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Post by engineerone on Oct 12, 2007 21:27:27 GMT
got a call from a mate yesterday. (yes i know, but i do have a couple  ;D) he asked what you would use Ash and Sycamore for. having never used either i checked in my text books, but found very little, i know ash is used for morgans (the car) and i guess morris minor travellers. but can you use it for furniture? what about sycamore can it be used structurally?? or is it only useful for decoration, like drawer fronts? paul  |
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Post by pigeonsarse on Oct 12, 2007 21:39:38 GMT
Ash is a great timber for furniture, (but not the black ash of the eighties!)
Sycamore, I was told, is used in kitchen utensils such as chopping boards as it has a completely nuetral taste so wont taint any food it comes into contact with
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Post by engineerone on Oct 12, 2007 22:13:03 GMT
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh paul |
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Post by sawdust on Oct 12, 2007 22:26:44 GMT
I like ash for furniture
Isn't sycamore good for carving and turning
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Post by jfc on Oct 12, 2007 23:09:34 GMT
Sycamore is a maple . Only time ive used it is with some old logs .   |
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Post by engineerone on Oct 12, 2007 23:26:26 GMT
the things some people do to promote their bloody legacy ;D niceone jason, thanks paul |
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Post by Alf on Oct 13, 2007 8:27:12 GMT
(but not the black ash of the eighties!) Beleive me its coming back, I do a lot of work for central London designers, and it's rearing its ugly head again Oh god, shoot me now... Paul, a certain well-manicured hand tool guru uses sycamore for drawer sides; often dyed for coloured veneers; good for all sorts of treen. Personally I like it, although some people find it bland. The trouble comes if you get poorly handled stuff (can't recall if it's got to dry upright? Scrit or someone'll know) anyway, it can get some pretty unsightly grey streaks and stains. Ash gets used for all sorts - good one for handles, f'rinstance; steam bending iirc; furniture of course. Sounds to me like you need some better books. ;D Cheers, Alf |
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Post by jfc on Oct 13, 2007 8:35:51 GMT
Paslode or Dewalt ? ;D
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Post by Scrit on Oct 13, 2007 8:37:36 GMT
As someone else says sycamore was traditionally used for treen (turned utensils), although in the north of England it was also used a lot for shop counters, draining boards, chopping blocks, etc as beech is not found in any great (commercial) quantity north of the Midlands. The problem with maples and to a lesser extent sycamores are that they tend to have black or dark brown streaks in the heartwood up here and so were commercially of less use - this so-called "black heart" sycamore was often used for pit props. Sycamore is not a hardy timber so it is little used for exterior joinery - pit props were not intended to have a long life so it didn't matter that sycamore degrades in damp conditions. Another common use is in musical instruments, e.g. fiddle-back sycamore.
As Alf says sycamore suffers from sticker marking - greyish horizontal bar markes from the stickers - if it is not end-reared for drying. In recent years John Boddies, a major exported of sycamore to the USA, has found a method of conventional drying of sycamore using plastic stickers which overcomes this problem.
Ash is the traditional timber of choice for coachwork frames, both railway coaches, bus and coach bodies, lorry cab frames and traditional coach-built car body frames such as on the Morgan car (and the Morris Minor Traveller of yore). It is an ideal timber in many ways as it can withstand shock loading and it steam bends well. The major downside is that it is not tremendously durable, although it is better than other native timbers such as beech and sycamore. Another common use for ash is for tool handles where the tool will be subjected to shock loading, e.g. hammer hefts, mortise chisel handles and pick axe helms, although for the better quality hammers it has been supplanted by American hickory. In that sort of application the timber is normally cleaved before shaping to retain the maximum possible strength. It has also found uses in sports goods such as bats, rackets, hockey sticks, polo mallet heads, etc. because of it's ability to "take a beating". Another common use is in furniture components, such as traditional wooden chairs and upholstered frames whilst much is dyed and used in veneer form.
Oddly enough forresters often regard sycamore, ash and birch as "weeds" because they are self-propogating, quick-growing and will colonise even poor ground, meaning that they will supplant slower-growing species such as oak and walnut unless regularly removed or trimmed back
I suggest you need to get something like Lincoln's book "World Woods in Colour" for better information about different species
Scrit
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Post by Alf on Oct 13, 2007 8:42:17 GMT
How about one in each temple and I'l try and do you a comparative review before I expire? ;D |
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Post by Scrit on Oct 13, 2007 8:43:33 GMT
How about one in each temple and I'l try and do you a comparative review before I expire? ;D Might I suggest Hitachi - cheaper than a Passy ;D |
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Post by mrgrimsdale on Oct 13, 2007 9:11:00 GMT
Sycamore (and or maple - there are varieties) used for music instrument bodies - all violin family are sycamore or maple, except soundboard (spruce or other softwood).
Also for kitchen tables and work tops - but no good "fitted", has to be freestanding furniture so it gets a chance to dry out. Fitted stuff usually has nooks and crannies which'd hold water and give nasty black stains to sycamore.
cheers
Jacob
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Post by paulchapman on Oct 13, 2007 10:44:55 GMT
Oddly enough forresters often regard sycamore, ash and birch as "weeds" because they are self-propogating, quick-growing and will colonise even poor ground, meaning that they will supplant slower-growing species such as oak and walnut unless regularly removed or trimmed back Not 'arf. Loads of sycamore where I live. Turn your back for 5 minutes and another one's popped up  Can't keep up with it  Cheers Paul |
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Post by Scrit on Oct 13, 2007 20:08:02 GMT
Fitted stuff usually has nooks and crannies which'd hold water and give nasty black stains to sycamore. You missed the wonderful tendency of both sycamore and maple to have ingrown bark inclusions and various stress-related problems caused by the tendency of roots to sprout multiple stems (trunks). Because it is invasive and exotic (it is an introduced species allegedly brought by the Romans), sycamore is a controversial tree which some conservation bodies try to eradicate where it threatens to take over remnant ancient woodlands. Incidentally, one of the common names for sycamore is "field maple" Scrit |
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Post by nickw on Oct 14, 2007 9:30:59 GMT
The current issue of British Woodworker has an article extolling the virtues of sycamore by David Savage. I'm in two minds about the mag. at the moment. On the one hand the pedant in me objects to spending money on a magazine that is so badly edited ("cabriolet legs", "stantion", "gaskit", "wadge" and "slither" when sliver was meant for starters), promotes the editor so much, as if Nick Gibbs were a household name and supreme exemplar of wood-workmanship (he has even started to refer to himself in the first person plural), the close relationship between Nick and Charlie which allows him to place posts on UKW that are clearly advertising but don't get mod-ed (I used the reporting mechanism for one such, and got no reply - no action either). On the other hand there are some interesting articles in there, I particularly enjoyed the one about locally sourced timber - not that there's much chance of any round here, trees are far too rare. |
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;D)
Can't keep up with it 
