Shopsmith Forums

Hi Guys,
Yesterday I bought some 12" wide, 12' long sycamore boards that a local fellow cut from a storm damaged tree. I paid $1.50/ foot, and I hope that was a good price. The boards were so pretty I couldn't resist! They are a nice creamy white, sort of like maple, with very interesting mahogany colored stripes running through many of them. Only 1 tight knot in 4 boards.

I painted the ends up with end grain sealer and stickered the boards. I know I will have to wait a year for them to dry. In the meantime, should I do anything else to ensure they dry nice and flat?
Thanks!

Just make sure the stickers align vertically above one another and that the stack is placed on a flat surface. If it's not flat, shim it flat otherwise the twist or bow will show up in the dried wood. Keep the stack out of the sun (you don't want it drying too fast) and you may want to add a piece of plywood or something to the top of the stack so you can keep the rain off and to provide a place to add weights (cement blocks) that hold things flat.

Another suggestion. Be sure the stickers aren't made of something that will stain your beautiful new wood.

Sycamore, according to one of my local sawmill guys who recently ripped up about 10 acres of sycamore trees, is notorious for warping, cupping, etc. He said he had to put a ton of weight on top of his stickered stacks to keep the stuff flat as it dried.

Looks like I need to cut some sticks and get some cement blocks to put on top. That's for the advice!

Looks like I need to cut some sticks and get some cement blocks to put on top. Thank's!

jon wrote:Hi Guys,
Yesterday I bought some 12" wide, 12' long sycamore boards that a local fellow cut from a storm damaged tree. I paid $1.50/ foot, and I hope that was a good price. The boards were so pretty I couldn't resist! They are a nice creamy white, sort of like maple, with very interesting mahogany colored stripes running through many of them. Only 1 tight knot in 4 boards.

I painted the ends up with end grain sealer and stickered the boards. I know I will have to wait a year for them to dry. In the meantime, should I do anything else to ensure they dry nice and flat?
Thanks!

Pictures or it didn't happen.

Lots of water in what Southern surveyors call Water Maple (American Sycamore). They grow in very damp locations and are full of moisture. I'd expect massive shrinkage to occur.

I have a malamute that loved to chew them up like a beaver. About a 4" diameter log 4 feet long in 2 days. GONE. Must have been soft and sweet.

I cut down a Sycamore tree in my yard about 5 years ago. I was soaked just cutting it up.
It held a ton of water. I took all of mine to the recycler, because when it dries it does all kinds of things. Split, check, warp, twist, bow, and cup. Plus to get all the water out takes a looong time in drier or years of natural drying.

Here in Florida the boards would be so full of insects because of the time air drying takes the wood would be useless. Kiln drying Sycamore is costly.

I hope your purchase works out for you. Sticker it and as someone said put a ton of weight on it to help keep the board straight. Hey even if you have to cut it into small pieces you will find a use for it.

I'm betting you will find a lot of wonderful uses for the sycamore wood. I don't think you can own too much wood. It just isn't possible.
The one thing I don't like about sycamore is the smell. The tree smells. The freshly cut wet wood smells. I've never had any cured sycamore wood in my hands, but I suspect the smell is gone once it dries out.