American sycamore gives 19.5 million BTU per cord of seasoned wood, according to Utah State University Extension’s “Wood Heating” (Table 1, Firewood Facts). That puts it in the middle of the species on this site, neither a premium hardwood nor a filler. The same source does not publish smoke or spark behavior for it, so those two questions stay open below. Moisture will decide your results more than the species does.
How much heat American sycamore gives
Start with a fact that surprises most people: pound for pound, nearly every species of wood releases about the same heat. What separates them is density. A cord is a fixed volume (a stack 4 feet high, 4 feet deep and 8 feet long, or 128 cubic feet), so a dense wood packs more pounds into that space than a light one. You buy volume, but you burn weight.
That is why the number on a cord matters, and why a single figure means little without neighbors. The 19.5 million BTU per cord for sycamore comes from Utah State University Extension, “Wood Heating”, Table 1 Firewood Facts. On the full range of species, it sits mid-range on this site. Oak gives nearly twice what cottonwood gives, and sycamore lands between those poles. A cord of sycamore will not heat a house as long as a cord of the densest hardwoods. It will outlast the lightest softwoods and poplars by a clear margin.
Published figures differ from one source to the next, sometimes by enough to reorder a ranking. Moisture content at the time of measurement, the density of the sample and the method of calculation all vary. I use the Utah State University Extension value because it is a named, citable table, and I do not blend it with other sources. Averaging two published numbers would give you a figure nobody measured.
Why seasoning outranks the table
One rule beats every ranking. Green wood spends its heat boiling off its own water before it can warm a room, so a green oak burns worse than a seasoned aspen. If you buy the hottest species and burn it wet, you get less heat than someone who seasons a modest one properly. A mid-range wood that is dry is a better buy than a top-ranked wood that is not.
For budgeting, mid-range also means you can plan around it. If you heat mostly with a denser species and add sycamore for shoulder-season fires, you will refill the firebox a little more often on cold nights. That is the whole penalty.
Smoke, sparks, and which stove suits it
Here the picture gets thinner. The source that gives sycamore’s heat value does not publish smoke or spark ratings for it. I will not guess from its density or borrow behavior from a relative, because wood that looks similar on paper can act very differently in a firebox. What follows is a way to decide, not a verdict.
The decision comes from crossing species and appliance. A species that throws many sparks is a hazard in an open fireplace and harmless behind the closed door of a stove. A species that smokes heavily may heat as well as the best wood and still be miserable indoors. Neither trait makes a wood “bad.” It makes the wood wrong for one appliance and fine for another. Since you already own the appliance, the question is what to do while the species is undocumented.
| Your appliance | Why it matters | What to do with sycamore |
|---|---|---|
| Open fireplace | Sparks can leave the firebox and reach the room or the rug | Burn a small test load with the screen closed and you in the room. Do not leave it unattended |
| Closed wood stove | The door contains sparks, so smoke matters more than popping | Fine for a trial, as long as the wood is dry and the stove gets a hot, bright fire |
| Fireplace insert | Closed door like a stove, with a chimney that may be harder to clean | Watch for creosote buildup during the first season and inspect the flue after |
A test load costs nothing. Burn three or four splits and watch. Do they pop and throw embers? Does smoke roll into the room when you open the door to reload? Do glass and flue stay clean? You get your own measurement, which beats any chart for your chimney draft and your stove.
For a sense of how this looks once ratings are documented, read the pages on Tamarack (eastern larch) as Firewood: Heat, Smoke and Sparks and Ironwood (eastern hophornbeam) as Firewood: Heat, Smoke and Sparks. Those pages show what the spark and smoke columns can change in the choice of stove, and the full comparison sits in Firewood by Species.
How long it takes to season
Firewood should be below about 20 percent moisture before it gives real heat. Above that, the water has to boil off first, and that consumes the energy you wanted for the room. Wet wood also burns cooler, which means more smoke and more creosote deposited in the chimney.
The Utah State University Extension table does not publish a drying time for sycamore, so I will not give you a number of months. Some species dry slowly because of their cell structure, and others dry fast, but this one’s pace is not documented in the source used here. Plan on the general rule: split it, stack it off the ground, give the pile sun and wind, and keep rain off the top. Splitting matters most, since the cut faces are where moisture leaves. Whole rounds can hold their water for a very long time.
You do not need a meter to check, though one is cheap and worth owning. Three signs work without equipment:
- Cracks radiating from the center of the end grain, wide enough to slip a fingernail into.
- Bark that lifts or peels away by hand.
- Weight and sound: dry splits feel light for their size and ring with a sharp knock when two are struck together, while wet ones thud.
If you are unsure, split one open and check the fresh face with a meter, because the surface can dry while the core stays wet. If it reads above 20 percent, leave the stack alone for another season rather than burning it and hoping.
Getting hold of it
American sycamore is a large tree of river bottoms, creek banks and old yards across the eastern half of the country, and it is a common street and park tree. Your best chance of finding it is through local tree services, storm cleanup, and people clearing property. Sycamores drop big limbs, so there is often a supply of cut wood nobody wants to haul. Whether you can find it in a cord-sized load depends on your county, and no source I use ranks its availability.
Whatever the species, insist on local wood. Moving firewood is how the emerald ash borer spread into the Midwest, where it killed more than fifty million ash trees. Insects and fungal diseases ride in bark and under it, and they do not respect state lines. A pile bought at a roadside stand two states away can carry something your woodlot has never seen.
In practice that means asking where the wood was cut before you pay. Buy from within the area where you will burn it, and carry nothing back from a camping trip. Some states restrict firewood movement outright, so check with your state’s department of agriculture or forestry agency before you haul a load across a line.
If your supplier offers a mixed load, ask what is in it. Sycamore mixed with a denser species is a perfectly workable cord. Just be sure you are paying for a full cord of 128 cubic feet rather than a loose “rick” or “face cord” that holds less.
Common questions
Is American sycamore good firewood?
It is a mid-range wood. Utah State University Extension lists 19.5 million BTU per cord of seasoned wood, which falls between the light species and the dense hardwoods. It is good at heating once it is dry, and it is a fair choice for a mixed woodpile. Its smoke and spark behavior is not published in that source.
Can I burn sycamore in an open fireplace?
The source does not document its sparking, so treat the first fires as a test. Use a screen, burn a small load, and stay in the room. A closed stove is the safer place to learn how it behaves, because the door holds in any embers.
Does the species matter more than seasoning?
No. Seasoning outranks the whole table. Green oak burns worse than seasoned aspen, because the green wood spends its heat boiling off water. A dry, mid-range species beats a wet premium one every time.
Why do heat numbers differ between websites?
Moisture, density and testing method all change the result, so two public sources can disagree on the same species. Pick one named source and stick with it, as this page does with Utah State University Extension. Averaging two figures produces a number no one measured, and a cord of wood is hardly more predictable than the stack it came from.