Question about green sycamore.

Re: Question about green sycamore.

John Lucas

>Al

I recently turned 10 bowls during an all day demo for the Empty Bowls Project. I don't remember having to sharpen any more than normal.

Re: Question about green sycamore.

Peter Teubel

>I've only turned green sycamore, but its no more abrasive that maple. Its one of my favorite woods to turn because the finish I can get off the tool is extremely fine.

Re: Question about green sycamore.

Joel Hunnicutt

>Al, I was turning a walnut segmented piece several weeks ago and noticed the same thing. I guess certain pieces of wood are more abrasive than others even in the same species.

Re: Where did it grow ?

Brad Vietje

>AL,

I learned a cool lesson from a more experienced tree scrounge than I a few months ago (and I'm a glutton for free wood) ...

If it grew close to the road, one side may be chock full of sand. Here in the Northeast, there is a lot of sand, and sometimes even gravel that is put down all winter for traction on the snow and ice; when the snowplow comes through, it throws that sand up against the tree with considerable force, and a lot of sand grains get trapped in the bark. With burls and healing growths, can even get trapped in the wood as new wood grows to fill in voids and gaps. This is usually an issue for the chainsaw when cutting up the wood, as there should be a good separation between bark and wood at the cambium, and the wood inside is usually pretty clean. I have seen Cherry burls where one side was basically unusable due to all the embedded gravel and small rocks.

Just a possibility...

Safe Spinning,

Brad Vietje

Thetford, VT

Re: Question about green sycamore.

Rick Prevett

>I am just finishing up a mess o' sycamore logs that I got last spring, most were turned green, (at least to rough bowl size), and I don't sharpen any more/less than usual. The original tree came from a backyard, so no sand.

rick

Re: Where did it grow? I have no idea.

Al Crandall

>The tree came from the Indianapolis Parks Dept. tree dump and recycling center. All trees cut by the Parks Dept. are mulched. Our club got permission to harvest from the log piles. This one was trying to grow square instead of round. I thought that the wide flats might make interesting natural edge bowls so I got some for myself and for the club also. It was my first time for sycamore except for when I made some plates from quarter sawn kiln dried 4/4 stock on my vacuum chuck. This stuff turned harder than the k.d. stuff.

Thanks all. I won't give up on it yet.

Al Crandall

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