Distinguishing Maple from Sycamore

[tim]

I have been going through my timber stocks prior to the move to see what I have , what I am going to try to persuade the mover's agent to let me take with me and what I need to sell or convert into furniture before we leave.

I have realised that somewhere along the line I have mixed up some sycamore and maple boards and I am now trying to tell them apart and struggling. Is there a cunning way of telling them apart in the sawn state?

Cheers

Tim

 

[Gill]

Since sycamore is softer than maple, you should be able to tell the difference by pressing your thumb nail into the wood. If your nail sinks in easily, it will be sycamore; if it breaks, it's maple and you've still got nine more finger nails .

Gill

 

[tim]

Since sycamore is softer than maple, you should be able to tell the difference by pressing your thumb nail into the wood. If your nail sinks in easily, it will be sycamore; if it breaks, it's maple and you've still got nine more finger nails .

Gill

I tried that earlier and didn't get much discernible difference. I think I need to plane a bit off each board to tell though - the sawn surfaces are probably a bit too fibrous to see teh marks easily.

Cheers

Tim

 

[BradNaylor]

I'd just bang the boards through the thicknesser and have a look. If I still couldn't tell the differerence then I wouldn't worry too much and just treat them as the same. After all, maple and sycamore are just varients of the same species anyway - a bit like comparing American white oak and European oak. If you can't tell the difference, then a customer certainly isn't going to be able to! I'd just call the nice boards maple and the not-so-nice ones sycamore.

Distinguishing rough sawn timber can often be difficult. I unearthed a stack of boards from my store which I thought would be great for an oak project I was due to start. It was only when I started work that I realised they were ash!

Thing is, I couldn't remember ever buying any ash! A mistake by the timber yard or a sign of early onset dementia?

Dan

 

[devonwoody]

Tim, if its sycamore, I have run out and would purchase a few boards.

 

[Chris Knight]

Tim,
This might help http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/ ... camore.htm

and http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/ ... s/#letterM look down the list for maple.

Although as Dan says, I wouldnt worry too much - unless it's highly figured (rippled etc) then it's worth a lot more.

 

[Waka]

Tim

Maple is slightly lighter than sycamore, or is it the other way round.

 

[bob_c]

Sycamore is maple (acer pseudoplatanus),also known as European maple.
Sycamore in America is a type of plane tree.
American maple is a harder species.

 

[lurker]

Tim,

This might be B****ks but I've a feeling you will have problems taking untreated wood with you.

I used to export stuff to USA & Canada and any hint of wood and it was impounded.

 

[woodbloke]

Very difficult to tell the two apart, I's go along with Gill's idea and use the thumb nail test as sycamore is generally softer that maple, but then again there are different types of maple... - Rob

 

[tnimble]

Sycamore is maple (acer pseudoplatanus),also known as European maple.
Sycamore in America is a type of plane tree.
American maple is a harder species.

Almost

sycamore should refer to wood from the Ficus sycomorus tree.

But for some odd reason sycamore refers to wood from the Acer pseudoplatanus (Sycamore Maple) or to wood from the Acer platanoides (Norwegian Maple).

American hard maple is wood from the Acer saccharum also called sugar maple or black maple.

American soft maple is wood from the Acer rubrum also called red maple or silver maple.

Acer platanoides (Norwegian Maple) is not related to the Platanus acerifolia (London Plane) or Platanus occidentalis (Western plane)

The wood that comes from the plane tree is plane, lacewood or buttonwood. For some odd reason wood from the Platanus occidentalis (Western plane) is called sycamore by Some North Americans.


If your boards of sycamore and maple are mixed up you won't be able to tell them apart bevase they are the same.

If you have have boards of American hard or soft maple and sycamore the sycamore is darker. If you had plane but got it named by an American as sycamore those boards would be redish

 

[tim]

Thanks all


Normally I wouldn't worry but I have some very nice ripple sycamore boards which I want to use in a piece with the rest being normal sycamore and so I don't want to spoil the look (or waste the timber) by combining ripple sycamore with maple.

Cheers

Tim

 

[tnimble]

Thanks all

Normally I wouldn't worry but I have some very nice ripple sycamore boards which I want to use in a piece with the rest being normal sycamore and so I don't want to spoil the look (or waste the timber) by combining ripple sycamore with maple.

So the question is actually how can I
tell sycamore, ripple sycamore, spalted sycamore, sycamore burr etc appart. Would come down to planing off a few of the saw mark with a block plane and wet the wood a little with water. The figure should show.

 

[tim]

Thanks all

Normally I wouldn't worry but I have some very nice ripple sycamore boards which I want to use in a piece with the rest being normal sycamore and so I don't want to spoil the look (or waste the timber) by combining ripple sycamore with maple.

So the question is actually how can I
tell sycamore, ripple sycamore, spalted sycamore, sycamore burr etc appart. Would come down to planing off a few of the saw mark with a block plane and wet the wood a little with water. The figure should show.

Yeah - I know which boards are the ripple ones! Its the plain sycamore vs maple thats the issue.

Cheers

Tim

 

[tnimble]

Those aare the same. Unless its American hard maple which is much more resistant to marring and heavier.

 

[Harbo]

I have only ever bought sycamore and used it as maple
Fooled most people!

Sycamore sometimes gets greenish blemishes if not cut and dried properly - I do not know if that applies to maple?
Personally I do not think it matters - you can decide when pairing them up - for colour and grain?

Rod