A Quartersawn Sycamore Tree Story

Years ago, (in my lifetime), sycamore was considered to be a trash wood.  It didn’t give off enough heat for house warming, it wasn’t strong enough for construction, and if cut into boards in the traditional way, any interesting figure (grain) in the wood didn’t show; in general, it wasn’t a useful wood.  Things change.  If sycamore is “quartersawn,” the grain is visible, and makes for beautiful and interesting boxes.

Quartersawn Sycamore Box with Lift Off Lid and Walnut Accents

Not too long ago, I was told of a sycamore log left in a farmer’s field with other cast offs from a local tree service.  The farmer used his tractor to extricate the log from the pile of refuse.  It was all the tractor could do to remove it to a place where a portable band saw mill waited to saw it.  The log was 42 inches at the small end and about 7 and 1/2 feet long.  The next problem was, it was too big for the saw.  The sawyer brought with him a long chainsaw with a gas engine on both ends.  With a guide attached to the log, I on one end of the chainsaw and the sawyer on the other, going full bore, we proceeded to cut off a slab from the log so the log could be cut on the band saw mill.

Quartersawn Sycamore Box with Walnut Accents and Handle

The cut off slab complicates the process of quartersawing.  Here’s how to cut a perfect cylindrical log: The perfect quartersawn cut is a cut from the outside of the log to the dead center.  So, cut the log in half, then cut each half in half.  You see where the word quartersawn comes from.  Each cut surface has the quartersawn figure.  Now, we need a board.  When cutting off the board, the saw does not cut through the dead center, so this surface is only close to quartersawn.  The next thing to do is cut a small triangle of wood off the remaining wood with the cut going through the dead center (if it were there) to give a perfect quartersawn surface again.  Throw the triangular piece away. Then, cut another board.  Go through the process again, and again, etc. until it’s all cut.

Years ago, sawyers didn’t do this.  They didn’t want to throw wood away (the small triangle) and they didn’t want to make an additional cut for one board (more work for each board).

Quartersawn Sycamore Box with Walnut Handle and Feet

The log was cut 5/4 to be used primarily for boxes and taken that day to the dry kiln.  Now, it’s still not that easy.  Did you know the when a tree grows, it spirals?  So, each quarter of the log can have the perfect quartersawn surface on one end and not the other end.  These days, quartersawn sycamore is not considered a trash wood, but a domestic exotic wood.  You can guess what that means – it’s more expensive.

~ by Allan Longroy on February 2, 2014.