they said sycamore is a hard wood.

JV3

JV3

Joined
Mar 17, 2010
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holy moly, they weren't kidding! my neighborhood is covered with sycamore and i snagged this from a big branch that fell in front of the house from last year's snow storm for practicing bow drill (so far i can't get coals from a beech wood so trying this type of wood).

forget about using an axe or batonning a knife, it just laughs it off...i've been wailing at this thing with a 3 lb mallet and steel wedge for 15 min now.

sycamore_split_01.jpg



the back side:

sycamore_split_02.jpg
 
Actually American Sycamore is really soft - but that doesn't mean it splits easy. Once you open up, take that little necker and start carving. Its as smooth as butter.
 
kgd said:
Actually American Sycamore is really soft - but that doesn't mean it splits easy. Once you open up, take that little necker and start carving. Its as smooth as butter.
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Yes. Glass is hard. Rubber is soft. Glass breaks easier. Sequoias are hard. So hard they shatter when they fall. That's what saved them from the axe/saw. They make really terrible lumber...
 
it finally split but it took the wedge almost all the way in before it did.

sycamore_split_03-1.jpg


sycamore_split_04-1.jpg



kgd said:
Actually American Sycamore is really soft - but that doesn't mean it splits easy. Once you open up, take that little necker and start carving. Its as smooth as butter.
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you're right, it does have a really smooth, fine grain and carves nicely! i'm using a round end piece as my socket.

sycamore_bow_drill.jpg



August West said:
Dead centering that knot didn't help, just sayin. Chris
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agreed but the knot didn't matter, it was resistant to splitting the whole length.
 
Cool on the socket. Sycamore is a classic for hearth and spindle as well. Giver a go and get a coal!
 
JV3 said:
agreed but the knot didn't matter, it was resistant to splitting the whole length.
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We will have to agree to disagree, I have split literally tons of wood and knots always matter. Wood that is normally very easy to split can be a bear with a twisted, knotty piece. Chris
 
I just got a huge amount of sycamore as my neighbors cut down a monstrous tree. It's definitely not a hardwood but it's better burning than maple. it is by far the worst wood to split lol. I have been busting up fresh ash and oak on my splitter no problem but that freaking sycamore is insane lol.
 
Sycamore is one of the woods I have better luck using a sharp thinner blade for splitting, like batonning a machete, it is really resistant to wedging apart it seems.
 
J, if I'm not mistaken that might be London Plane tree, (harder than sycamore) the bark is almost identical though... London plane is commonly used in urban neighborhoods as fat growing shade tree.. they shed branches and bark like crazy though.. I can send you a yucca set for practice if you want. regardless of the wood type if its that hard its less than ideal for friction fire.
 
I've heard that sycamore, elm and hickory have some cross linking of the grains that help them to be split resistant. They make good primitive bows, tool handles, etc..
 
I'm with August West on this one. I have also split tons of wood in my lifetime with a maul, sledge and wedge or logsplitter and knots and twist will always affect the ease of splitting. As far a sycamore goes, it is a soft wood. Sounds like you just happen to get a hard knotted or twisted piece. Try splitting a piece of Oklahoma native pecan with a knot or twist to it with any splitting tool and tell me how soft sycamore is. I have had a pecan block bounce a maul right back at me. Try a twist wedge or a cone wedge next time you split sycamore and post the outcome. Fun times splittin' wood....
 
grunt soldier said:
I just got a huge amount of sycamore as my neighbors cut down a monstrous tree. It's definitely not a hardwood but it's better burning than maple. it is by far the worst wood to split lol. I have been busting up fresh ash and oak on my splitter no problem but that freaking sycamore is insane lol.
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i'm not going to split the rest i think...i'll try burning it and see it is.


mistwalker said:
Sycamore is one of the woods I have better luck using a sharp thinner blade for splitting, like batonning a machete, it is really resistant to wedging apart it seems.
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i tried to split it with my ontario 12" cutlass but no dice, it got stuck 2" in...no way i'm going to try it with my lite machete though, even with esee's warranty.


RescueRiley said:
J, if I'm not mistaken that might be London Plane tree, (harder than sycamore) the bark is almost identical though... London plane is commonly used in urban neighborhoods as fat growing shade tree.. they shed branches and bark like crazy though.. I can send you a yucca set for practice if you want. regardless of the wood type if its that hard its less than ideal for friction fire.
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ever been to jersey city? it's all over here and they are pretty fat trees. i'll take your yucca offer but even better, schedule an overnighter so i can learn from the master, first hand :)


Bo T said:
I've heard that sycamore, elm and hickory have some cross linking of the grains that help them to be split resistant. They make good primitive bows, tool handles, etc..
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whatever wood this is, it is indeed pretty nice to carve and the texture is really finely grained. i don't know what to say, i don't even know what kind of trees is growing in my own neighborhood!
 
absolutely brother I have 2 weeks off from school come 4/29.. we have london plain everywhere here, and I tried numerous times to get a coal with it to no avail.. and if you want to learn from the master we better get Tonym on board,.
 
RescueRiley said:
absolutely brother I have 2 weeks off from school come 4/29.. we have london plain everywhere here, and I tried numerous times to get a coal with it to no avail.. and if you want to learn from the master we better get Tonym on board,.
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alright! looking forward to it...it's been a year since our last overnighter.
 
It wasn't hit by lightning was it?
 
lol joe I'm telling you guys I heat my house with nothing but wood. one of the absolute worst woods to split is absolutely sycamore. it's weird and almost like the wood is all tied together. definitely not the best to heat with but it's a couple steps up from maple. it's a weird splitting wood to say the least. I'll take a good hardwood, ash, hickory, walnut any day of the week :)
 
grunt soldier said:
lol joe I'm telling you guys I heat my house with nothing but wood. one of the absolute worst woods to split is absolutely sycamore. it's weird and almost like the wood is all tied together. definitely not the best to heat with but it's a couple steps up from maple. it's a weird splitting wood to say the least. I'll take a good hardwood, ash, hickory, walnut any day of the week :)
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there's another downed branch from one of my hiking spots an hr away (as opposed to this one which came off the front sidewalk). i'll try splitting that one too to see if it's the same way.
 
We burned a cord or two of wood a year when I was a kid, and we always split by hand because pops was too cheap to buy or rent a splitter. A large sycamore is the only tree that broke the old man, he rented a splitter to bring that biotch into submission (after we both wasted half a day man handling it). It would bounce mauls & axes, and wedges came to a screaching halt a few inches in.
 
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