Sunday, March 8, 2015

My parents' old sycamore tree

As long as I can remember, My parents have had a large sycamore tree in the front yard.
They have talked about having it downed, and about a week ago they had someone to do the actual felling of it.

I had told them that I would like to have the trunk and one of the main branches (it was a Y shaped tree). My plan is to convert the tree into a table, and thereby still having preserved some of it for the future. It will probably yield material for several tables, but that is also OK with me.

Last Monday, I drove down to my parents to pick up part of the tree. It is so heavy that I could only take the Y shaped 6 feet trunk in my trailer. Any more would have caused me to drive with overload which is something the police in Denmark takes pretty seriously.
My dad, their neighbour and I managed to get the trunk onto the trailer by means of a chain block, and a bit of ingenuity.

I guess the weight of the trunk is around 800 kg, because my front loader on he tractor is just too weak to lift it. Luckily there is a well functioning non return valve in the hydraulic system, so I could use a chain block in connection with the front loader and get it lifted of the trailer.

A bit more (a lot actually) of fiddling and the thing was positioned in place on the wagon of the mulesaw.

I have sawed a couple of 5/4" boards and for the entire width I have made one which is 2.25" thick. Right now I am having problems because the width is so great that the blade can not eject the sawdust from each stroke, so the blade gets hot and tends to jam up. The sawing of something this wide (32"+) takes an incredible amount of time. I think my mean speed at the moment is 3/8" per minute.
It is a good thing that I don't have to make a living out of it. If the width is reduced to approx. 24", I can go with a speed of 4-6" per minute depending on how hard the wood is to saw.

Gustav and the trunk.

The trunk will just pass the frame of the mulesaw.

As a service to wives of readers from Pennsylvania, here is a picture of me after a visit to the hairdresser and also with a recent shave :-)  

10 comments:

  1. Kim says that you look like a new person! She prefers the clean cut/clean shaven look, to an extent. It should be considered high praise from her considering she thinks that most woodworkers need to shorten their hair and trim their beards.
    Good luck with the sawing!
    Your Friend,
    Bill

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    1. Hi Bill, I am glad she approves of this look.
      I had took make sure you will still be allowed to visit this blog :-)

      Brgds
      Jonas

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  2. Having seen that tree standing, it is clear the photos really don't show how massive it is. The crotch you have there should yield a stunning table top. QS sycamore looks really cool.

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    1. I am planning on making flat sawn boards from the entire trunk. The side "branches" I could try QS'ing. I just hope I will be able to speed up the process a bit. Right now it is slower than eve Ron Herman will think is acceptable.

      Brgds
      Jonas

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  3. It seems like I've always heard Sycamore (American at least) gets wonky when drying. I'm interested in finding out your experience. Please post more pictures as it unfolds, sound like an interesting project.
    Also I haven't worked either sycamore or beech before, but a few years ago I sawed up some mystery firewood I thought was beech into billets for planes. When I found them recently in a shop cleanup, I think they might be sycamore. Any tips on distinguishing? Internet searching hasn't convinced me 100% that I made QS kindling.

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    1. Hi Jeremy.
      am pretty new to this Sycamore stuff, so I am curious myself as to how it will behave.
      I know that earlier it was widely used for drawer sides as it moves very little once it is dry.

      Regarding the distinguishing of the two, I would say that beech is a bit more coloured than sycamore, But maybe it is different if it is red beech or white beech. Normally there are some "rays" in the beech, and I think that sycamore should look a bit more "plain".
      I know that Brian Eve is a bit into the "look at the end grain with a magnifier - and I can tell you the species" club.
      He brought this jewellers loupe and helped me with hints on what to look for in a couple of different species.
      Maybe he knows what will really distinguish one from the other.

      Brgds
      Jonas

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    2. Haha! Very funny. I read this article: http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/hardwood-anatomy/, and found it very informative. The loupe cost about ten bucks on Amazon, and I find it interesting.

      Jonas, I think what you have is European sycamore, or Acer pseudoplatanus, and Jeremy, most likely you have American sycamore, or Platanus occidentalis. The American stuff, at least, has absolutely amazing rays when quarter sawn.

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    3. Thanks gents. and for that link. I do believe that what I have is QS American Sycamore, the ray fleck are quite spectacular and I don't believe it can be beech (though there is no QS beech shown). Now I need to figure out what to do with 12-16 moulding plane sized billets. Perhaps till sides in the small tool chest that needs dividing. Thanks,

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    4. There is a sycamore that is known as "London Plane Tree," or just "Plane tree." Sounds perfect for planes. If you want to see beech rays, just look at any molding plane you have in your toolbox!

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    5. Jeremy,
      I would just go ahead and try to make a moulding plane or two out of your plane sized billets.
      If the wood is hard like beech, and stable, then I see absolutely no reason why it shouldn't work?

      If you are worried that it will be too soft and wear out on the bottom too quickly, you could glue a wear strip to the bottom of the plane of some sort.
      Brgds
      Jonas

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