Sycamore

[Craig Johnson]

The problem is that sycamore is not that high value a timber, so given that it takes a lot more effort than other woods it is very rarely worth the effort to mill, unless there is a specific use for it, or you are short of something else to do! There is a demand for it for kitchens etc, but they want it white, which means felling in winter. Felled now it will go darker, which personally I think is really attractive but isn't in fashion.

 

 

Alec

 

i'll have that worthless syc, we used to send most of our best to germany:001_smile:

[openspaceman]

 

There is a sawmill in Yorkshire I think which has developed some special plastic stickers with a series of fingers that stop the contact area being large enough for stain to result, so they can now stack conventionally.

 

We used to send first and second butts to Nidd Valley, which was a long way to haul from Surrey. The coloured stuff pesumably was used for settee frames.

 

The problem is that sycamore is not that high value a timber, so given that it takes a lot more effort than other woods it is very rarely worth the effort to mill, unless there is a specific use for it, or you are short of something else to do! There is a demand for it for kitchens etc, but they want it white, which means felling in winter. Felled now it will go darker, which personally I think is really attractive but isn't in fashion.

 

Yes but I suspect it was used a lot more before plastics, it was valued for treen and dairy work, I cannot say what the demand was as even this may have been a low volume market.

 

It was valuable for veneer and of course fiddlebacks if rippled.

 

I grew up in the steam train era and the carriage interior wood was all a deep mahogany brown, I was surprised when I got on one of the carriages being restored by the Bluebell Railway to see the panels were a light tan and sycamore, presumably the patina had developed from pollution and tobacco smoke.