Sycamore is notorious for being hollow. Back in pioneer days, people would find a hollow sycamore for shelter until they could build a proper cabin. I know foresters have forumulas for yield, based on diameter and height, but I don't have a good source for you. Diameter is normally measured "breast high" i.e., DBH to avoid the swell at the butt.

Drying may be a challenge for you. I had a larger sycamore sawn into a staggering amount of beautiful lumber, but the kiln operator didn't have space for it. I air-dried it, with little practice at such processes, made a lot of mistakes and ruined most of the wood. I'd make sure you have a plan for drying it before the tree is felled.

The fact that you are asking this question suggests that you are not prepared to dry the wood yourself.

Before you dry it, understand that you will have to pay somebody maybe $200+ to saw the tree into boards. Then he goes home, and you need to lift 1-2 tons of wood into your truck, drive it over to your exposed shed, then lift it again, sticker the pile for air drying. After it's outside for a year or two, repeat these steps, and stack it in your basement. All the while, you have to weight it to prevent warping.

As jon1270 says, you might screw up the whole thing.

Sorry for being blunt. Been there, done that - and I do have stacks of wood from my property in the basement).

Good luck

Just to add, sycamore is not really considered a cabinet wood in the U.S. (Different story in Europe).

If you had a large black cherry, walnut or maple, it might be worth trying. Might be some curly wood in it.

IMHO

John, I think of "quilting" as indicating a sort of curl, but the sycamore I've got (the little which survived my painful learning experience) is not at all curled. The quartersawn faces do have very pronounced ray fleck. I haven't found it hard to work with at all.

The explanation I've heard for sycamore's not being more commonly used centers around drying difficulty.

I have made one small table top from English sycamore, and it's much closer to our (American) maple than to our sycamore. What we call sycamore is, in turn, more like what they call "plane."

What we in the USA call American sycamore is Platanus occidentalis. It tends to have spiral grain, which makes it harder to dry without twist or warp. It also can have shake when open grown and/or in wet soils. Quartersawing it and/or cutting it thinner (3/4" or 1/2") seems to help with the stability issue. It is slightly softer than longleaf pine and slightly harder than loblolly pine (both are southern yellow pines and might be sold as heart pine).

Sycamore from Europe, Ireland, and the UK is Acer platanoides, which is a maple (Acer). We call this same tree Norway Maple in the USA. It is a yard tree/invasive weed tree here and also in Ireland and the UK where it came over from mainland Europe several centuries ago. As mentioned, the wood can have nice figure and is stable. It is relatively soft compared to sugar maple.

Finally, the London plane tree (Platanus x acerfolia)is a true sycamore but is a cross between American sycamore and Oriental plane tree (Platanus orientalis). It is common in Europe and in the eastern USA urban areas.

I would not suggest having the tree sawn/dried/milled for flooring unless it has sentimental value to you or you can do some of the work yourself to save money. Drying is the big problem for most people with green lumber due to space and stacking requirements. 6-8% MC is what is needed for most flooring applications. This is most easily achieved with a dry kiln. If you are serious about this endeavor, then check out woodweb.com or forestryforum.com. Lots of great information on both sites.

For reference, this tree at 26" DBH and 30 feet of usable log (sound & straight) will produce about 490 board feet of lumber on the International 1/4" log scale. Assuming a waster factor of 25% in converting green 1" lumber into dried 3/4" flooring, that leaves around 490 square feet of flooring if everything goes well with the drying.

Hope this helps.

Joe Dwyer
Dwyer Forestry Consulting

I don't know why you don't see much sycamore (figured or otherwise). But it probably has more to do with stabilility problems, as mentioned, rather than milling difficulty.

I have some crab apple downstairs. I think to keep a stack of that stuff from moving you would need a strapping machine (like they use on a loading dock).

There are furniture makers who use curly maple exclusively. They don't ever complain about milling difficulty.

Thank you, everyone, for your help. We do have a place to dry the wood onsite and access to a kiln but we will need nearly 1000 sq. ft. of flooring so it sounds as if this tree won't be enough. It turns out one of the subs on the addition is a cabinetmaker on the side. We will probably just let him have the wood - it will save us the trouble of getting rid of it ourselves. Thanks again!

I will correct something I posted earlier. Sycamore in Ireland and the UK is Acer pseudoplatanus and not Norway maple (Acer platanoides). They are both similar in that they are exotics, fast growing, and spread but they are not the same species. Sorry for the confusion. Here is a good link:

Here is a link that might be useful: Irish Sycamore