Burr sycamore

I’m quite busy at the moment, band sawing and roughing out my ever expanding stack of timber. The majority of it is yew, but there’s a few lumps amongst it, which are unlike anything I’ve turned before…

Late last year, I was contacted by the new owners of a house, who’d inherited a fallen tree in their garden. This turned out to be a sycamore and although cut down some years ago, proved to be a rather worthwhile find. The majority of the trunk was solid burr and beautifully coloured inside – in fact it looked almost like elm, due to the dark red and orange of the grain.

These are the first blanks I cut on the band saw – even at this stage, the markings look impressive. I’ve managed to save a few chunks for natural edge work, but not as many as I’d hoped for. The outer surface of the tree had decayed in a few places, making the spiky edges soft and brittle. Sycamore is supposed to be plain and white, certainly unlike any of this…

The first piece to be roughed out. I've some even bigger ones to tackle yet and won’t be disappointed if they all end up looking like this!...