Sycamore

[lonepine]

I recently had scrolled some sycamore, they were not large pieces, from some limbs that were cut. It is very white, and had some handsome grain patterns in it. Although a little hard, I did cut some small animals for a noah's ark. Anyone used this wood before? I wonder how it is for larger projects, and if is aviable on the market. Thanks Bob

[Gill]

Hi Bob

'Sfunny you should mention sycamore - I mentioned it myself earlier today on this thread.

It's a lovely wood to work with but the creamy white color does turn dun over time. However, you can stain sycamore very successfully; that's worth bearing in mind if you're looking for a wood to use for segmentation. It's also a fairly 'soft' wood, prone to dents, so be careful how you handle it. I found it was wonderfully stable for my Beatles portrait and it allowed me to cut some extremely fine bridges. It's such a well behaved wood that one of the woodworking 'gurus' over here, David Charlesworth, uses nothing but sycamore when demonstrating how to tune hand planes.

Sycamore is fairly cheap and quite readily available on this side of the Pond, but I don't know how available it is where you are. Still, I hope you find the information here useful - sycamore is well worth hunting out.

Gill

[bearfretworks]

I've cut a bit of QS "sycamore/American Plane" for fish patterns as the grain looks like scales.

"Sycamore" is a good example of differnt species with the same common name. There's Acer pseudoplatanus - aka sycamore plane/great maple/plane that is creamy white and in the maple family.

Then there's Platanus hybrida and related species that are know as American plane/sycamore/buttonwood/London plane/English plane. This wood is light reddish brown w/darker rays or flecks on QS material.

They have different working properties as well as color.

[lonepine]

Very Good, , appreciate your input. I will keep an eye out for it. I did like working with it. Bob

[kofte]

I've used quartersawn-sycamore. It is a delight to scroll. The wood has vivid flake patterns, kinda like lacewood--looks more like an exotic wood. The best part is that it lays dead-flat on the saw.

There's a small mill nearby that cuts it every once in a while. Runs around $3.50 /bdft.
Beautiful wood that's easy to cut & doesn't fight you. What more can you want?

[minowevie]

Well it looks like I am just going to have to try some of this wood. I wonder if its the same kind we grow here in Calif. USA ? I'll have to check it out. thanks for the learning thread. I have learnd something here. your friend Evie