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whack of sycamore

Started by pineywoods, June 28, 2011, 08:52:50 PM

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pineywoods

Just unloaded my first ever sycamore logs. Any suggestions on what to do with these? Both good sized standing dead yard trees, so there may be some metal. Most of my information says quarter saw 5/4..




1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

Jim H

I quarter sawed some at 5/4 for a customer last winter. He had kitchen cabinets made from it. I got to see the door samples the cabinet shop sent, very pretty wood with a ray almost like a lace wood. From the looks of yours you may find some spalting too :).
2008 LT40HDG28, autoclutch, debarker, stihl 026, 046, ms460 bow, 066, JD 2350 4wd w/245 loader, sawing since '94 fulltime since '98

Buck

okok. lets see the lumber pics tomorrow evening. ;)
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WDH

Q-sawing is the way to go.  I have not had too much trouble q-sawing at 1 1/8" (hardwood 4/4), but 5/4 will be safer.  Don't hesitate to slab a little heavy because that first flatsawn board off the outside usually ends up looking like a pretzel after drying with all that spiral grain in sycamore.  The wood is very wet with a high M% and takes longer than you think it will to dry.  I assume that you will put it in the solar kiln?
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Larry

QS at 4/4.  I even QS the small logs.

You might think about splalting a couple of logs and sawing later.  It's drop dead gorgeous and easy to sell.
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Kansas

We normally cut lumber at the full inch mark for our customers. That is, we figure 1 inch for the lumber and 1/8 inch for the blade. So we cut on a 1 1/8 inch scale. For sycamore, however, that isn't quite enough if you quartersaw. We have to cut to yield a 1 1/8 inch board. Usually, that is plenty to yield 3/4 finished.

We have cut a lot of sycamore, but not any I recall that died standing. I will be interested to see what you find inside.

pineywoods

Here's the take from the butt cut of the largest tree. It was surprisingly dry. Quarter sawn 5/4 X 6 inch, except for some nice jacket boards which I left natural edge. . There was some pretty good spalt in a couple of the side boards. Fairly easy to saw but kinda hard. I let the blade get dull trying to finish up without changing it. Dove on the last cut, so I wound up with a couple of 4/4 boards. The 6X6 beam on top is the heart center of the log.









1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

WDH

Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

ljmathias

Nice job, Pineywoods- I just love the way some species spalt so pretty- and yours looks like it will make some beautiful furniture or paneling.  What do you have in mind for it?   ???

Lj
LT40, Long tractor with FEL and backhoe, lots of TF tools, beautiful wife of 50 years plus 4 kids, 5 grandsons AND TWO GRANDDAUGHTERS all healthy plus too many ideas and plans and not enough time and energy

pineywoods

Quote from: ljmathias on July 05, 2011, 10:28:47 PM
Nice job, Pineywoods- I just love the way some species spalt so pretty- and yours looks like it will make some beautiful furniture or paneling.  What do you have in mind for it?   ???

Lj

No plans whatsoever. Friend gave me the logs Any suggestions ?
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

DanG

Nice stuff!  My suggestion is to stack/sticker in the shade and park an Abrams tank on top of it.  Otherwise, you'll have plenty of rocking chair material.
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
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inspectorwoody

That is some neat Spalt!

Nice jag of lumber too.

ljmathias

Well, Piney, I've used spalted wood for a small bench/table for my wife to put her reading stuff on next to the bed- she keeps it neat so you can see the figured wood which I admire every time I get clothes out of my closet.  Also built a bookshelf for son and daughter in law that is integrated into their stair wall going up to the boys rooms upstairs.  Also used some in a bench I made for outside but it looked so nice it ended up in our kitchen/dining room- wife grabbed it when she saw it and has been after me to make some more.  In fact, daughter in law is trying to consolidate their small eating area- four kids plus two adults now (hopefully done with baby making)- and wants a bench that will hold all four kids when they have company.  Other parts of mixed-wood swings, chairs and stuff... which is generic for whatever I happen to think of next.  That's why I'm missing being in the workshop- building this house I'm working on for my daughter and her son is taking up all my time right now, but I love doing it.   :)

Lj
LT40, Long tractor with FEL and backhoe, lots of TF tools, beautiful wife of 50 years plus 4 kids, 5 grandsons AND TWO GRANDDAUGHTERS all healthy plus too many ideas and plans and not enough time and energy

scsmith42

Piney, QS sycamore is flat out gorgeous!  It uses the same drying cycle as oak, so you will need to dry it very slowly.  It can be spectacular.

You shouldn't see much twisting with the QS, but you may encounter it with the FS.  Follow DanG's advice and weight your stacks.
Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
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and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

WDH

While I was looking at the photo of the stack of the whack, that second board from the top started to slowly twist and warp a little  :D.

Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

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