American Sycamore

[PoDunk]

Would American sycamore be worth milling into 2x lumber, or any lumber ?
We have a two lane hyway thats being turned into a four lane in my town, and today about eight or ten sycamore tree's in the 30" diameter range are hitting the ground.

[ely]

it makes a very pretty quarter sawn lumber. a little tough to dry though. if you flat saw it, it seems to really want to move badly. quarter sawing helps with stabilizing it imo. and i personally saw it a little thicker to have wiggle room on the planer.

a very solid wood for furniture and other projects.

[jbeat]

Podunk,  Go to the Peterson web site (SPONSOR COLUMN ON LEFT)then resourses then tree dictionary. You will find the wood's characteristics as well  as some common uses. IMO sycamore would be great for covered framing applications.

[PoDunk]

Thanks guys, just wanted a few opinions before I go load those heavy logs.
I was also wondering how the stuff saws, is it hard or soft ?

[pigman]

Sycamore is one of the easiest woods I saw with my bandmill.  If the logs are fresh, water will fly off the blade.


Bob

[PoDunk]

Guess all that water explains why they are so dang heavy

[WDH]

Try to quartersaw as much of it as possible.  Flat sawn stuff behaves poorly in glued panels.  As structural wood, it should do better. 

[Part_Timer]

I sawed and dried about 1000bf of the stuff last summer.  The qsawn stuff was fine and about 1/4 of the flat sawn blew apart when it was dried.  I am having Faron turn it into t&g flooring for me this fall.  It is for the kids bedrooms.  I'm also going to use it for the trim in those rooms.

It saws very easy on the swinger.

[ARKANSAWYER]

 

  Nope just let them burn it.  It is not worth trying to spalt it or trying to dry it and make anything.

  (by the way where did you say this road was a going in?)

                                                               ;)

[scsmith42]

Earlier this year Jeff Mills (Dad2nine) and I worked together to saw and dry around 1000 bd ft of 4/4 quartersawn sycamore, and about 100 bd ft of 8/4.  It dried like a dream - there was absolutely minimal degrade (less than 1%).  End checks were non-existent too.

Jeff coated the logs with anchor seal the same day that they were felled, and then he milled them and got them into my kiln within a couple of weeks of logging. 

The drying process is similar to oak - about 3% per day targeted in my Nyle DH kiln.

The lumber turned out superb, with some really nice ray flect. 

Scott

[PoDunk]

I think that I will load them, and let them set in my yard until they start looking like Arkansawyer's wood, WOW 8)

[dad2nine]

Earlier this year Jeff Mills (Dad2nine) and I worked together to saw and dry around 1000 bd ft of 4/4 quartersawn sycamore, and about 100 bd ft of 8/4.  It dried like a dream - there was absolutely minimal degrade (less than 1%).  End checks were non-existent too.

Jeff coated the logs with anchor seal the same day that they were felled, and then he milled them and got them into my kiln within a couple of weeks of logging. 

The drying process is similar to oak - about 3% per day targeted in my Nyle DH kiln.

The lumber turned out superb, with some really nice ray flect. 

Scott

Scott is really responsible for how well that load of QS Sycamore turned out, I just made little flat ones from big round ones. He did a class A drying job...  The Sycamore I cut was so wet no blade lube was needed water ran out of the log just ahead of the blade. I left the bark on one edge since there is no real defined line between heart / sap wood and I think folks liked that because we measured BF as if I was going to edge it. They got a little extra wood on the butt flare boards.

If I were you I would grab the ones larger than 20" diameter on the small end and mill them in the traditional quarter sawn way. Flat sawn sycamore ain't worth a hoot as far as appearance and stability , but QS'ing makes it a completely different looking and good stable lumber.

Oh one other thing end seal the logs and mill ASAP, don't let the lumber see much if any direct sunlight, it'll split up quicker than you can blink an eye... Scott doesn't know it but I lost a little bit of lumber because I let it sit in the sun to long a little over an hour over dinner break.

Thanks

[WDH]

Also, if you air dry it versus kiln dry it, do not leave any bark on the boards unless you like wood boring insects.  Bark is a bug magnet.

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

PoDunk,

It's great that these are big trees - just the size you need to really get
that great characteristic grain of the QS Sycamore!  Be prompt an get 'em.

I sometimes return to the scene (and mourn) where I lost at least 30 tons
of highway stuff to a burn pile, because someone got irate down the road and
the state road construction supervisor had crews burn logs that I had already
bucked and end-sealed  - even some 40" Pecan!  Well, the reason I return and mourn
is that I have to drive that highway when I work in Milledgeville, GA.

Phil L.

[PoDunk]

great info, thanks !!