Twenty some years ago I was talking to a friend, he was a timber man. He'd worked with timber and logs about all of his life. Anyway, the conversation rolled around and he was telling me about lumber that most folks don't appreciate much. I knew before he said it, he was talking about sycamore.

Sycamore trees are usually found near water, not always, but most times. It's a fast growing tree, and they will get big. Eighty feet tall or more. I'm not sure how far North they range?

I was on the farm the other morning and dropped a sycamore tree, all together I've got 5 good logs. The way I stepped it off about 45 feet total, a rough guess, I figure about 750 board feet. Sycamore is a white lumber, really soft and easy to saw when it's green. But, it will warp very fast. And when it gets dry, it's kind of brittle, you can't drive a nail in it without splitting the board most times.

But what my plan is, I'm going to build some "coon cubbies", where I'll use a small body-grip trap. Similar to a marten/fisher box. A buddy of mine said they are the way to go.

But, sycamore will rot fast if it's wet. My plan is to build the boxes with green lumber, let them cure, and then treat them to keep it from rotting. I should be able to get years of service. Thinking, in this dry winter air, they should dry fast. But, that's my plan.

Friend of mine wants to set for skunks in about 2 weeks, we haven't decided who's going to do the skinning yet. I reckon we both will. Sounds like fun anyway.