Small Sycamore Bowl

Pic #2 

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

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Pic #3 

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

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Re: Small Sycamore Bowl

Bill Grumbine, Kutztown PA

>Hi Dominic

Did you have any problems with cracks in this piece? I have pretty much given up on sycamore. I love the color and the figure, but the warping and the cracking especially have driven me away from it. Of course, it didn't help that my last sycamore tree had a huge chunk of concrete in it that ruined four chains and then had ring shake to boot!

Nice bowl, and I think you will really like the way the figure comes out on the pens!

Bill

Re: Sycamore

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In Jersey

>Hmmmm, Nice Piece, Dom!

Seems like I really should get to the blank I also got at Bill's.

Mark

Re: Small Sycamore Bowl

Mike Schwing from Maryland

>Nice Dominic! The sheen on that interior shot is as they say in the GMC ads "professional grade". Do you expect this to see food service or display?

Re: Small Sycamore Bowl

Guest

>"While I was cutting the slab up into blanks, I got a glimpse of some of the hidden figure. The grain pattern looked like a smaller, tighter version of lacewood!"

American Sycamore (and it's cousin the Plane Tree of Europe) are often sold with the name of "Lacewood" when quartersawn. This shouldn't be confused with the Australian Lacewood as they are certainly not the same tree of course. But, as you mentioned, they all can show much the same pattern if properly cut.

I know that some of the musical grade woods marketed as "Lacewood" is actually Sycamore/Plane tree because I supply some companies with the spalted versions of it.

Re: Small Sycamore Bowl

Jim Shaver Oakville, Ont

>Hi Dom,

That bowl looks so nice, really it has a very clean and easy to look at shape, it must feel nice in your hands...

Your finishes are looking really great as well.

take care,

Jim

Re: Small Sycamore Bowl

Ron in Drums PA

>As aways, this is beautiful Dom. I like the edge treatment.

When I turn sycamore I wet the wood with mineral spirits, seems to help preventing tear out.

Re: Small Sycamore Bowl

Tom Sweeney - Coatesville, PA

>Looks great Dom, as usual. I really like the rim treatment & the burning.

I just got a decent sized haul of fresh sycamore last week. Sounds like it's a little difficult to deal with but I'll give it a shot.

Cracking in Sycamore

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

>Bill,

Thanks for the kind words my friend!

Fortunately, the slab that Ron gave me was dry as a bone. So movement after turning was kept to a bare minimum.

However while I was turning, I did notice the tendency of the wood to develop small stress fractures (more like hairline cracks) in the thin walled areas. Judicious application of thin CA glue helped to mitigate this issue. (sounded like an official engineering response, didn't it?)

Like I said, this wood behaved a lot like Beech. Even smells like it. I wonder if they are "related"?

I still have a huge chuck of "wet" sycamore from your BBQ that I have yet to cut up. Gonna have to try soaking this one to see if it works out.

See ya around,

Dominic

More display than "food"

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

>Mike,

Thanks for the compliments!

To be quite truthful, I intended to give this a coat of mineral oil/beeswax and let it go at that. Besides nothing at all, mineral oil/beeswax is one of the easiest food safe finishes I know of. (But having made several dozen of your outstanding looking segmented cutting boards, you know this already!) After using the sanding sealer on it (which has varnish in it), I decided to use Watco's Danish Oil.

While you can get away with using this to serve something like nuts (still in the shell). It's intended to be more decorative than "food grade".

See ya around,

Dominic

Well, how do you like that!

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

>You wrote:

"American Sycamore (and it's cousin the Plane Tree of Europe) are often sold with the name of "Lacewood" when quartersawn."

Well I've learned something new today. So the day isn't a total loss! Thanks for this tid bit.

See ya around,

Dominic

Hi Ron!

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

>Ron,

Since this bowl is somewhat plain in appearance, you don't get a good idea of the cool looking grain this wood can have.

I had hoped to have several more of the Sycamore Pens ready so I could post pictures here. But I'm running behind in schedule. If all goes well, I should have a couple next week.

Thanks for the tip about wetting with mineral spirits.

See ya around,

Dominic

Re: Sycamore Relations

William Duffield on the Cohansey

>Nope, not closely related.

Sycamores or Planetrees are in a totally separate family, which are not closely related to anything else, the Platanaceae. Other members of the Beech family, the Fagaceae, include Oaks, Tanoaks, Chincapins and Chestnuts.

Re: Sycamore Relations

Dick Hines

>Sycamore is related to maple. They are both in the acer- family.

Re: Sycamore Relations

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In Jersey

>Dick,

American Sycamore is "Platanus occidentalis". Not part of the Acer Family as far as I know. You thinking of something else maybe?

?;-}

These names are confusing

Russ

>The common name �Sycamore� is used in England to designate a species in the Hard Maple Group (Acer pseudoplatanus), whereas Plane or Planetree is used to name the Platanus (a Sycamore) that grows there.

Re: Small Sycamore Bowl

Mike Rubes, Apex, NC

>Hi Dominic,

Nice looking bowl! Good edge treatments. Did you burn the lines in the bottom (shot 1)? If so,

I'm curious how you did it. Even if they are not burned, I'm curious how you did it because it looks great!

Thanks for the pics,

Mike

No turning today in Apex, NC...

Re: Sycamore Relations

Guest

>American Sycamore and the Plane tree of Europe (Also called the London Plane) are only related to the Maples by the fact that the British call Sycamore/Plane trees "Maple".

You'll hear British demonstrators talk about "Maple" when they're really talking about their London Plane (usually ... it's confusing sometimes).

Incidentally, the London Plane isn't the exact same tree as the American Sycamore (which I've described in the past as the American Sycamore's cousin). The London Plane (or just Plane Tree of Europe) is a combination of the Platanus orientalis and Platanus occidentalis (American Sycamore) trees as far as the best guesses right now are. Of course, especially with trees and naming, we tend to lump several groups of trees into common names and this is no different.

I feel that the London Plane version of this tree looks better as "Lacewood" than our American Sycamore but there's a whole lot more of the Sycamore and it's cheaper too.

Just a bit of the "Botony of the Platanus" today. hehe

Re: Cracking in Sycamore

Bill Grumbine, Kutztown PA

>Hi Dominic

If it were me, I would turn it wet and thin, and let it warp from there. You could even call it art!

Bill

Burned lines

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

>Mike,

Thanks for the compliments!

Burning the line about the rim was accomplished using a guitar string. You know that method.

The burned rings on the base were another matter. With the face of the bowl held by a vacuum chuck (although Cole Jaws in my Talon chuck would have worked equally well), I cut the grooves using a skew, then as the lathe was still turning, I held a small scrap of 1/16" thick black veneer in the groove. The line isn't burnt in right away. Sometimes I need to ramp the speed up here, or hold the piece steady to make it burn just right. But after a time, you can see the groove darkening. Before I started using black veneer, I tried using the edges of stiff (like 80 grit) sandpaper. While it worked, it took forever!

I hope this clears things up.

See ya around,

Dominic

Re: Burned lines

Wally Dickerman at Green Valley, Az.

>Hey Dom...A small thin screwdriver works very well. Ramp the speed way up, as hot friction is doing the job. You can buy steel wire in many gauges for different size burned rings.

Wally

Former guitar player

Dominic Greco at home in sunny Richboro, PA

>Wally,

Thanks for the tip about the screwdriver. I gotta' try that one out.

I don't need to go very far to get all sorts of thickness steel wires. I used to be a very avid guitar player. Not really talented. I just like to play alot.

For some reason, I saved a BUNCH of old strings from my 12 String guitar. It gives me quite the assortment of gauges to play with.

See ya,

Dominic