Anyone here burn Sycamore

[Kneerat]

Got about a cord of sycamore for free. Dont here too much on here about it. Just wondering how the stuff burns?

 

[gzecc]

Never burned it, did not hear good things about it. Free is good. I would mix it with superior wood personally.

 

[Retreadsme]

I'm burning "syc som more" now during the day when the temp is 35 outside. Mine lights easily, burns fairly quickly, makes almost no coals. I cut a standing dead Sycamore in my yard last spring, stacked it and have burned some mixed since early December. I've read some people saying it is difficult to split, but mine split easily.

 

[wahoowad]

I'll burn it if someone gives me some splits, but won't ever bring any home to split

 

[sapratt]

I think it burns good. If I could get my hands on more I'd take it.

 

[wood spliter]

My parents have burned it but the only thing I remember is that it was tough to split.

 

[BigV]

I have burned sycamore for years and would take all I could get for free.
It a little stringy to split, but not bad. I believe the BTU rating is somewhere around 18 or 19.

If it's free, take it and give it a try. I don't think you will be disappointed.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It sounds to me like you will be finding out how it burns.

I've never split nor burned the stuff but know some folks who have. The only thing bad I've ever heard is that it can be hard to split. A lot of that is because it tends to have lots of limbs.

 

[Kneerat]

You guys where right about splitting that stuff, what a pain in the @$$. Here is a picture of half of what im getting, got my work cut out for me.

 

[Gunks]

I burned about 2 cords of sycamore one season. It burned fast and doesn't give out much heat. OK for shoulder seasons and if it's free.

 

[JBinKC]

I do on a rare occasion. I scored about a 1/4 cord from a dead tree a few houses down from me a month ago for my 2010-2011 burning. In my experience the wood seasons very quickly and it burns well enough to meet my needs here. The limbs typically are straighter than most trees with fewer branches making the tops quicker to process and easier to stack in a woodpile. On the BTU scale the wood is about on par with silver maple. The wood leaves a fluffy ash and coals poorly.

Like American elm/gum if you have to process the without the aid of a mechanical splitter I would probably limit the take to pieces where it wouldn't be necessary to split because it will definitely take you about 10 times longer to process by hand.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

I guess I'm in the minority because I like it. It is heavy as heck when green and very light when dry, burns easily and quickly, but I like it. And you already learned how bad it is to split, with that twisted grain. I wouldn't want to rely on it if it was bitter cold out, but other than that I take it when I see it.

 

[joshlaugh]

I have burned some this year. I didn't have that large of a tree so splitting it was not that hard. It reminded me of tulip poplar in how it burns. Free is always good, unless it is boxelder, and as others suggested burn it with other wood or use it in the fall/spring time.

 

[maxed_out]

I've found that it burns Ok-not great but ok, tough to split with maul. big pieces really hard so I try to stick to 6 inch rounds and lower. I'll cookie the bigger ones but I really try to stay away from the big stuff.
Lets face it free hardwood is a good thing not matter what.