Sycamore good for wood?

[sscherin]

We have a Sycamore in the yard that has recently started dropping large branches on the house. That combined with a scary lean has us thinking about taking it out..

If we do or don't will be up to the Arborist.

Now my question is is we do take it down would it be worth having it milled or just cut it up for firewood.

This tree is 50+ years old, 3-3.5' dia and should be clear wood for the first 8'

[rollo]

you bet

I would recommend getting it cut and dried. My experience having a sawyer cut and dry some maple slabs for me cost about 2.50-3$ / bd-ft, which was worth it, as I got alot of 12/4 figured maple that would probably run about 6-12$/bd-ft. Quartersawn sycamore has awesome figure (similar to quartersawn oak, but the ray fleck is more dense and consistent...bing or google some pics). Also, quartersawn sycamore costs 6-10$ /bd-ft (from my local sawyer), so you should be able to resell what you don't use. Good luck!

-Rollo

[Hoover]

I believe sycamore is in the same genus as beech, so it has good figure quartersawn.

[Bill in Buena Park]

This article puts Sycamore in the neighborhood of SYP and Mahogany for hardness.

Information on trees called Sycamore. For American Sycamore, see this.

Finally, stumbled upon this site regarding common uses of Sycamore in woodworking.