Replies

1. 
   popawheelie | Sep 30, 2009 06:44am | #1

   I've seen it used in high end cabinets as a white accent strip.

   Besides you could say sycamore was used in your cabinets.

   From what I've read, you can use all sorts of wood for lots of things.

   The only reason it isn't used more is because it isn't commercially viable.

   There aren't large stands of it that commercial operations can harvest on an ongoing basis.

   But if there was, you bet someone would figure out how to use it.

   I'd ask over at knots how it will work. 

   I once heard that a mature sycamore can use 60 gallons of water a day.

   They are always in creek beds around where I grew up.  

    

    

   "There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."
   Will Rogers
2. 
   bd | Sep 30, 2009 12:48pm | #2

   About a year or so ago, one of the woodworking mags (can't remember which one) did a project with quarter sawn sycamore panels. I don't remember what kind of finish they used to hilite the grain, but it was beautiful. A light blond color. On that project they had used walnut as the frame to provide contrast & tone it down a bit.

3. 
   plumber_bob | Sep 30, 2009 02:13pm | #3

   Yo, snoofy,

   I worked in a wood working factory for a few years, programming cnc equipment. The place I worked at, Paoli Inc., used Beech wood to make furniture. The furniture looked great, and they get big $'s for their products, but their scrape rate seemed outrageous.

   They scraped out 34% of the wood that was purchased, compared to 2-4% scrape rate of the competition. What was the diff?

   Well it turned out that Beech was considerably cheaper to buy as no one liked to use it. Wind shakes, and other defects are common. But when all was said and done, the end product made of Beech was still cheaper per board foot that say, Maple, Oak, or Cherry. In other words the Beech was so much cheaper than the other hardwoods that even at a 34% waste rate, it was still the ticket for that company.

   Anyway I think that Sycamore is even cheaper than Beech, but I'm not sure. And I think the waste rate is similar or worse as well, but this could just be the area, So. Ind., also.

   Just an observation from years ago.

   pb

4. 
   DavidxDoud | Sep 30, 2009 02:33pm | #4

   it's soft, weak, non-splintery, and if quartersawn shows rays - moves a lot and takes stain well - not uncommon in 19th century furniture - one of my least favorite woods, altho perfectly acceptable in the right application - stumpage value is among the lowest - water literally runs out of it as the tree is sawn -

   "there's enough for everyone"