zogger
Tree Freak
I burn sycamore when I get it. Its OK. I dont see it any worse splitting than some other common wood around here. No, not the easiest, but loads easier than gnarly old huge sweetgums.
Sycamore for firewood?
- Thread starter TeeMan
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I burn sycamore when I get it. Its OK. I dont see it any worse splitting than some other common wood around here. No, not the easiest, but loads easier than gnarly old huge sweetgums.
One of my all-time favourites is here:
Sycamore Gracie | Bepoke Chair | David Savage Fine Furniture Maker
My same neighbor had two more Sycamore trees cut down Sunday and they cut down these two trees to rounds that will be ready to split. I estimate 1.5 cords maybe two based on what i see stacked on the ground. It's free and close, so I am going to move them on Wednesday and attempt to split them with a 27 ton splitter soon. Is it better to wait or split this type of wood right away or let the rounds sit for a while (I've read mixed reviews on both)?
robespierre
ArboristSite Operative
Local tree service stopped by with 3 cords of Sycamore already in rounds.I heard so many bad things about splitting Sycamore but splitting this wet was the easiest wood I have ever done. Glad I took it off their hands. I used a Fiskars x27. Hopefully the wood is seasoned after a hot summer.
zogger
Tree Freak
It should be. And you lucked out, usually it is twisty. 3 cord dropped off free qualifies as a YOU SUCK!!
I bet there were thousands of guys last winter staring at empty wood piles and having to go to the propane/fuel oil man for heat who woulda *loved* a pile of sycamore/box elder/tulip poplar/ pine, anything. You stop being a wood snob when you ain't got anything!
This is why I do "if I touch it, I stack it"! I was stacking pine and one to two inch oak rounds and crookedy uglies and shorts and longs tonight.
This is the only wood I will refuse to burn. If you dropped off a load of split/seasoned Sycamore at my house, I'd beat you over the head. Maybe I'm a snob, but this stuff burns so quickly, gives off very little heat, and a 5 pound chunk of wood leaves about 8 pounds of ashes. You have to clean out the stove every 3 minutes. No thanks!
taskswap
ArboristSite Operative
If you have to split it by hand, I found that quartering anything over 16" or so rounds helps. With its grain it splits out a lot. I read a lot above about "flick" this and "wrist flick" that, but my experience was this just shattered it. The middle split in this photo (note: not my image) looks a little like what I had, although my grain was much more "broken" than split, with lots of horizontal splinters sticking out:
http://l.b5z.net/i/u/6049036/i/Types_of_Wood.jpg
I don't know where the thing about being difficult to split on hydro came from. I just have a lowly Huskee 22T and it goes through it with no trouble. This and elm are the two woods I prefer to split on hydro.
Keep it away from moisture. This thing is basically a really big weed, and it rots fast. But I found it also dries fast, too (also like a grass or weed?) I ran out of wood last winter with that darned "polar vortex". I tried a few splits of some ash logs I had been saving for an emergency and wasn't happy with it - I know some people post about being able to cut and burn ash the same day, but that wasn't my experience. Anyway, I also had some sycamore rounds that I had cut just before winter and hadn't had time to split. They were as wet as the day the tree fell when I cut them, but despite that, through one of the coldest winters we've had in a while, they still got dry enough to burn really well. The only one I measured was 26%MC, which is more than I'd want... but as I said, it was an emergency.
I'll burn free wood any day, any time, anywhere. You drop it off, I say "thank you". I don't care if it has nails and dog chains in it, I don't turn away a freebie just because it's not the kind I like. I'm an equal-opportunity wood burner.
http://l.b5z.net/i/u/6049036/i/Types_of_Wood.jpg
I don't know where the thing about being difficult to split on hydro came from. I just have a lowly Huskee 22T and it goes through it with no trouble. This and elm are the two woods I prefer to split on hydro.
Keep it away from moisture. This thing is basically a really big weed, and it rots fast. But I found it also dries fast, too (also like a grass or weed?) I ran out of wood last winter with that darned "polar vortex". I tried a few splits of some ash logs I had been saving for an emergency and wasn't happy with it - I know some people post about being able to cut and burn ash the same day, but that wasn't my experience. Anyway, I also had some sycamore rounds that I had cut just before winter and hadn't had time to split. They were as wet as the day the tree fell when I cut them, but despite that, through one of the coldest winters we've had in a while, they still got dry enough to burn really well. The only one I measured was 26%MC, which is more than I'd want... but as I said, it was an emergency.
I'll burn free wood any day, any time, anywhere. You drop it off, I say "thank you". I don't care if it has nails and dog chains in it, I don't turn away a freebie just because it's not the kind I like. I'm an equal-opportunity wood burner.
Red Elm
Ridgerunner
Most sycamore logged in the mid Mississippi and Illinois river basins goes for blocking. I would imagine transport blocking for machinery leaving the John Deere factory in Moline or Cat factory in Peoria.
audible fart
MS390 OAK CZAR
Sycamore for firewood? No thank you.
Sawyer Rob
Addicted to ArboristSite
Quartersawn sycamore lumber it absolutely beautiful!
Sycamore is also used a lot of drawer sides...
SR
Sycamore is also used a lot of drawer sides...
SR
Wasn't my experience, either. I was banking on 3-month seasoned ash to get us through the winter. Didn't really work out that way.
woodchuck357
Addicted to ArboristSite
I think it's time for a loosely controlled experiment. Going to take several different varieties of wood, measure both volume and weight plus moisture content, burn them in the same stove under the same conditions and record the weight and volume of the ashes left. I think all wood will leave about the same percent of ashes to wood, by weight and by volume once the ashes are scooped out and dumped.
By the way, the temp has dropped a bunch tonight and I just built a fire by taking two splits of sycamore, laying them in the stove with a few crumpled newspaper sheets between them, putting another split catty corner on top of them, and after putting a single match to the paper I now have a good warm fire started with no kindling, just the sycamore splits. Not bad for wood that only burns slightly better than ice!
By the way, the temp has dropped a bunch tonight and I just built a fire by taking two splits of sycamore, laying them in the stove with a few crumpled newspaper sheets between them, putting another split catty corner on top of them, and after putting a single match to the paper I now have a good warm fire started with no kindling, just the sycamore splits. Not bad for wood that only burns slightly better than ice!
robespierre
ArboristSite Operative
Split the sycamore last week and we had 90-100 degree weather here and the splits are noticeably lighter now. I plan on selling this wood as mix with oak and walnut and pine etc. It is a hardwood but not like Oak.I will take any type of wood as long as it is cut properly to 16-18 "s. Love the workout with the x27 and sledge and wedges. If I saw my own wood I usually do oak since I have a friend with 80 acres of Oak.i won't waste dulling a chain on softwoods since I get all I can split from an arborist friend already bucked.
Ever notice how many guys seldom complain about sycamore when they only have pine, cedar, or fir to burn instead?
My accountant has the biggest sycamore tree I have ever seen that is standing today right next to the building that houses his office. None of the worst storms in the past 50 years has ever blown it down. I estimate a trunk 4' across at the base measured 4' up and at least a 100' crown. I will take Pics and post if anyone is interested in seeing this majestic specimen.
My accountant has the biggest sycamore tree I have ever seen that is standing today right next to the building that houses his office. None of the worst storms in the past 50 years has ever blown it down. I estimate a trunk 4' across at the base measured 4' up and at least a 100' crown. I will take Pics and post if anyone is interested in seeing this majestic specimen.
audible fart
MS390 OAK CZAR
Some of the biggest sycamores i've ever seen grow on the banks of and near the susquehanna river. Sycamore trees are like illegal aliens. They constantly throw litter on the ground and never plan on splitting.
greendohn
firewood hack
I'll burn sycamore.
So will I and nearly everyone that I know around here. Sure, it's not as good as red elm, ash, oak, hickory, locust, or even mulberry, but I figure not much else is either.
