Sycamore

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
My woods is full of sycamore and I have been thinning them so other species can get some light. I burn it only because it goes against my grain to cut live trees down and let them rot. Sycamore has few, make that no good qualities for firewood. Heavier than steel wet and feather light when dry, drys slow (will NOT burn wet) splits hard, burns quick and seems like every stick of it produces 2 buckets of ashes, that's about it I think,,, oh, the smoke stinks bad too. I would not travel to get it, I would not even cut one down just for firewood but if that'sall ya got and it is free it beat freezing or paying Ma Gasco.
 
My woods is full of sycamore and I have been thinning them so other species can get some light. I burn it only because it goes against my grain to cut live trees down and let them rot. Sycamore has few, make that no good qualities for firewood. Heavier than steel wet and feather light when dry, drys slow (will NOT burn wet) splits hard, burns quick and seems like every stick of it produces 2 buckets of ashes, that's about it I think,,, oh, the smoke stinks bad too. I would not travel to get it, I would not even cut one down just for firewood but if that'sall ya got and it is free it beat freezing or paying Ma Gasco.

:agree2:That pretty much says it all!
 
I have a huge sycamore by my garden. Biggest one I have ever seen. Last year it just dropped it's leaves and promptly died. It is right beside the power line and will have to come down. Should I just let the power co. take it away? Man, I hate to waste a tree. Is sycamore that bad ? I have a shaver, surely it is worth using....Lanny
 
Free is free, no matter how bad the wood is. Always worth it, IMO. Only exception is when you have better wood that would rot while you burn the junk wood.

Lanny - Let the power company cut it down and keep the burnable pieces, assuming you can handle them. I don't know how many syc's you've seen, but I know I've seen a lot of really big ones that could be tough to handle. If it's that big, it could keep you warm for a couple months.
 
Thanks for the info that is what I thought I am not going to whaste my time with it you are not the first person that told me that
 
I like sycamore for spring and fall or days that I am home all day...It is a pain to split, but my dad has a hydralic splitter so that is not a problem...Never had an issue with taking long time to dry or bad smell from the smoke...I say burn it and let us know your opinoin...
 
I like sycamore for spring and fall or days that I am home all day...It is a pain to split, but my dad has a hydralic splitter so that is not a problem...Never had an issue with taking long time to dry or bad smell from the smoke...I say burn it and let us know your opinoin...

:agree2:

If you have a splitter I'd say go for it. It is heavy when wet, light when dry but I don't think that it's worthless. If I can get better wood I'll get it but I sure won't turn sycamore down unless I'm loaded up on wood.
 
That's what I intend to do, burn it. This tree is at least 36" at the base, a good 20 foot log to the split. Hard to pass up on your own wood. Just curious aboout it's value as firewood. Thanks....By the way, whats killing all these sycamores so fast anyway?....Lanny
 
I have a huge sycamore by my garden. Biggest one I have ever seen. Last year it just dropped it's leaves and promptly died. It is right beside the power line and will have to come down. Should I just let the power co. take it away? Man, I hate to waste a tree. Is sycamore that bad ? I have a shaver, surely it is worth using....Lanny

Was it dead all summer? Sometimes Sycamores catch something that causes them to drop all their leaves in the summer but they come back the following spring. It's happened to mine several times in the last 30 years or so but it always comes back.
 
When I first got on AS this was a question I asked. Long story short the tip I got was split it while its green. I know its heavy but it seemed to split ok. Im burning the last of it this fall. :)
 
Laird, I think it's dead. Dropped a good size limb last week. No leaves at all this season. I have another small one 100 yds away that died last year, same way, went dormant for winter, never came back. whatever this is , it's fast. Killing a lot of sycamores on our farm at least. I know what you are saying though. Tent catepillars completely stripped a peach tree. finally late in the summer I got new growth, thought it was gone too....Lanny
 
Best thing to do with Sycamore is mill it for lumber. It doesn't have strength but for funiture projects it make beautiful wood. Most trees get large and the wood is tame to dry down. You'll get lots od good clear boards. Quarter saw it and the grain will jump out.
 
I cut quite a few by the river,its the only wood I know of around here that will sink when cut. Water runs out of it. I brought my peterson swing mill in and set up over the largest rounds. Easiest wood I ever sawed. Makes great planks,just saw the straight ones.the ones that grew in a bend tend to warp. Quarter sawn,they make pretty good shed or barn flooring. Never seen anyone use them for furniture,but they sure have some pretty grain to them. When I was selling saws,they made great wood for cutting up at shows. A saw goes through them like butter. When split and dried,it makes a fast hot fire,it does not do good wet. I like most would pass on it for burning,but if I had to use it,I would use it in late fall or early spring(mixed with other hardwoods). Saving the better hard woods for the coldest part of winter.
 
I'll admit it....I burn it and like it! But, it must be dried (2) yes that's two years. If you try and burn it before then it sucks....bad. Once dry it will burn hot & does make a lot of ash.

RD
 
....By the way, whats killing all these sycamores so fast anyway?....Lanny

The ones on my place came down with anthracnose one-by one and slowly failed to the point that they needed to be taken down. Anthracnose usually won't kill a sycamore by itself, but stresses the tree and causes the tree to succumb to other things.

http://mdc.mo.gov/forest/health/syc_anth/

Sycamore seems to burn longer than cottonwood - and certainly longer than willow. I burn a lot of those two woods because it's available and free.

xtm
 
Last edited:
Back
Top