Sycamore/london plane

[Rich]

Hi everyone
I'm new to this forum, so please bear with me.
Yesterday I came across a tree service cutting down a few Sycamore/London plane trees. I hauled home several trunk loads. In reading I have found that this is very good turning stock and is resistant to checking. Are there any suggestions as to the best way to store this wood, does it need to be sealed or require special treatment?

Thanks
Rich

 

[Robbie Graham]

Hi Rich,
I found that Sycamore tends to crack more than the London plane. With the London plane I cut it into blanks and seal the end grain it dries quite quickly.
Great wood to work. I was supplied some sycamore earlier this year that had been shed dried in a different region and was assured it was dry but on moving it to the Lake Taupo region which has a lot less humidity it cracked quite badly. The Sycamore was even better to turn than the London plane.
In New zealand the timber may grow differently but it might be of some help.
Robbie

 

[Andy Coates]

Sycamore & London Plane

It may be very different in the UK from the States but this is how I store mine...

Logs - trunk and limbs - are stored horizontally under a lose tarpaulin cover, secured to prevent the wind taking it away. If the logs are long enough this works very well as any degrade can be lopped off the ends with the chainsaw when I get around to using them. Shorter sections of truck and large limbs are stored directly on bare soil with a mouldy hessian sack over them for cover...these spalt within a couple of months or so, and are used quickly to prevent total degrade.

The trick seems to be to store them in good air flow, out of the rain and sun. If you want to cut them into blanks then the usual routine applies, cut, wax/seal the end grain - and I seal an inch or so over the sides as well, and store in a dry, drafty, covered spot. I have a small shed specifically for this and find the loss rate is acceptable. Of course, you could simply rough-turn them and store in a similar fashion before finish turning.

Both woods are favourites of mine. Plane cuts superbly when wet, and if used for hollows can be finished directly from green with few losses. Sycamore tends, here at least, to be a little less reliable, but only slightly so.
Good luck.

 

[Jake Debski]

Both woods are favourites of mine. Plane cuts superbly when wet, and if used for hollows can be finished directly from green with few losses. Sycamore tends, here at least, to be a little less reliable, but only slightly so.
Good luck.

Please forgive my ignorance here. I was recently shown a picture of a park in Europe. When I commented on the number of Sycamore trees the owner of pic. corrected me and said the trees were London Plane trees. Are these trees so similar in appearance? Or was this person mistaken. Admittedly I do not recall ever hearing of London plane trees before.

 

[Andy Coates]

The leaf, and canopy shape are certainly very similar indeed, and the bark can be, but I can usually tell the two apart by the bark. The big difference is in the fruits; Sycamore has a seed with a wing, and they usually have a pair - children call them "helicopters" here because they fall in a circular, spinning path -whilst the Plane has a spikey ball-shaped fruit.

The wood itself is vastly different, especially the plane when quarter sawn, when it is called Lacewood. Sycamore is far blander a wood then plane, and more common, but as both trees are very tolerant of pollution they are common species for city parks and gardens.

hope this helps
Andy

 

[MichaelMouse]

The leaf, and canopy shape are certainly very similar indeed, and the bark can be, but I can usually tell the two apart by the bark. The big difference is in the fruits; Sycamore has a seed with a wing, and they usually have a pair - children call them "helicopters" here because they fall in a circular, spinning path -whilst the Plane has a spikey ball-shaped fruit.

The wood itself is vastly different, especially the plane when quarter sawn, when it is called Lacewood. Sycamore is far blander a wood then plane, and more common, but as both trees are very tolerant of pollution they are common species for city parks and gardens.

hope this helps
Andy

Might help if he knew that the two peoples are divided by their common language. Platanus species are "plane" trees http://www.chengappa.demon.co.uk/planes/text/botany.html , while the British "Sycamore" is an Acer species. Maple to those of us in the States. http://www.hort.uconn.edu/Plants/a/acepse/acepse1.html

Of course the British robin is nothing like the bird which bears that common name either, and the list goes on and on.