I offered to pay and he said no, I pulled a cold water and a coca cola from my car and offered it to him, he actually wanted to pay me for the water. I'm not making this up. If I go back tomorrow would it be worth getting a uhaul for $100 and bringing more home?

Steve

[George Guadiane]

Sycamore can deliver some BEAUTIFUL finished pieces, so I would say probably, especially if you can get to the crotch wood... If it's spalted, even better!

[Ernie Kuhn]

Steve,
Foto is of a wedding plate that I made using 1/4 sawn sycamore. Really like the grain pattern, looks almost like snake skin.
Ernie

[Ernie Kuhn]

Steve,
Pic did not attach, here's hoping it works this time.
Ernie

[Steve Trauthwein]

Sycamore is one of my favorite woods to turn. If the tree has been dead for a while it tends to punk out in the middle. If the wood is solid it would be worth any effort to get it in my humble opinion.

Regards, Steve

[Bill Grumbine]

Sycamore is indeed beautiful, but there is one huge caveat of which you need to be aware. American Sycamore probably moves more and loses more water than just about any other North American hardwood. What that means practically is that it is very difficult to dry without either cracking or warping to the point of being unusable. I have turned it in the past, but it got to the point where it just wasn't worth the hassle trying to dry it.

Flat woodworkers need to have it quartersawn to get anything usable out of it. The bonus there is that quartersawing it yields the prettiest grain pattern. If I were going to turn any more of it, I would turn it real thin while it was still wet and expect it to warp, but not necessarily crack.

Good luck with it.

Bill

[Mark Cothren]

Bill, I'm not flat-out disagreeing with you - just sharing my own personal experience with Sycamore. I picked up several big pieces a couple of months ago and it had been recently cut. I cut and sealed several blanks that are stored inside the shop and also have a couple of the short log sections outside that have the end-grain sealed. I haven't noticed any significant checking in any of those. In fact, I have a couple of smaller pieces that have been on my bench/shelf for a good while now w/o any sealer and they have minimal checking. The one hollow form I recently turned from Sycamore moved very little while drying and had no checks. I have roughed a couple of bigger bowls and one of them checked pretty bad (I think I left it too thick), but the other one only has some light - and appear to be shallow - checks. Neither of them moved a great deal.

Like I said, my experience is limited to this one load of Sycamore - and it is fairly humid in our neck of the woods which may be a significant factor - so it may not be typical.

[George Guadiane]

Bill, I'm not flat-out disagreeing with you - just sharing my own personal experience with Sycamore. I picked up several big pieces a couple of months ago and it had been recently cut. I cut and sealed several blanks that are stored inside the shop and also have a couple of the short log sections outside that have the end-grain sealed. I haven't noticed any significant checking in any of those. In fact, I have a couple of smaller pieces that have been on my bench/shelf for a good while now w/o any sealer and they have minimal checking. The one hollow form I recently turned from Sycamore moved very little while drying and had no checks. I have roughed a couple of bigger bowls and one of them checked pretty bad (I think I left it too thick), but the other one only has some light - and appear to be shallow - checks. Neither of them moved a great deal.

Like I said, my experience is limited to this one load of Sycamore - and it is fairly humid in our neck of the woods which may be a significant factor - so it may not be typical.
While I really like the wood, I have to admit (after reflection) that I noticed some checking - heart from sap wood in particular, but if you have a big enough piece, you can still get a great turning.

[Bill Grumbine]

Bill, I'm not flat-out disagreeing with you - just sharing my own personal experience with Sycamore.

No worries Mark, we each have our own experiences. I would be interested to hear how your sycamore fares once the humidity of summer passes by though. I have dried pieces successfully, but the vast majority of the wood I have received has cracked and twisted unbelievably. And the stuff doesn't even burn all that well! So I pass on it now. Talking with several sawyers and furniture makers has reinforced my opinion over the years, but if it is working well for you, that is great. I've gotten some nice pieces out of sycamore, but why turn that when there is maple in abundance? :D

Bill