Are there any tricks to planing quartersawn Sycamore?

AndyF · Dec 28, 2022

Years ago my dad made an office suite of furniture using Sycamore and I really like the lacy appearance of it. Since he's no longer around, I can't ask him how he prepped the wood.

I'm planning to make some cabinets from quartersawn Sycamore for the house I'm renovating and am curious if there is anything special I need to do when I plane and joint the roughsawn lumber. I have a Powermatic 221 20" planer and Powermatic 8" jointer, both with HSS knives that I can use for thicknessing and surfacing.

richard newman · Dec 28, 2022

Have you tried a sample piece?

It's been so long since I used qt'd sycamore, I can't remember if it was problematic, sorry. Others will no doubt have advice

AndyF · Dec 28, 2022

richard newman said:
Have you tried a sample piece?

It's been so long since I used qt'd sycamore, I can't remember if it was problematic, sorry. Others will no doubt have advice

Not yet. I picked it up yesterday. It has been air dried for several years and stored under cover. I don't expect to start working with it until some time next year. For now, I will be planning and sketching.

Toolmaker51 · Dec 28, 2022

Can't offer any sage thoughts on Sycamore, beside those from cartridge reloading sage Dean Grennell....
His comment centered on wood used in leader priced long guns (when walnut was de riguer, for sake of implied quality) "stocked in the finest Sycamore that ever graced banks of the Wabash".
Must be 30+ years ago, first edition ABC's of Reloading.
Memorable line, humorous writer; or the other way around.

Comatose · Dec 28, 2022

I just did a QS sycamore tabletop. My jointer and planer are helical head, but I didn't have to take any special precautions and didn't get any meaningful tearout. It's light and machines easily.

henrya · Dec 29, 2022

I have never had any particular problems with working quarter sawn sycamore. Generally sycamore is a bit stringy, but well suited to power tool work.

stephen thomas · Dec 29, 2022

I love that stuff!
My memory is that it planes fine until it doesn't, but that the issues tend to be small pockets that suddenly pull out, rather than going bad all over as a lot of wood does once a wild grain area is encountered.

The only sort of recent projects have been calibrated in the widebelt sander, so i'm not much help.

scsmith42 · Dec 30, 2022

Will mill, dry and process it all the time. I’ve never encountered any tear-out problems with it, so you should be good to go.

Scruffy887 · Dec 30, 2022

stephen thomas said:
I love that stuff!
My memory is that it planes fine until it doesn't, but that the issues tend to be small pockets that suddenly pull out, rather than going bad all over as a lot of wood does once a wild grain area is encountered.

The only sort of recent projects have been calibrated in the widebelt sander, so i'm not much help.

View attachment 382675

View attachment 382674

HELL YEAH! Wide belts rule my stuff. Gotta love stupid big HP on the 50 grit contact roll on head 1.

rimcanyon · Jan 1, 2023

I don't know if western sycamore is any different, but I recently made a bathroom medicine cabinet from some rattlesnake sycamore that had been air dried.
There was a bit of tearout in the rough boards, but they planed up beautifully using a helical cutterhead.

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Are there any tricks to planing quartersawn Sycamore?

AndyF

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richard newman

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AndyF

Stainless

Toolmaker51

Cast Iron

Comatose

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henrya

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stephen thomas

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scsmith42

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Scruffy887

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rimcanyon

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