I posted this before and got no response so I'm trying again. A while
ago I used some wood I salvaged from a crate. It was fairly hard, not
terribly heavy, had grain like white oak (very porous), was somewhat
greenish in color, and happened to be very curly--a very pretty piece of
wood for use in a crate. But when I cut it, the basement filled with
this remarkable spicy odor. White oak has a very noticeable and
pleasant odor but this wood is positively fantastic. I encountered a
small scrap today, made one cut in it, and the same thing happened. I
could work with this stuff all day just for the atmospheric effects.
Does anybody know what it might be? I know that if you ever smelled it,
you would never forget it.
On Mon, 21 Mar 2005 10:00:19 -0800, donald girod wrote
(in message <[email protected]>):
> I posted this before and got no response so I'm trying again. A while
> ago I used some wood I salvaged from a crate. It was fairly hard, not
> terribly heavy, had grain like white oak (very porous), was somewhat
> greenish in color, and happened to be very curly--a very pretty piece of
> wood for use in a crate. But when I cut it, the basement filled with
> this remarkable spicy odor. White oak has a very noticeable and
> pleasant odor but this wood is positively fantastic. I encountered a
> small scrap today, made one cut in it, and the same thing happened. I
> could work with this stuff all day just for the atmospheric effects.
> Does anybody know what it might be? I know that if you ever smelled it,
> you would never forget it.
any idea what part of the world the crate was from? catalpa has a spicy aroma
and ring porous grain but its pretty soft.
In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
says...
> I posted this before and got no response so I'm trying again. A while
> ago I used some wood I salvaged from a crate. It was fairly hard, not
> terribly heavy, had grain like white oak (very porous), was somewhat
> greenish in color, and happened to be very curly--a very pretty piece of
> wood for use in a crate. But when I cut it, the basement filled with
> this remarkable spicy odor. White oak has a very noticeable and
> pleasant odor but this wood is positively fantastic. I encountered a
> small scrap today, made one cut in it, and the same thing happened. I
> could work with this stuff all day just for the atmospheric effects.
> Does anybody know what it might be? I know that if you ever smelled it,
> you would never forget it.
>
Possibly sycamore. Can you post a photo showing face and edge grain to
abpw?
donald girod wrote:
> I posted this before and got no response so I'm trying again. A
while
> ago I used some wood I salvaged from a crate. It was fairly hard,
not
> terribly heavy, had grain like white oak (very porous), was somewhat
> greenish in color, and happened to be very curly--a very pretty piece
of
> wood for use in a crate. But when I cut it, the basement filled with
> this remarkable spicy odor.
Don
it might have been sasafrass.
it looks quite a bit like oak but with a very sweet/spicy room filling
smell.
I used to machine (D2S/D4S) a couple hundred BF of sasafrass once a
year for a guy that used it in his craft work.
When we were working on it the whole building(10,000+sf) would smell
like it
donald girod wrote:
> I posted this before and got no response so I'm trying again. A
while
> ago I used some wood I salvaged from a crate. It was fairly hard,
not
> terribly heavy, had grain like white oak (very porous), was somewhat
> greenish in color, and happened to be very curly--a very pretty piece
of
> wood for use in a crate. But when I cut it, the basement filled with
> this remarkable spicy odor. White oak has a very noticeable and
> pleasant odor but this wood is positively fantastic. I encountered a
> small scrap today, made one cut in it, and the same thing happened.
I
> could work with this stuff all day just for the atmospheric effects.
> Does anybody know what it might be? I know that if you ever smelled
it,
> you would never forget it.
Sassafrass. It smells a bit like root beer.
The wood has with little chambers with oil in them that open up when
you cut, plane, scrape or sand it. The wood is a dead ringer for
chestnut, which in turn closely resembles oak.
It is Roy Underhill's favorite wood because of the smell it gives off
while it is being worked.
--
FF
Luigi Zanasi writes:
>>>Have fun finding it. Romeyn Hough's book has a massive collection of
samples arranged geographically, but with no apparent logic within
each geographical area. You can buy the book at Lee Valley:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/=ADpage.aspx?c=3D1&p=3D47220&cat=3D1,46=AD096=
,46127...
I now use the box to hold my scrapers, burnishers, etc.<<<
My wife confiscated the box on my copy of Hough. Great book in some
ways, reproduction not so great in others (that gold on black printing,
fer chrissake).
Check the below site for sassafras:
http://cgi.photobooks.com/scripts/troll.cgi?dbase=3Dhardwood&page=3D2&pict_=
id=3D0000180
Unlike Roy Underhill, I don't consider it my favorite wood, but I
surely do like it. Makes fantastic birdhouses, too--durable, among its
other qualities.
donald girod wrote:
> I posted this before and got no response so I'm trying again. A while
> ago I used some wood I salvaged from a crate. It was fairly hard, not
> terribly heavy, had grain like white oak (very porous), was somewhat
> greenish in color, and happened to be very curly--a very pretty piece of
> wood for use in a crate. But when I cut it, the basement filled with
> this remarkable spicy odor. White oak has a very noticeable and
> pleasant odor but this wood is positively fantastic. I encountered a
> small scrap today, made one cut in it, and the same thing happened. I
> could work with this stuff all day just for the atmospheric effects.
> Does anybody know what it might be? I know that if you ever smelled it,
> you would never forget it.
Hey, thanks for all the suggestions. The crate was from a freezer made
in Canada if we are to believe the labels, and the wood was definitely
not sycamore (which I have some of, and which is comparatively odorless,
and it doesn't look anything like this stuff). It was just ordinary
pallet wood, nothing exotic (though these days, god knows where anything
comes from--did you all see Doonesbury in yesterday's Sunday paper?)
I like the sassafrass hypothesis--it is exactly as described, the odor
fills the room and lasts a long time. However, I just checked it out
using google, and the color seems totally wrong (grain is possible
though). My piece was definitely greenish, while sassafras is supposed
to be brownish.
All I have left is this small stick (still smells great, however), and I
don't think I can take a picture of it.
Does anybody have a link to a site with tons of wood sample pictures? I
could probably identify it based on appearance if I could see a
picture. I have a couple of books but they are not very complete.
donald girod wrote:
> I posted this before and got no response so I'm trying again. A while
> ago I used some wood I salvaged from a crate. It was fairly hard, not
> terribly heavy, had grain like white oak (very porous), was somewhat
> greenish in color, and happened to be very curly--a very pretty piece of
> wood for use in a crate. But when I cut it, the basement filled with
> this remarkable spicy odor. White oak has a very noticeable and
> pleasant odor but this wood is positively fantastic. I encountered a
> small scrap today, made one cut in it, and the same thing happened. I
> could work with this stuff all day just for the atmospheric effects.
> Does anybody know what it might be? I know that if you ever smelled it,
> you would never forget it.
Sassafras it is!!
I checked the smell again and it actually does smell like rootbeer!
Wonderful. I think my sample is probably just light-colored. I would
really like to get hold of some of this lumber, but I don't think it is
very common around here (western New York). My tree book shows very
limited distribution in this part of the country, more common to the
south.
Don't know what the wood is, but I am frequently reminded that if I can
smell it, then I must be inhaling its dust. I love the smell of
freshly worked oak, but given my sensitivities to dust, a strong
fragrance is a sign to put my dustmask back on.
That said, let's all know what you've got when you figure it out.
L
On 2005-03-21 12:00:19 -0600, donald girod <[email protected]> said:
> I posted this before and got no response so I'm trying again. A while
> ago I used some wood I salvaged from a crate. It was fairly hard, not
> terribly heavy, had grain like white oak (very porous), was somewhat
> greenish in color, and happened to be very curly--a very pretty piece
> of wood for use in a crate. But when I cut it, the basement filled
> with this remarkable spicy odor. White oak has a very noticeable and
> pleasant odor but this wood is positively fantastic. I encountered a
> small scrap today, made one cut in it, and the same thing happened. I
> could work with this stuff all day just for the atmospheric effects.
> Does anybody know what it might be? I know that if you ever smelled
> it, you would never forget it.
In article <[email protected]>, donald girod
<[email protected]> wrote:
> I posted this before and got no response so I'm trying again. A while
> ago I used some wood I salvaged from a crate. It was fairly hard, not
> terribly heavy, had grain like white oak (very porous), was somewhat
> greenish in color, and happened to be very curly--a very pretty piece of
> wood for use in a crate. But when I cut it, the basement filled with
> this remarkable spicy odor. White oak has a very noticeable and
> pleasant odor but this wood is positively fantastic. I encountered a
> small scrap today, made one cut in it, and the same thing happened. I
> could work with this stuff all day just for the atmospheric effects.
> Does anybody know what it might be? I know that if you ever smelled it,
> you would never forget it.
Sounds like it could be imbuia (AKA Brazilian Walnut). I used some on a
jewelry box for my daughter. Wonderful smell... The closest I could
come to describing it would be "peppery hashish".
Pix here, the imbuia is the trim:
http://www.balderstone.ca/box/boxclosed.jpg
http://www.balderstone.ca/box/boxopen1.jpg
http://www.balderstone.ca/box/boxopen2.jpg
--
"The thing about saying the wrong words is that A, I don't notice it, and B,
sometimes orange water gibbon bucket and plastic." -- Mr. Burrows
On Mon, 21 Mar 2005 18:52:08 -0500, donald girod <[email protected]>
queried:
>Does anybody have a link to a site with tons of wood sample pictures? I
> could probably identify it based on appearance if I could see a
>picture. I have a couple of books but they are not very complete.
http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/archives/forestry/hough/
Have fun finding it. Romeyn Hough's book has a massive collection of
samples arranged geographically, but with no apparent logic within
each geographical area. You can buy the book at Lee Valley:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=47220&cat=1,46096,46127&ap=1
I now use the box to hold my scrapers, burnishers, etc.
Luigi
Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/humour.html
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/antifaq.html
donald girod wrote:
> I checked the smell again and it actually does smell like rootbeer!
> Wonderful. I think my sample is probably just light-colored. I would
> really like to get hold of some of this lumber, but I don't think it is
> very common around here (western New York). My tree book shows very
> limited distribution in this part of the country, more common to the
> south.
Yup, that's sassafras. Try Pittsford lumber.
Dave in Fairfax
--
Dave Leader
reply-to-is-disabled-due-to-spam
use:
daveldr at att dot net
Member:
America Associaton of Woodturners
www.woodturner.org
http://www.woodturner.org/community/chapters/aawlocal.cfm
Capital Area Woodturners
http://capwoodturners.org
Potomac Antiqe Tools and INdustries Association
www.patinatools.org
"Lars S." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:2005032114535043658%lars@gsblasuchicagoedu...
> Don't know what the wood is, but I am frequently reminded that if I can
> smell it, then I must be inhaling its dust. I love the smell of
> freshly worked oak, but given my sensitivities to dust, a strong
> fragrance is a sign to put my dustmask back on.
Physiology says you smell chemically. Oils and volatiles from the wood are,
of course, more plentifully distributed when you're mashing fibers, but it's
not the fibers themselves.
Which is why you can smell through a particulate mask. Masks with charcoal
will adsorb the volatiles.
"toolguy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Take a piece to a local hardwood supply and have them chop it. Maybe
> they can ID it.
>
Also tell them the origins of the crate, if known. Could be some exotic
from the hills of Borneo.
Camphor? It has a great smell when cut.
-j
"donald girod" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I posted this before and got no response so I'm trying again. A while
> ago I used some wood I salvaged from a crate. It was fairly hard, not
> terribly heavy, had grain like white oak (very porous), was somewhat
> greenish in color, and happened to be very curly--a very pretty piece of
> wood for use in a crate. But when I cut it, the basement filled with
> this remarkable spicy odor. White oak has a very noticeable and
> pleasant odor but this wood is positively fantastic. I encountered a
> small scrap today, made one cut in it, and the same thing happened. I
> could work with this stuff all day just for the atmospheric effects.
> Does anybody know what it might be? I know that if you ever smelled it,
> you would never forget it.
donald girod wrote:
> donald girod wrote:
>
> Hey, thanks for all the suggestions. The crate was from a freezer made
> in Canada if we are to believe the labels, and the wood was definitely
> not sycamore (which I have some of, and which is comparatively odorless,
> and it doesn't look anything like this stuff). It was just ordinary
Hmmm. Who makes the freezer? Where does it say made in Canada?