Wood ID please

[Rubberfrog]

Hi all

Just got into wood turning about a month ago. I have been practicing on scraps of wood I have laying around the garage. Last week behind where I work this was cut down and left, I asked if i could have the thicker parts, which they gladly gave me.

Problem is no one knew what type of tree it was. Could anyone help me with this and is it worth keeping or just use for practice.

Many thanks

RF

 

[Kalimna]

If you could post an image of the cut surface, that would help as it's a bit tricky from just some bark. Sycamore, perhaps?

Adam

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Probably sycamore. It's quite nice to use, but if it's been cut down and left lying it may be quite badly marked. Try it and see - you might be surprised. As above - a cut surface would be more easily identified.

 

[Rubberfrog]

Will chop the end off this evening and post.

thanks for the quick response.

RF

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Try to get a bit of long grain.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

but despite the species its almost always useable if the purpose is practice. Especially if its was from a broad leafed (deciduous) tree ie not a pine of some sort. This would mean its 99% likely to be a hardwood and as such highly likely to be good for practice. It may not look pretty at the end but as practice for beads and coves, parting, ogee's etc etc it usually doesn't matter much what it is. I've turned pretty much everything I could get my hands on when I started and some lovely surprises came out of doing that, hidden gems.

 

[KimG]

I would pop for Sycamore from that pic too, the bark at least looks the part.

 

[Woodmonkey]

I would expect sycamore to be a bit paler than that, looks a bit like bay or laurel maybe

 

[Rubberfrog]

Just walked over to where the tree was cut down, to see if there was any leaves left on the smaller branches. No leave but lots of helicopter seeds, so i would say it is a sycamore.

Thanks for all the help.

RF

 

[david123]

Are the helecopter seeds reddish in colour ? And at what angle are pairs of wings? If they are almost horizontal at an angle of almost 180 degre's and or reddish it will be field maple, if the wings are at about 90 degree's it will be Sycamore

Hope that clears things up

 

[Rubberfrog]

Thanks for the info Dave, I took a quick snap this morning on the way in to work.

Thanks

RF

 

[david123]

Hi RF
It is Sycamore (Sycamore Maple)
The other differences are that Maple has distinctive grain and rings whereas Sycamore has obscure rings and the grain is faint

Wonderful stuff is wood

Hope that helps

 

[Rubberfrog]

Hi RF
It is Sycamore (Sycamore Maple)
The other differences are that Maple has distinctive grain and rings whereas Sycamore has obscure rings and the grain is faint

Wonderful stuff is wood

Hope that helps

Excellent, many thanks. I will shelve it for later use.

RF.