Would you guys even split sycamore?

[kentuckydiesel]

I've got a bunch of sycamore on my property, and ended up cutting one into logs last weekend because it was in the way of me getting to some oak. I know sycamore to be fast-growing and soft. Is it even worth splitting, or would I be loading the stove so often that I would wish I hadn't wasted the time.

Thanks,
Phillip

 

[branchbuzzer]

It's not as soft as poplar and the like, it's a medium density wood such as elm, soft maple, walnut.. It is one of the harder species to split, however. If you have the time to season it out it makes decent firewood.

 

[carlseawolf]

I would split it , stack it and burn it.

After all something is better than nothing.

 

[sunfish]

My SS splits it fine.

I've burned a bunch of Sycamore, dries quick, burns hot, but I prefer Oak.

 

[nixon]

It'll probably put up a fight when You split it, but it's not bad burning wood . If it' a particularly evil Sycamore to split , you might even get a sense of revenge as well as warmth when You burn it .

 

[branchbuzzer]

If it' a particularly evil Sycamore to split , you might even get a sense of revenge as well as warmth when You burn it .

I can certainly vouch for that...I give it the Vincent Price laugh as it enters the chamber of doom.

 

[rmount]

I have no experience with Sycamore, but my rule of thumb is if I have to drop a tree it will either be cut and split for firewood or milled for lumber. All wood burns and even the lower density woods can be useful. I'm actually wishing I had some poplar or similar handy right now instead of burning maple with the window open! Its stacked at the back of the shed to burn in the spring, I'm not supposed to need it in the middle of January.

 

[kentuckydiesel]

Thanks for the input! Guess I'll be burning some sycamore soon!

-Phillip

 

[Hedgerow]

My SS splits it fine.

I've burned a bunch of Sycamore, dries quick, burns hot, but I prefer Oak.

It reminds me of fish... Smells like the lake when ya split it...

 

[zogger]

Thanks for the input! Guess I'll be burning some sycamore soon!

-Phillip

burns fine for me here, and I split all of mine with a fiskars. Took some extra whacks, but it wasn't *that* hard.

Note: haven't done any monster sycamores, just small to middlin'...a lot of it still needed splittin though.

Learn to split the nasty stuff with a fiskars, then the easy stuff is like getting wood pre split! It just falls apart with little effort.

I'm with that same camp above, if I have to cut it, I am using it, firewood or something else. I use some small pines for the base on my stacks for instance, to get the other wood off the ground. I'll use real crooked branches for berming if I have to cut on hillsides. Just drag them to the appropriate closest area that looks to need some help with erosion.

But most of what I cut...in the stacks. I also cut a lot of small rounds, which lets me skip splitting on larger rounds, I like big fat chunkers that can go all night or all day and just throw a little heat. We have tons of heating days here that those pieces actually work out the best. Same with the lesser species, absolutely no need to burn oak when poplar will do just fine during half the heating season.

 

[JeffHK454]

It can be a ##### to split and is heavy as heck when green but I'd take it over Willow or Cotton Wood any day.

 

[Sagetown]

I have it on my place, but never considered cutting it.

 

[sunfish]

It reminds me of fish... Smells like the lake when ya split it...

Is a Good smell, better than red oak!

 

[Hedgerow]

Is a Good smell, better than red oak!

Now that stuff smells like what runs out the bottom of a corn silage pile...:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[k5alive]

id imagine it being a SOB to split by ax but it is semi-dense and hot burning when proply dried. i'd try it if you had a splitter or a huge firepit and a bobcat.

 

[DarkTimber]

Helped a friend with some of it 2 years ago it was all they had to burn it kept their house nice and warm. The small peices up to about 10-12" in diamater were easy enough to split with a maul. The larger peices up to about 32" in diamater gave even the splitter a fit all of the larger peices seemed to have a twist to the grain. It did however split easy enough when noodeled into quartes with the chainsaw.

 

[Dalmatian90]

More BTUs then a snowball.

One of the toughest ones I've split by hand.

For better or worse, the only two on my property died the same year, and only one was easily accessible for firewood.

 

[WadePatton]

this

I have no experience with Sycamore, but my rule of thumb is if I have to drop a tree it will either be cut and split for firewood or milled for lumber. All wood burns and even the lower density woods can be useful. I'm actually wishing I had some poplar or similar handy right now instead of burning maple with the window open! Its stacked at the back of the shed to burn in the spring, I'm not supposed to need it in the middle of January.

is what it took me 10 years of heating with wood to appreciate. i used to be a firewood snob--only burning black locust and other high-density woods.

NOW, with a few years of learnin', I try to keep a good mix of woods ready for the stove. The less dense woods start/restart so much easier than the heavy stuff. I recently went to the woods SPECIFICALLY for dead Poplar-which is about twice as heavy as cork. BUT it's dandy for getting the fire going hot and fast w/o burning up all my red cedar kindling.

so, i burn it all now. I'll work harder for high btu species, but I'll take _all_ the easy pickin's. slim, yo.

 

[firewood guy]

Sycamor smell?

I guess the syc on the west (left) coast is PC cause it really doesn't have any odor either processing or burning. It is a low to medium BTU hardwood here that is better than pine or poplar for firewood use. The stinky stuff here is cottonwood (poplar species) or Avocado. Local conditions seem to have a lot of variables..

 

[unclemoustache]

I guess I'm the odd man out here - I wouldn't burn it at all. It's hard to split, low BTU's, and worst of all it leaves more ash than there was wood to begin with! But then, I've got lots of access to all kinds of good wood, (of which I didn't gather quite enough this year) but I'd rather crank up the gas boiler than burn sycamore.