The commercial production of sweetgum wood comes in just behind the oak tree. In pioneer days, gum was taken from the bark by scraping off the resin like solid residue. This was used for medical purposes as well as chewing. One of the largest hardwoods. Smooth white, mottled, and scaly.
Wood is used for butcher blocks, pulpwood, particleboard, and fiberboard.
Sycamore grows to have the biggest trunk of any hardwood.