sycamore education.

[pws]

you lads must have a different variety to us in the uk as sycamore splits dead easy as you say it's pretty light when seasoned, i also find the bark can go white if it doesn't get enough air.
on the whole a medium grade firewood

 

[PA. Woodsman]

you lads must have a different variety to us in the uk as sycamore splits dead easy as you say it's pretty light when seasoned, i also find the bark can go white if it doesn't get enough air.

There is Sycamore and London Planetree-perhaps that's what you've got over there. I don't know what the differences between the two are.

 

[Woodcutteranon]

Yes, it is a bear to split. I like Sycamore, though many turn their noses up at it. It dries fast, is heavy as hell when wet but very light when dry, burns kinda fast but with a nice flame, throws okay heat. Kinda smells like "wet grass" when splitting. Take it, use a splitter, let it dry and use it.

:agree2:

 

[danrclem]

I'll take sycamore if I don't think it'll go bad before I can use it. I wouldn't take it if I didn't have a splitter unless I needed wood awful bad. It is real stringy and makes hand splitting a pain. I think it burns ok but is not good for a real long burn.

If I didn't have a splitter I'd have to cut it into fairly short lengths and see if it would split easier. If it was still hard to split I'd cut it in about 6" to 8" lengths and only split it enough so that it would fit into my stove door.

Gotta have wood!

 

[ropensaddle]

Cutting and messing with sick some more is a choking gagging and wheezing experience. I don't mess with it unless getting big buck for toxic waste disposal. Meaning I charge extra to haul,climb,remove it because I will be choked up after screwing with it. It has nothing to do with allergies everyone will choke chipping thew crap and even cutting the wood. A quality respirator is a great thing with this stuff.

 

[grapplermi]

yes, it is definitely different types of wood we're talking about. The sycamore over here in the UK is exactly like what we would call soft maple in the US. Not the best of firewoods, but dead easy to deal with, and it pitches good heat. It is the opposite of stringy. You might struggle to get it seasoned over here in one year, as the sun is rare and drying temps are low. I do find it to season better than anything else in the UK, even ash.

Hope this helps,
Matt

 

[Junkrunner]

Cutting and messing with sick some more is a choking gagging and wheezing experience. I don't mess with it unless getting big buck for toxic waste disposal. Meaning I charge extra to haul,climb,remove it because I will be choked up after screwing with it. It has nothing to do with allergies everyone will choke chipping thew crap and even cutting the wood. A quality respirator is a great thing with this stuff.

You ain't kiddin! It's hard on the lungs.

 

[pws]

You ain't kiddin! It's hard on the lungs.

sounds similar to london plane thats evil stuff
as to seasoning,as the stoves in the uk are generally smaller i split to 10" approx and can get the moisture down to below 20% in 4 month (thats our sycamore)

 

[pws]

just looked up american sycamore and its variety of platanus which is the plane family
where as our sycamore is acer pseudoplatanus and similar to maples

 

[sdt7618]

sounds similar to london plane thats evil stuff
as to seasoning,as the stoves in the uk are generally smaller i split to 10" approx and can get the moisture down to below 20% in 4 month (thats our sycamore)

Max size I can fit is 12" so 11-10 is max I cut.

haven't swung at the wood yet, still hauling it in, but next weekend will see me have a go at it.

way I look at it, it's free. if it take a gallon of petrol noodling it, then that £5 as apposed to 300-400 in oil for heating.

thanks for the info on US/UK diffrence's make me feel abit better about what I got.

 

[ropensaddle]

Max size I can fit is 12" so 11-10 is max I cut.

haven't swung at the wood yet, still hauling it in, but next weekend will see me have a go at it.

way I look at it, it's free. if it take a gallon of petrol noodling it, then that £5 as apposed to 300-400 in oil for heating.

thanks for the info on US/UK diffrence's make me feel abit better about what I got.

ItLL burn just burn on the warmer days in the day time or mix a bit is what I do with marginal wood!

 

[komatsuvarna]

Cutting and messing with sick some more is a choking gagging and wheezing experience. I don't mess with it unless getting big buck for toxic waste disposal. Meaning I charge extra to haul,climb,remove it because I will be choked up after screwing with it. It has nothing to do with allergies everyone will choke chipping thew crap and even cutting the wood. A quality respirator is a great thing with this stuff.

Why is that rope? Ive never had any allergies, but i can cut some ash and be hackin and gaging in 20 minutes. Never cut any sycamore though.

 

[ropensaddle]

Why is that rope? Ive never had any allergies, but i can cut some ash and be hackin and gaging in 20 minutes. Never cut any sycamore though.

I really don't know I have no known allergy's either but everyone has issues with some of these species. I have yet to see anyone chipping sycamore not sneeze,gag,cough and sometime puke. I have a theory its in the fibers bamboo also seems to give these symptoms when chipped.

 

[zogger]

did six trees last year

Guys, given that someone here has done just about everything at some point, educate me.

I have about 2 years worth of free wood coming my way, mostly sycamore, now from what I have read, its a ##### to split. so here comes the questions

1. how hard is hard? 8lb maul or noodles

2. whats it like to burn. trees cut down today, bucked , will not be burned till nov/dec next winter... ok/not ok?

3. anything odd/special about it.

4. it's free so not saying no, no matter what you say!



Ta in advance

steven

Not the largest sycamores at all, but I split all of it with my supersplitter, burned some last night in fact. I will classify it in the "medium" range as in hard to split, with pine and white ash being the easiest. It isn't even in the same difficulty ballpark as sweet gum or huge old swamp oaks, etc. I'll take sycamore all the time, no probs splitting. Perhaps whopper rounds are hard, I have no experience there, haven't had any big blowdows here yet with that species. Most of my wood is big blowdowns, or big branches on the fenceline, or small stuff that doesn't need splitting from the fenceline areas. The sycamore from those trees I did..hmm..seems the largest rounds I was getting six to eight chunks from.

My philosophy is, cut more, split less, I use a LOT of smaller chunks that don't need splitting. I burn stuff I just know most people discard. If I got to touch a tree, I milk it out, thumb size or larger gets cut. Another advantage or two of cutting small is cheaper/lighter saws used or needed (plus you get to cut more, fun is fun....), less weight in the round when moving about, a bonus for old beat on "rode hard and put away wet" backs (that would be me), and less wear and tear on the equipment in general.

With that said, free wood delivered! Can't beat it with two sticks. Enjoy the heat!

 

[pws]

I really don't know I have no known allergy's either but everyone has issues with some of these species. I have yet to see anyone chipping sycamore not sneeze,gag,cough and sometime puke. I have a theory its in the fibers bamboo also seems to give these symptoms when chipped.

i was told london plane has microscopic hairs on the leaves with barbs on them when you work on them you end up breathing them in,could be wrong on this
best time to work on them is in winter(especially if chipping them) or do it in the rain to keep the dust down
i did one last year and felt naff for 3 days after
they also plant them in cities because of its high resistance to airbourne polloution so maybe that could be something to do with it

 

[pws]

Max size I can fit is 12" so 11-10 is max I cut.

haven't swung at the wood yet, still hauling it in, but next weekend will see me have a go at it.

way I look at it, it's free. if it take a gallon of petrol noodling it, then that £5 as apposed to 300-400 in oil for heating.

thanks for the info on US/UK diffrence's make me feel abit better about what I got.

what i'm starting to do with it is ring it them leave it for 3-4 months so it dries out a fair bit then split and put in the log stores
this is purely for cosmetic reasons as most of the bark falls of when i split it, as some times the bark can go white and look mouldy

 

[sdt7618]

well swung the maul at the first piece today and it just popped apart. Guess thats the UK/US diffrence here. Anway, have some larger rounds coming my way will see if they are the same. ( hope they are cause splitting is far easier than noodling).... anyone wanna come stack for me cause that is the PITA