Platanus × acerifolia

London Plane

Quartersawn London Plane reveals lacewood: large medullary rays catch the light in dense, scaly flecks. The slab's signature, and its whole reason for being on this list.

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Is it right for your project?

Great for

Quartersawn tabletops where the lacewood figure is the feature
Cabinet door panels and drawer fronts
Wall panelling and feature joinery
Turned bowls and hollow forms
Serving boards and kitchen pieces (interior, finished)
Veneer-look solid furniture

No London Plane in the current drop

Similar species in stock

No London Plane right now. These species suit the same projects and have pieces available.

Get notified about London Plane

We email you when fresh London Plane slabs land at KORENA. Each piece is one of one, so early notice matters.

Wood appearance

What it looks like

Straight grain, fine-to-medium texture, pinkish-brown heartwood that warms with age. Flatsawn faces are quiet and clean. Quartersawn is where it earns its name in the trade, lacewood, with broad ray flecks that read almost like snakeskin under finish. Two faces of the same board can look like two different woods.

Heartwood pinkish-brown to light reddish-tan
Sapwood pale cream, often left in for contrast
Quartersawn rays appear as darker flecks against the background
Warms and deepens under oil; ambers slightly with age
Flatsawn and quartersawn faces of one board can look like different species
Straight; lacewood figure on quartersawn faces.

Working with it

Working it

Saws, sands, turns, and carves well. Planing is the one to watch: the medullary rays that make quartersawn faces beautiful also tear out under dull blades. Sharp tools, light cuts, and a finish scraper or 220-grit pass to clean up. Glues and screws without drama.

Finishing

Takes oil and hardwax oil cleanly. The lacewood figure deepens dramatically under any clear finish. Test on an offcut before committing, because the contrast jumps. Stains can muddy the rays; we'd avoid them. Sand to 180–220 and stop.

Drying

Tangential shrinkage is high (around 10%) and roughly twice the radial figure, so cup and distortion are real risks. Dries best slowly, well-stickered, with weight on top. Once stable it holds shape indoors, but it's not a wood to rush through a kiln.

How much will it move?

Wood swells and shrinks across its width as the air gets damper and drier. Estimate the seasonal movement of a London Plane top before you design the fixings.

Top width800 mm

Cut

Where it will live

Expected seasonal movement

about 11.7 mm

Fix the top with buttons or slotted brackets, not glue or tight screws.

Linear shrinkage model: width × (shrinkage ÷ 28 % fibre saturation) × seasonal moisture swing. Uses 10.25 % tangential shrinkage for London Plane. A planning estimate, not a guarantee.

What it costs

Safety and sourcing

Not commonly flagged as a dust irritant or sensitiser. Standard shop dust extraction is enough. Food-contact safe once finished, fine for boards and serving pieces.

Read the full guideIn-depth notes on figure, colour change, working and stability.

What London Plane actually is#

Platanus x acerifolia is bought for one thing: lacewood.

The species has exceptionally large rays, the ribbons of cells that run radially through a trunk. In most timbers the rays are small enough to be barely visible, and in oak they show as the familiar silvery fleck on quartersawn faces. In London Plane they are so large that a quartersawn face is covered in a dense, regular flecked pattern across the entire surface.

That figure is called lacewood, and it exists only on the quarter. A flatsawn London Plane board is comparatively plain, a light reddish brown with modest figure. The same log cut differently is one of the most distinctive decorative surfaces in European timber.

If you are buying this species, you are buying quartersawn stock, and if you are offered flatsawn plane at a lacewood price, the cut is the thing to check.

The naming confusion#

Three species get called sycamore in different places and they are not related.

London Plane is Platanus x acerifolia, a hybrid plane. American sycamore is Platanus occidentalis, its close relative and also a source of lacewood. European Sycamore is Acer pseudoplatanus, a maple, and has nothing to do with either.

They look different, work differently and cost differently. Buy on the botanical name.

Buyer questions

Questions buyers ask

What is lacewood?

Lacewood is quartersawn London Plane. The species has exceptionally large rays, and cutting on the quarter exposes them as a dense flecked pattern across the whole surface that looks like lace. It is one of the most distinctive figures available from any European species, and it exists only on the quartersawn face. Flatsawn plane is comparatively plain.

Is London Plane the same as sycamore?

No, and the naming is a mess. London Plane is Platanus x acerifolia, a plane tree. American sycamore is Platanus occidentalis, its close relative. European Sycamore is Acer pseudoplatanus, a maple, and unrelated to both. All three are sometimes called sycamore somewhere. Check the botanical name.

How stable is it?

Not very. Volumetric shrinkage of 15.0 percent is high and tangential shrinkage of 9.5 percent against radial at 5.5 percent is a wide differential, so flatsawn boards cup. Since the reason to buy this species is the quartersawn lacewood figure, and quartersawn stock is much more stable, the figure and the stability come together.

Can it be used outdoors?

No. It is rated decay class 5, perishable, with poor insect resistance. London Plane is an interior decorative timber only.

Mechanical properties

Technical data

Published reference values. Where sources disagree the range is shown, with the typical value used for the scales above.

Tangential shrinkage
Density (kg/m³)	500–620 kg/m³typical 560 kg/m³
Janka hardness (N)	3,800–4,600 Ntypical 4,180 N
MOR: modulus of rupture (MPa)	70–80 MPa
MOE: modulus of elasticity (GPa)	8.0–10.0 GPa
Radial shrinkage	5.5–6.5 %

Platanus × acerifolia is the hybrid planted along avenues and squares across Europe, Paris, Milan, Sofia, every London street. KORENA sources it from urban forestry: trees removed for safety, age, or development, then milled rather than chipped. The provenance is local, traceable, and tells a story buyers respond to.

Decay class 5 (perishable), interior use only; it won't last outdoors. The hybrid is not IUCN-evaluated and carries no CITES listing. Sourcing is the strong story here: urban trees that would otherwise be chipped, given a second life as furniture. EUDR due diligence is in preparation and becomes mandatory for large operators from 30 December 2026, and the passport behind each slab QR is built to carry its provenance.

London Plane is the classic European street tree, planted through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries for its tolerance of air pollution and its willingness to be pruned hard.

Almost all timber reaching the market comes from municipal felling rather than forestry, which shapes what is available. Sizes can be generous, because street trees grow large. But the wood frequently carries inclusions, bark pockets and irregular grain from decades of pruning wounds, and metal is a genuine risk in urban timber.

That last point matters practically: a nail or a cable fragment embedded in an urban log will destroy a bandsaw blade. Reputable yards scan for metal, and it is worth asking.

The stability problem, which resolves itself#

Volumetric shrinkage of 15.0 percent is high, and the tangential to radial differential of 9.5 against 5.5 percent is wide. Flatsawn London Plane cups noticeably.

This turns out to matter less than it might, because the reason to buy the species is the quartersawn figure, and quartersawn stock is substantially more stable across its width. The figure and the stability arrive together.

It also dries with a tendency to distort and is susceptible to fungal staining if not dried promptly, so stock that sat before conversion may carry grey discolouration.

At 4,180 N it is moderately soft and easy on tooling.

The large rays are the machining consideration. On a quartersawn face they can lift or flake under a heavy cut, taking chunks out of the very figure you are working to expose. Light cuts, sharp tooling and a scraper for the final surface.

It glues and finishes well and turns reasonably. It sands to a good surface, though care is needed not to round over the ray flecks.

Lacewood looks best under a clear finish that lets the ray contrast do the work. An oil finish deepens the reddish brown background and increases the contrast with the pale flecks.

Stain tends to muddy the figure, since the rays and the background absorb differently and the effect is to reduce rather than enhance the pattern.

Where London Plane is the right answer#

Decorative panels, veneer, cabinet fronts, box work, turned pieces and any application where quartersawn lacewood figure is the design. It is a feature timber rather than a structural one.

It is the wrong answer outdoors at decay class 5, for anything structural, and for a wide flatsawn surface that must stay flat.

Not CITES listed and reported as Not Evaluated by the IUCN. Because supply comes largely from urban municipal felling rather than forestry, chains are short and local but non-standardised. KORENA records the yard and region on every listing.

Where does the timber come from?

Largely from urban felling. London Plane is the classic city street tree across Europe, planted for its tolerance of pollution and hard pruning, and most timber reaching the market comes from municipal removals rather than forestry. Sizes can be large but the wood often contains inclusions and irregularities from pruning wounds.

Volumetric shrinkage	15.0–17.0 %

Natural durability (EN 350)	Class 5 — Perishable

Sources

The Wood Database(accessed 2026-05-09)
USDA FPL Wood Handbook FPL-GTR-190 (2010)(accessed 2026-05-09)
Meier, E. — WOOD! Identifying and Using Hundreds of Woods Worldwide (2015)(accessed 2026-05-09)

At a glance

HardnessMedium-hard

Janka 4,180 N

16 % softer than European oak

WeightMedium

560 kg/m³

StabilityMoves a lot

16.0 % volumetric shrinkage

WorkingModerate

3.9 / 5 bench average

Outdoor useIndoor only

EN 350 class 5

No market reference for London Plane yet. Every KORENA piece is priced individually by its partner yard.

Not for untreated outdoor use

Natural durability is EN 350 class 5 of 5. Keep it indoors or under a maintained finish.

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