# Sycamore for firewood?



## TeeMan (Feb 21, 2013)

Guys,

My neighbor is having a 65' Sycamore tree that is 2' wide at the base taken down in a couple of weeks. Perfectly healthy tree, so I hate to see it go, but it is close to his house, has already lifted his driveway, and he is concerned about further intrusion into pipes, the house slab, etc. I have burned some of the larger limbs from this Sycamore that I was able to just chop into firewood length and they do burn well once seasoned. However, I've never tried splitting this type of wood. According to a firewood chart I reference (Firewood Ratings) it says that this is not easy to split.

Also, how much firewood would you think this tree would be (de-limbed)?

He has worked a deal out with the Arborist to down, remove, and grind the stump, so I don't think there is much leeway to have him do any additional things, but surely a few sections could be spared aside for me to have as firewood.

Thoughts?


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## Guswhit (Feb 21, 2013)

I got one a couple years ago that someone in town took down, dimensions sound similar but I didn't get all the limbs. Everyone knows my splitter is large so I got the trunk and then a few of the lower branches. I'd say I got 28' of trunk and don't remember how many of the lower branch material that didn't need to be split to handle. We bucked it up to 18"-20" lengths and just split into 1/4's to be able to load and remove, I think 3 of us about 3 1/2 hrs about 4 1/2 heaping truck loads. If it wasn't free for the taking, easy to get to and close to home, I wouldn't knock myself out. These 2 guys wanted it out of their yard, they loaded their trucks and unloaded it at my house while I split and cut it. My opinion only.


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## TeeMan (Feb 21, 2013)

How did it split? 

How did it burn?

The limbs I burned from this tree that we had taken down last year burned well, but again those required no splitting.


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## woodchuck357 (Feb 21, 2013)

*Burns good when dry but doesn't coal well*

I find it is easy to split with ax or maul, but have watched others struggle to split it with hydro.

Slab off tangential pieces, not straight across the rounds, with a wrist flick and you will be happy with how it splits.

Years ago I was splitting up a 4 foot dia. sycamore that I had taken down in a camp ground, using the wrist flick and a young man was watching with his girl friend, making comments about how inept the old man was. He thought the wrist flick was a miss strike. I offered to let him show me 'how it's done' and handed him the maul. He pounded the round like crazy to no effect, I picked up my ax and began flicking slabs off another round. After a few min he gave up, threw down the maul, and ordered the girl to leave with him. She walked over to me, leaned her head on my shoulder, and said "I think I'll hang with the old man and see if there are things other than splitting wood that he is better at."

After he stalked off she whispered, "Just kidding, I love the big lug but he needed to be knocked off balance, for being such an arse hole". 

I split up the rest of the tree and the owner sold it for $3 an arm load. It makes good campfire wood without seasoning.


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## walkerdogman85 (Feb 21, 2013)

I burn quite a bit of it I believe it is hard to split by hand last time I tried it water was flying out of it when I hit it. But free wood is good wood! I like it but others don't, I do know that the ash is light and by that I mean when I open the door on my outdoor wood burner and take coals or blower is on the ash flys all over and gets on me and everything else but I like it!


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## 2treeornot2tree (Feb 21, 2013)

Its hard to split because it us spiral grained. Split it when its frozen helps


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## Guswhit (Feb 21, 2013)

TeeMan said:


> How did it split?
> 
> How did it burn?
> 
> The limbs I burned from this tree that we had taken down last year burned well, but again those required no splitting.



Well, as I said I have an overkill splitter so I didn't have problems.
I didn't get the 12-14 hr burn in my OWB that I like and am used to, but it was free, or 3 1/2 hrs of labor and a little fuel. I only let it season about 8 months also, might not be a perfect representation of cured wood.


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## spidermonkey17 (Feb 21, 2013)

TeeMan said:


> He has worked a deal out with the Arborist to down, remove, and grind the stump, so I don't think there is much leeway to have him do any additional things, but surely a few sections could be spared aside for me to have as firewood.
> 
> Thoughts?



If you want the wood and your neighbor is a friend just ask him to tell the arborist or contact the salesman that you want the wood. It is technically still your neighbors tree and he can do whatever he wants with it( give it all to you/some of it or just some of the wood) word of advice don't get in there way and have this worked out before hand and just letting you know a lot of that limb wood is going to go through a chipper because its just easy to do that and keep the job moving. 

I'm my opinion I would not mess with the stuff I would rather trash it but free wood is free wood.


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## Wood Doctor (Feb 21, 2013)

*Sycamore amazes me*

Hard to split. Finding straight logs that split easily will not be easy. Make sure you use a power splitter to process it.

Sycamore burns hot with no sparks, similar to elm. Dries as quickly as elm and is about the same in density. Like elm, sycamore trees get to be enormous, but their huge leaves are somewhat of a pest. At peak height, they rival the pin oak but grow even faster.

The American plain tree. There is one growing next to my accountant's office building. It has to be well over 4' in diameter at the trunk and nearly 100 feet tall. It's at least three times the mass of the tree that you mention here--maybe five times. The trunk of the tree that you describe is about equal in diameter to this tree's first branch up from the ground.


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## old_soul (Feb 21, 2013)

Heavy when green, light when seasoned. Like others said it is hard to split. If you keep your stacks covered it will keep awhile, but keep in contact with moisture it will get punky quick.

There was just a logging company last week around here,pulling sycamore out of a river bottom for saw logs. I have no idea what they make with the lumber? never seen it cut that way before


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## woodchuck357 (Feb 21, 2013)

*People keep saying it's hard to split*

That just proves they don't know HOW to manage it. Just walk around the rounds knocking slabs off. I have even made an almost complete circle of the round leaving the slabs hooked together to make a 24" tall temporary fire pit of the outside six inches. The larger the round the easier they are to split. Not quite as easy to split as hackberry but almost. A vertical hydro splitter or one that flops over on it's side can take splits off the sides but a maul is faster and easi:msp_thumbup:er.

Open mind, closed pocketbook.


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## MarylandGuy (Feb 21, 2013)

I got three cord out of a Sycamore tree that was dropped off at my house by a tree service a few years ago. It was tough to split, but my gas splitter did fine. 

It sparked like crazy, even after seasoning for two years covered. I can't remember a wood that has sparked more.

Lastly, it was the worst smelling wood I have ever worked on. It was very wet inside and the smell was awful. I was so glad to finish those rounds.

It burned just fine after seasoning.


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## woodchuck357 (Feb 22, 2013)

*Must have been diseased, rotten*



MarylandGuy said:


> I got three cord out of a Sycamore tree that was dropped off at my house by a tree service a few years ago. It was tough to split, but my gas splitter did fine.
> 
> It sparked like crazy, even after seasoning for two years covered. I can't remember a wood that has sparked more.
> 
> ...



Healthy sycamore has a clean almost sweet smell. And no sparks.


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## 2treeornot2tree (Feb 22, 2013)

old_soul said:


> Heavy when green, light when seasoned. Like others said it is hard to split. If you keep your stacks covered it will keep awhile, but keep in contact with moisture it will get punky quick.
> 
> There was just a logging company last week around here,pulling sycamore out of a river bottom for saw logs. I have no idea what they make with the lumber? never seen it cut that way before



If you quarter saw it, it makes beautiful wood for high end furniture.

Sycamore is one of the wettest wood I have ever seen. It takes a long time to season. It also has a tendicy to draw termites.


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## AIM (Feb 22, 2013)

Sycamore can be very difficult to split if you want big pieces. If small pieces are good then maybe 357 will come flick a wrist for ya. 

Burns ok. Nothin to brag about just OK.


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## woodchuck357 (Feb 22, 2013)

*Sycamore when green sinks like a rock*

but split it in spring or early summer and it will be ready to burn that winter. One of the wettest woods, true but also one of the fastest drying, once split. Makes nice furniture, was used for gun stocks for military rifles, light and strong makes good boxes and shipping containers. Cutting boards, wooden kitchen utensils, come to think it would be a waste to use it for firewood, use oak, walnut, and birdseye maple instead.:msp_biggrin:


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## TeeMan (Feb 22, 2013)

I really appreciate everyone’s feedback. This is what I was looking for!

It seems the consensus is a “split,” no pun intended that the wood is worth trying to split and use for free firewood vs. just letting it be hauled away and not messing with it. My neighbor is a good friend of mine, but is really specific about his yard, so this is something I would have to get right away (hopefully with the help of my cousin) and split with a vertical splitter vs. it laying down for long. The tree is very straight so the sections will be straight. If it works out and my cousin and I are available that day (I’m not taking off work for it) then we will try to keep some of it. If it does not work out, no big loss.

Thanks again, y’all have been very helpful!


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## TeeMan (Feb 22, 2013)

Well, my neighbor found another Arborist that could do this job tomorrow. The entire tree will be ran through the chipper and hauled away. He is not going to be home during this time nor is my cousin available tomorrow anyway. Guess this tree was just not in the cards for me to use as firewood. As much as I hate to see "free" wood go to waste, that's just the way this tree will be done.


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## 2treeornot2tree (Feb 22, 2013)

I drought the whole tree us gonna go threw the chipper. That would have to be a chipper towed by a tractor trailer. 

I am guessing all the limbs will be going threw the chipper and the trunk will be hauled off.


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## TeeMan (Feb 22, 2013)

2treeornot2tree said:


> I drought the whole tree us gonna go threw the chipper. That would have to be a chipper towed by a tractor trailer.
> 
> I am guessing all the limbs will be going threw the chipper and the trunk will be hauled off.



That's what he was told and passed the word along to me...I agree that has to be one stout chipper if so!


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## zogger (Feb 22, 2013)

TeeMan said:


> That's what he was told and passed the word along to me...I agree that has to be one stout chipper if so!



I burn sycamore when I get it. Its OK. I dont see it any worse splitting than some other common wood around here. No, not the easiest, but loads easier than gnarly old huge sweetgums.


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## KiwiBro (Feb 22, 2013)

2treeornot2tree said:


> it makes beautiful wood for high end furniture.


One of my all-time favourites is here:
Sycamore Gracie | Bepoke Chair | David Savage Fine Furniture Maker


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## TeeMan (Dec 17, 2013)

My same neighbor had two more Sycamore trees cut down Sunday and they cut down these two trees to rounds that will be ready to split. I estimate 1.5 cords maybe two based on what i see stacked on the ground. It's free and close, so I am going to move them on Wednesday and attempt to split them with a 27 ton splitter soon. Is it better to wait or split this type of wood right away or let the rounds sit for a while (I've read mixed reviews on both)?


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## robespierre (May 8, 2014)

Local tree service stopped by with 3 cords of Sycamore already in rounds.I heard so many bad things about splitting Sycamore but splitting this wet was the easiest wood I have ever done. Glad I took it off their hands. I used a Fiskars x27. Hopefully the wood is seasoned after a hot summer.


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## zogger (May 8, 2014)

robespierre said:


> Local tree service stopped by with 3 cords of Sycamore already in rounds.I heard so many bad things about splitting Sycamore but splitting this wet was the easiest wood I have ever done. Glad I took it off their hands. I used a Fiskars x27. Hopefully the wood is seasoned after a hot summer.



It should be. And you lucked out, usually it is twisty. 3 cord dropped off free qualifies as a YOU SUCK!!

I bet there were thousands of guys last winter staring at empty wood piles and having to go to the propane/fuel oil man for heat who woulda *loved* a pile of sycamore/box elder/tulip poplar/ pine, anything. You stop being a wood snob when you ain't got anything!


This is why I do "if I touch it, I stack it"! I was stacking pine and one to two inch oak rounds and crookedy uglies and shorts and longs tonight.


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## unclemoustache (May 8, 2014)

This is the only wood I will refuse to burn. If you dropped off a load of split/seasoned Sycamore at my house, I'd beat you over the head. Maybe I'm a snob, but this stuff burns so quickly, gives off very little heat, and a 5 pound chunk of wood leaves about 8 pounds of ashes. You have to clean out the stove every 3 minutes. No thanks!


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## taskswap (May 13, 2014)

If you have to split it by hand, I found that quartering anything over 16" or so rounds helps. With its grain it splits out a lot. I read a lot above about "flick" this and "wrist flick" that, but my experience was this just shattered it. The middle split in this photo (note: not my image) looks a little like what I had, although my grain was much more "broken" than split, with lots of horizontal splinters sticking out:
http://l.b5z.net/i/u/6049036/i/Types_of_Wood.jpg

I don't know where the thing about being difficult to split on hydro came from. I just have a lowly Huskee 22T and it goes through it with no trouble. This and elm are the two woods I prefer to split on hydro.

Keep it away from moisture. This thing is basically a really big weed, and it rots fast. But I found it also dries fast, too (also like a grass or weed?) I ran out of wood last winter with that darned "polar vortex". I tried a few splits of some ash logs I had been saving for an emergency and wasn't happy with it - I know some people post about being able to cut and burn ash the same day, but that wasn't my experience. Anyway, I also had some sycamore rounds that I had cut just before winter and hadn't had time to split. They were as wet as the day the tree fell when I cut them, but despite that, through one of the coldest winters we've had in a while, they still got dry enough to burn really well. The only one I measured was 26%MC, which is more than I'd want... but as I said, it was an emergency.

I'll burn free wood any day, any time, anywhere. You drop it off, I say "thank you". I don't care if it has nails and dog chains in it, I don't turn away a freebie just because it's not the kind I like. I'm an equal-opportunity wood burner.


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## Red Elm (May 13, 2014)

Most sycamore logged in the mid Mississippi and Illinois river basins goes for blocking. I would imagine transport blocking for machinery leaving the John Deere factory in Moline or Cat factory in Peoria.


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## audible fart (May 13, 2014)

Sycamore for firewood? No thank you.


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## Sawyer Rob (May 13, 2014)

Quartersawn sycamore lumber it absolutely beautiful!

Sycamore is also used a lot of drawer sides...

SR


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## Saddle Mander (May 13, 2014)

taskswap said:


> I know some people post about being able to cut and burn ash the same day, but that wasn't my experience.



Wasn't my experience, either. I was banking on 3-month seasoned ash to get us through the winter. Didn't really work out that way.


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## woodchuck357 (May 14, 2014)

I think it's time for a loosely controlled experiment. Going to take several different varieties of wood, measure both volume and weight plus moisture content, burn them in the same stove under the same conditions and record the weight and volume of the ashes left. I think all wood will leave about the same percent of ashes to wood, by weight and by volume once the ashes are scooped out and dumped.
By the way, the temp has dropped a bunch tonight and I just built a fire by taking two splits of sycamore, laying them in the stove with a few crumpled newspaper sheets between them, putting another split catty corner on top of them, and after putting a single match to the paper I now have a good warm fire started with no kindling, just the sycamore splits. Not bad for wood that only burns slightly better than ice!


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## TeeMan (May 15, 2014)

Revenge on the sycamore

...goes well with Jack and Coke!


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## robespierre (May 16, 2014)

Split the sycamore last week and we had 90-100 degree weather here and the splits are noticeably lighter now. I plan on selling this wood as mix with oak and walnut and pine etc. It is a hardwood but not like Oak.I will take any type of wood as long as it is cut properly to 16-18 "s. Love the workout with the x27 and sledge and wedges. If I saw my own wood I usually do oak since I have a friend with 80 acres of Oak.i won't waste dulling a chain on softwoods since I get all I can split from an arborist friend already bucked.


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## Wood Doctor (May 17, 2014)

Ever notice how many guys seldom complain about sycamore when they only have pine, cedar, or fir to burn instead?

My accountant has the biggest sycamore tree I have ever seen that is standing today right next to the building that houses his office. None of the worst storms in the past 50 years has ever blown it down. I estimate a trunk 4' across at the base measured 4' up and at least a 100' crown. I will take Pics and post if anyone is interested in seeing this majestic specimen.


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## audible fart (May 17, 2014)

Some of the biggest sycamores i've ever seen grow on the banks of and near the susquehanna river. Sycamore trees are like illegal aliens. They constantly throw litter on the ground and never plan on splitting.


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## greendohn (May 17, 2014)

I'll burn sycamore.


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## Wood Doctor (May 17, 2014)

greendohn said:


> I'll burn sycamore.


So will I and nearly everyone that I know around here. Sure, it's not as good as red elm, ash, oak, hickory, locust, or even mulberry, but I figure not much else is either.


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