Sycamore!

[polexie]

Pruning them all day long is fun as well. Allergic reactions for everybody!

Sneezing, itching, red eyes and so on. Leaves got a small film or something, horrible. If it is possible, i wait for wintertime. Never burnt some. As we speak have some of the stuff in my garden for seasoning.

Was easy to split, felt heavy and rockhard. We will see, otherwise the firepit is its destiny.

Lex

 

[fourfivefour]

I like sycamore. I wouldn't try and hand split it though. Take a look at the Firewood chart it's in the middle as far as BTU's. It's nice clean white wood with a reddish center. It's no cherry burning smell but I don't think it smells bad. I split a very wet green cord of it yesterday (with my splitter). It would laugh at a maul but it's no match for the hydraulics. I know where there's 5+ log cords 20"-30" round on the ground for free, it's just too heavy to pick up. Once I run out of the lighter wood at the site I may try to tackle the sycamore........454

 

[pickwood]

Sycamore makes some beautiful lumber when quartersawn-but you loose alot of wood when it is kiln dried. It has a ton of moisture in it.

 

[woodbooga]

Never burnt any, not too common in my climate. I've heard mixed things about this species - much of which has been stated here.

In southern New England, sycamore trees are called buttonwoods. The Haverhill (pronounced HAIVE-rill), Mass. historical society is hq'd in an old mansion surrounded by the trees. Fittingly, the mansion is known as the Buttonwoods. (Today's random trivia by woodbooga)

 

[danrclem]

I agree with 454. I've burned quite a bit of it in my time. It's really not that bad. The only real bad thing about the tree is if you have to split it by hand. I don't want to split any by hand but I have in my younger days.

I'd rather have oak but beggars can't be choosers. If I have a need for wood I'll take the much hated sycamore in a heartbeat. I have a hydraulic splitter though.

 

[Lloyd H]

splitting sycamore

Don't split it across the middle, just slab it around till its small enough to burn the center round. (In 14 years of formal schooling English is the only class I flunked)

 

[demographic]

Err, I must be pretty lucky with the sycamore I have split as I never found it to be that much of a problem, just cut it to lengths of 10 inches or so and use a maul.
Sometimes the grains a bit wild and it can be a bit awkward but I think its pretty easy to split whilst green, can't say I have ever tried to split it when its dry as yet though.

Aparently turners quite like it as it turns easilly, and I have seen someone turning it on a lathe but not tried it yet, it takes a wood dye well.

 

[BlackCatBone]

Don't split it across the middle, just slab it around till its small enough to burn the center round. (In 14 years of formal schooling English is the only class I flunked)

This is a good tip. Sycamore splits very very easily between the rings, but will not split cleanly perpendicular to the rings. Also, if possible split it when its nice and cold out. It will come apart a lot easier when frozen.

 

[sawinredneck]

I wont mess with it by hand! This is all done with the "monster splitter". 18-22" lengths, and as I said, 30-34" rounds.

 

[Basso]

Hello,
I agree, it really has a strange stink when you burn it !!!!!!



Basso

 

[windthrown]

The ex dragged home a cord of that stuff 2 years ago from a street tree city pruning job. We burned it, but it stinks, it leaves a lot of ashes, and as said, it is really hard to split. It is my second least favorite firewood, only after cottonwood.

I also had a huge sycamore tree at my house in California. In one of my horticulture classes, the prof called them sick-a-mores. Meaning that they tend to have a lot of diseases, especially in California, where they tend to constanly have powdery mildew. Mine had it all the time. They also shed their bark all the time, into these puzzle-like peices, so they are messy. They also tend to be pollarded, and used as street trees. I dearly hate pollarded trees. I also hate working on them after they have been pollarded and they have sent out a million and one new branches.