Sycamore

[Ken Smith]

Sycamore is English maple. There is an American Sycamore but that is a totally different species. We got in a few slabs some years back from a Tree that was planted here in the Northeast from an English Sycamore some 200 years ago or so. Once in a while, one gets cut down.

Some pieces look like regular European maple like you see on the back of a Violin. The English variety is often tight even flamed. My Hart Bass has a Back of Sycamore made about the year 1830. It is spectacular.

A few pieces had some wild 'crotch' like grain figure. The piece above looks like a book matched starburst. A first for me.

The color of the English Sycamore is more creamy colored than the American Maples we see.