Milling sycamore.

[muttley9050]

Ok. I've been had over by the town council to do some cedar milling and work for them in a newly opened public arboretum. In return I get some firewood and a couple of decent felled sycamore for milling. One is heavily spalted.

So I've read stuff before about seasoning sycamore stood up to stop staining. But if I just stick and stack it with the rest of my timber what is likely to happen. Will I get use able timber or will it just be a waste of time. What's the ideal way to season it..

Cheers

James

 

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[justin131]

i milled a large syc about a year ago and found standing it did indeed stop the green staining as the ones i stacked flat all came out stained badly. the only problem with this i found is how to keep pressure on the boards so they don't warp, maybe ratchet strap them together.

[ucoulddoit]

The boards would just need to be stood on end until the faces have dried sufficiently to avoid staining at the stickers. I've done this but can't remember how long I left them standing, but it was weeks rather than months, and the boards were still flat when I stacked them with stickers. John Boddy when they were still trading experimented with plastic stickers on sycamore so maybe there is advice somewhere about that approach?

 

Andrew

[adamelder]

I've milled a lot of sycamore. Found the easiest thing to do is to mill an extra 5 mill thickness and then plane down once seasoned. I know that's a wee bit wasteful but much better than having to trash the whole board. I also have a stack that stickered with lengths of blue mains polypipe. There's no sticker staining at all. Good airflow through the stack makes a big difference too.

[codlasher]

You'll probably remember the sawmill behind Blanchfords in Risbro. The boss there, Mr Thompson, milled some sycamore for me when it was still operating and he insisted that I end stacked it (stood up on end in ordinary terms) I sticked it too using 1"x 1" sycamore sticks too to stop staining. I like the idea of blue water pipe! Yes to allowing an 1/8th over for poking through the thicknesser. 'Tis lovely timber & worth the effort.

Don't leave this untreated. Spray against wood-worm ASAP and possibly another dose in 18 months. They love this timber!

codlasher

[Timber Man]

You'll probably remember the sawmill behind Blanchfords in Risbro. The boss there, Mr Thompson, milled some sycamore for me when it was still operating and he insisted that I end stacked it (stood up on end in ordinary terms) I sticked it too using 1"x 1" sycamore sticks too to stop staining. I like the idea of blue water pipe! Yes to allowing an 1/8th over for poking through the thicknesser. 'Tis lovely timber & worth the effort.

Don't leave this untreated. Spray against wood-worm ASAP and possibly another dose in 18 months. They love this timber!

codlasher

 

I remember them if you mean Goodearls,.Keith Thompson was the buyer/ manager. We put a lot of beech in there in the late 80s early 90s.

Summer cut sycamore tends to get black fleck in it,..its in the grain rather than on the surface, that's why good syc is felled with the sap down .

[Ilnumero]

I was always under the impression that the best way to avoid sticker-stain is to use the same wood that you have just milled.

 

Edging the boards will give plenty of stickers, but even if you want waney-edge boards, there's always a bit of waste that can be milled up into one inch sticks.

 

Also agree with standing the boards on end, after spoiling my first attempt at sycamore (the first job I did on the mill)

[spiral]

I was always under the impression that the best way to avoid sticker-stain is to use the same wood that you have just milled. )

 

Your wrong...

 

Stickers if wood should be dry, using green offcuts encourages sticker staining in the boards, on occasion even rot.

 

Stickers are important! Not just incidental.

 

This knowledge & use was the normal for over a 100 years at least. {Id guess century's.}

 

Its a shame how much knowledge has been lost.

[kav]

I milled some sycamore today that was felled about a year ago. Lovely colours but looks like it might not short of going soft? What's the best thing to do? Should I treat boards with something? I have super dry softwood stickers and can store out doors or in our barn. Thanks for any help

[agg221]

I milled some sycamore today that was felled about a year ago. Lovely colours but looks like it might not short of going soft? What's the best thing to do? Should I treat boards with something? I have super dry softwood stickers and can store out doors or in our barn. Thanks for any help

 

I milled some that looks very similar to that earlier this year - I soaked it in Wykabor and dried it standing on end for about 4wks before stacking. No damage so far.

 

Alec