Sycamore Uses?

[Urban X]

Hi, I have a couple of Sycamores at the end of the garden which are gonna have to come down very soon so I'm going to have an abundance of various length & diam branches as well as the trunks.

I'd rather not just burn them, it's such a waste, so I need ideas on what I can do with the wood?

I've seen that they can be carved into spoons.... That's a lot of spoons and I'd be dead long before I ever got em carved. I've also read that Sycamore can be used to make a fire bow/drill set, that's cool too, but what else is it any good for?

Thanks in advance.

Edit: If it can be combined with using up flints that'd be awesome I have about 3 tons of the wotsits in the garden aswell.


Si

 

[John Fenna]

Sycamore is a pretty decent wood for carving anything - not just spoons
It makes a fair firewood but not the greatest....

 

[Norton]

Whistles! Although you would probably make a fair few with a whole tree.

 

[Toddy]

It's one of the finest timbers for kitchenware
Breadboards, cutting boards, serving plates, salad bowls, rolling pins, dough troughs......it's just excellent
It's light coloured, it's stable, relatively knot free, fine grained (doesn't so easily trap food particles) and it does not taint food.
I have worked with Victorian bread troughs, over a hundred years old, made from it, and they were /are superb

Too good to burn

You can tap them too, like the birches, and the wee pea at the end of the winged seed is edible and tasty.

Are you sure they need to be taken down ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Peter_t]

i would say its a good firewood, it burns well, splits easily and seasons quickly. iv had good success using it for bowdrills

pete

 

[santaman2000]

How big are they? A 30 foot tree or taller should have enough lumber to make some decent furniture. Chairs, desks, etc. Or alternatively, it makes even better kitchen cabinetry.

A fully grown Sycamore (90-130 feet) would have even more lumber.

 

[Urban X]

Wow, that was quick.

Many thanks all for the suggestions, kitchen utensils, awesome news. I didn't realise they could be tapped or the seeds eaten either thanks Toddy.

I can maybe leave one up but one is blocking so much light from the garden I can only really grow my veggies in half of it, as it stands it's eating fresh veg or looking at a tree smothered in ivy, the veg are gonna have to win as money's more than tight

I think maybe a wood lathe and a rolling pin production line, with some carved salad bowls and spoons, chopping boards, a nice fire starting kit or 20 and some wood for the barbie, wow all before I got to drink to cuppa I just made, amazing!

Thankyou.


Si

 

[Urban X]

@ santaman2000

Probably about 30ft but the trunks are, well there's lots of trunks, not just one or two big ones, these were never planted they've blown there and just rooted there a quite a few along the backs of our gardens and we have to dig out the lil shoots that inevitably sprout out of the gardens too, they're a pain really, ok for the pigeons and parrots to sit in but apart from that they just black out the sun


Si

 

[Toddy]

You could coppice them and have a supply of poles from them ?

Don't know if they make good charcoal or not

We have a huge one growing not twenty metres from the gable wall, at the side of the burn path. If I don't weed out, or eat, the seeds, I wouldn't get out the door in a year or two Impressive how much growth the seedlings can put on in a year

At least the timber's useful

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Urban X]

Oh yeah they sure do grow.

Yes indeed I now have some good ideas of what to do with all the timber, all I have to do now is get up them and start bringing them down piece by piece, I can't drop them they'd total the garden it's only weeny lol.


Si

 

[santaman2000]

@ santaman2000

Probably about 30ft but the trunks are, well there's lots of trunks, not just one or two big ones, these were never planted they've blown there and just rooted there a quite a few along the backs of our gardens and we have to dig out the lil shoots that inevitably sprout out of the gardens too, they're a pain really, ok for the pigeons and parrots to sit in but apart from that they just black out the sun

Si

Yeah they do tend to block the sun. That's why they're popular as shade treens on larger grounds. Between out yard and my Great Aunt's yard across the road we had 3 or 4 of them (also not deliberately planted) when I was growing up. As well as a couple a couple of Pecan trees and several various fruit trees (pears, apricots, and apples) that had been deliberately planted. The fallenleaves can also be a pain I suppose but I think I prefer raking them over the small ones from Live Oak or Red Oak.

Maybe you have enough lumber for small items such as cutting boards (butcher's block style)?

 

[santaman2000]

You could coppice them and have a supply of poles from them ?

Don't know if they make good charcoal or not

We have a huge one growing not twenty metres from the gable wall, at the side of the burn path. If I don't weed out, or eat, the seeds, I wouldn't get out the door in a year or two Impressive how much growth the seedlings can put on in a year ...

According to one source I found, up to 70 feet in 17 years!! I believe that was for American Sycamore but frankly I cain't see much difference between it and London Sycamore.

 

[Urban X]

Maybe you have enough lumber for small items such as cutting boards (butcher's block style)?

Yep, there's not that much large wood on them, I guess the thickest parts would be 10-12" diam. maybe a bit more at the base near ground level but I probably won't take them all the way down. All I have is my trusty WWII 'hand' chainsaw so it'll take a while, although that beast sure does rip through wood, live or dead.

Just had a thought... Anyone up for buying 500,000 beautiful sycamore chopsticks in about 4 years time??? Pretty please???


Si

 

[lannyman8]

what about this flint Si?????

bow drill sets from Sycamore are my favourit, i think they work best, for me anyway.....

how about planking it up and making a boat...

 

[santaman2000]

Yep, there's not that much large wood on them, I guess the thickest parts would be 10-12" diam...

Sounds perfect for the butcher's block.

 

[Urban X]

Please don't talk to me about flint......

The walls of the back gardens all used to be made of flint, one side still is but the other side was knocked down and replaced with fence panels, don't ask me why I'd have kept the flint but it was before I moved here.

Now I have what my brother (previous tenant) laughingly called flint rockeries, there are 1000s of them, every hole I dig in the garden is full of flint, once I get past the flints I hit chalk.

Sycamore and flint arrows is a possibility but where do you off load 1000s of em?


Si

 

[lannyman8]

Please don't talk to me about flint......

The walls of the back gardens all used to be made of flint, one side still is but the other side was knocked down and replaced with fence panels, don't ask me why I'd have kept the flint but it was before I moved here.

Now I have what my brother (previous tenant) laughingly called flint rockeries, there are 1000s of them, every hole I dig in the garden is full of flint, once I get past the flints I hit chalk.

Sycamore and flint arrows is a possibility but where do you off load 1000s of em?


Si

well your a lucky so en so, because id go mad for any good bits, i have to drive to Norfolk to get some which is about 4 hours from me, and then i need to dig up mum and dads garden...

 

[Urban X]

Ok I have to ask as 'any' piece of flint is a pain in the proverbial to me...

What makes a 'good' flint?

I got round ones, flat ones, weird shaped ones, broken ones....?


Si

 

[Adze]

If they're that tall it might be a bit late to coppice them, although you might get away with a cheeky pollard if it's done expertly. If you just lop the top off you're as like to kill them as not. One advantage of a pollard over a coppice is you'll have 8 to 10 feet of the original trunk left where a coppice will be wont to spread a little further at the base - which is a pain if space is at a premium.

 

[The Ratcatcher]

Hello, Si

The way to tell if a flint nodule is a good one or not is to tap it with a hammer or something. If it produces a clear "ring" it's a good one, but if it has a dull sound the nodule is flawed and is unlikely to be workable.

Alan