# Splitting Sycamore



## kestrel (Jan 15, 2011)

Just got done splitting some sycamore I brought back from a coworkers house who had a bunch of wood down and wanted to get it off his property.  Got some ash, sugar maple, white oak, and beech in the deal but he also had a pile of sycamore he wanted rid of.  After reading mixed reviews on it I was hesitant to take it, but was doing him the favor to get it off his property.  I had read that it was horrible to split.  I was out splitting this morning with a maul and found that although it is a bit difficult to split, it is definetely nowhere near elm as far as splitting difficulty.  Also, the huge rounds are so light that I can lift them over my head and convince my kids that I have superhuman strength.


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## EatenByLimestone (Jan 15, 2011)

It's that superhuman strength that is helping you split it.   :lol:


Matt


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## SolarAndWood (Jan 15, 2011)

You are the man.  I got some this fall and can't imagine splitting it by hand.  There wasn't a straight round in the entire tree.


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## Thistle (Jan 15, 2011)

Good luck. Its can be a real b*#ch to split,though frozen & green would be a bit easier.Interlocked grain almost as bad as American Elm.


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## chinkapin_oak (Jan 15, 2011)

Sycamore is great firewood - don't underestimate it.  In my opinion, it's the most underrated firewood out there.  I don't think twice about taking free sycamore.  I do have a hydraulic splitter, so splitting it is easy for me.  On the downside, it does leave lots of ashes.  But it's still one of my favorite woods.


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## tfdchief (Jan 15, 2011)

It is not all the same either.  I have had some that split easy and some that, well, split is not exactly what it did....crumble we be more like it.  And sometimes it's better firewood than other times.  I think Sycamore just varies a lot from tree to tree.  My experience anyway.


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## Thistle (Jan 15, 2011)

Very large old ones tend to hollow out quickly,early settlers & wildlife still used them for shelter.


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## joshlaugh (Jan 16, 2011)

I like burning it in the fall and spring.  The trees I had were almost as hard to split by hand as elm is.


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## Mike821 (Jan 16, 2011)

burn it and be careful as it heats up fast as heck.  I had seven cords from one tree we took down at our place.  52" trunk.....what a beotch even with a good splitter.


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## woodchip (Jan 16, 2011)

I love sycamore, everybody else round here avoids it, so I can pick up as much as I want. 

I work on the basis that if you can survive on wood that everybody else ignores, you can carve out a good little niche for yourself


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