I hope this is sycamore

[John Hicks]

Since I already burned in “sycamore” on the bottom; I’m really hoping this is indeed sycamore. Came in a load of blanks that had been in a storage shed for 15 years. Does anybody think it’s something different?

 

[Perry Hilbert]

Looks like what every body else calls sycamore. But not what I have from a sycamore tree. My pieces still have the blotchy bark which is so tell tale for sycamore. But the wood is nearly the whitest pieces of wood I have ever seen. Very dusty although soft and easy to turn. Some body suggested maybe I have just sap wood, but if so, I have some really large thick pieces of sapwood.

 

[Kent Jaffrey]

Looks a lot like sycamore to me

 

[Lou Jacobs]

I’d say you’ve got sycamore. Here’s a sample image from the Wood Database.

 

[Tim Connell]

It is sycamore.


After all, it says so on the bottom of it.

 

[Bill Boehme]

What Tim said. Even if it wasn't sycamore before, it is sycamore now.

I was just looking at some sycamore turning blanks this afternoon while at Rockler's and your sycamore looks like what I saw.

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Sure looks like the Sycamore I have turned.

 

[robo hippy]

Most of what we have out west here is London Plane, and plane trees are sycamores or the other way around.... Given the size of the growth rings, most likely sycamore. That stuff sucks up finish like a dry sponge.... I have seen sycamore trees that are 30 inch diameter on the stump and maybe 30 years old.

robo hippy

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Reed the London plane is a hybrid between the European Sycamore and the N.American Sycamore, made in England because they don't have the European Sycamore natively, I don't know why you would have these trees and not the native N.American Sycamore, here in Ontario one finds those "London Plane trees only in parks and some larger private homes, but maybe it is the typical misnomer we have here from the English that gave us a lot of names that are just wrong, but we are stuck with them, like Cedar trees that aren't, and others, so a Plane tree cane the name of a Sycamore, but that does not male it aLondon Plane tree

 

[hockenbery]

don't know why you would have these trees and not the native N.American Sycamore

There were lots of London plane trees in Baltimore and Annapolis.
Clark Davidson, who knew more about tree identification than anyone I have met, told me the greenish bark on the small limbs was a reliable field mark for the London plane.

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

There were lots of London plane trees in Baltimore and Annapolis.
Clark Davidson, who knew more about tree identification than anyone I have met, told me the greenish bark on the small limbs was a reliable field mark for the London plane.

The easy and very reliable way to tell the two apart is by the leaf shape and more so by the seed balls for me that's the easiest way to tell them apart.

Where the Sycamore has single seed balls, the London Plane has more on the same seed ball stem, see picture.



The Leaf of the Sycamore on the left in the picture, with the London Plane tree leaf on the right, see the deep divide between the lobes.



http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=a891

 

[robo hippy]

The Sycamore tree is not native to this area. When I think of Sycamore trees, I think of the ones back home in Missouri, well, my old home. In winter time, the woods are dotted with white skeletons. Here our sycamore trees are more coarse dark bark on the bottom, and that kind of pie bald patchey bark up higher on the tree. I know of one in a parking lot at the grocery store that is all burl on the bottom, and the leaves look more like sweet gum. Really had me fooled, but the seed pods, and the upper bark has that more typical pie bald look.

robo hippy

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

The Sycamore tree is not native to this area. When I think of Sycamore trees, I think of the ones back home in Missouri, well, my old home. In winter time, the woods are dotted with white skeletons. Here our sycamore trees are more coarse dark bark on the bottom, and that kind of pie bald patchey bark up higher on the tree. I know of one in a parking lot at the grocery store that is all burl on the bottom, and the leaves look more like sweet gum. Really had me fooled, but the seed pods, and the upper bark has that more typical pie bald look.

robo hippy

Not quite up in your area Reed, but yes it is native on the west coast

 

[robo hippy]

Hmm, didn't know about that one Leo. I guess that is like the Claro Walnut, which is native down in California, and a few of them native in Southern Oregon. Those Jays travel long distances to bury their nuts, and squirrels not quite so far.

robo hippy