I have covered Sycamore as a wood extensively in the past and you can view it here.
This is a small Sycamore dish, measuring just over 5″ across and just under 2″ tall.
Sycamore Interior Sloped
I have had these small blocks around for a long time and I am working through them both to use them up and to get back into the “swing” of things having not been active on the lathe for some time due to moving, house set up, and all that good stuff. It seemed smart to me to start small and simple to get my skills back.
Sycamore Side
Sycamore can have a very wild figure, especially for a domestic wood. It can very much resemble exotic lacewoods, which come from both South America and Australia, but this is most pronounced with the wood is quarter-sawn, which this sample was not. There is still some reasonable figure on two sides of the interior, but it doesn’t show much on the straight cut sides. These ray flecks are what give the wood the lacy appearance. This effect is not due to grain per se but rather to a pattern found in the end grain.
Sycamore Reverse
Sycamore is fairly soft and this cut really fast with my Easy Wood Tools. Unfortunately, although it cut easily, it also cut rough with a lot of fiber lift on the end grain. This required both careful light cuts with both a bowl gouge and the negative rake cutters newly introduced by Easy Wood Tools.
The Sycamore blank was held in a Nova Chuck for hollowing and then reversed onto a Nova Cole Jaws set.
Sycamore Interior
The Sycamore piece is finished in ShellaWax from Australia.
This was a quick and relatively easy piece so that was a plus but it doesn’t really blow my hair back. Plain cut Sycamore is, well, pretty plain and this shows that clearly. If you have a chance to work with quarter-sawn Sycamore definitely do it, but I struggle to think it is much worth the effort for plain cut material. But, as someone must have said, a so-so day at the lathe is better than a fantastic day working, doing yard work, or another chore.
Sycamore Reverse Sloped
Whatever you make today, have a good turn!