Sycamore

Natural and Dyed Veneers come in bundles. A bundle is made up of leaves and so all sizes are different.

Reconsistuted Veneers however are different. As these are man-made they come in sheets please click here to see the sizes in which they are available.

Below is the technical information surrounding our Sycamore veneer.

Family: Aceraceae
Commercial Names:
Other Names: Sycamore plane, great maple (UK), plane (Scotland). (In the USA the name sycamore refers to Platanus occidentalis, L., American plane or buttonwood
Distribution: Central Europe and the UK. Also Western Asia.
General Description:White or creamy-white in colour with a natural lustre. Straight grained, but often curly or wavy producing the attractive fiddleback figure on quartered surfaces. The texture is fine and even, and sometimes quartered stock has beautiful lacey figure due to conspicuous ray. Average weight about 610 kg/m3 (38 lb/ft3), specific gravity, 61.
Mechanical Properties: This excellent wood of medium density has medium bending and crushing strengths, low resistance to stock loads and very low stiffness, and a very good steam bending classification.
Seasoning: It air dries well but is inclined to stain. Very rapid surface drying prevents this, and end-stacking of boards is the usual practise to allow this. For kiln drying a low temperature is the best treatment. Rapid drying preserves the white colour but slow drying cause the colour to mature into pink-brown “weathered” sycamore. There is medium movement in service.
Working Properties:Works easily with hand or machine tools, and provides a fine, smooth finish. There is a moderate blunting effect on tools. Nails, glues, stains and polishes excellently
Durability: Perishable. Sapwood is liable to insect attack but it is permeable to preservative treatment.
Uses: Turnery, bobbins, textile rollers, brush handles, furniture, flooring for domestic use, domestic and dairy utensils, laundry and butcher appliances, food containers, musical instruments cooperage. Selected logs are sliced for highly decorative veneers for panelling, cabinets and marquetry. Fiddle-back is supplied for the backs of violins. When chemically treated into shades of sliver grey it is sold commercially as harewood, and it is often steamed or treated to change colour into a pink or mid-brown and sold as weathered sycamore. It is also the best veneer for processing into dyed veneers in a range of colour including dyed black.