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.

Camphor? It has a great smell when cut.

-j

"donald girod" wrote in message
...
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 , 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.

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 10:00:19 -0800, donald girod wrote
(in message ):

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.

hemp?


--
Be cool,
Longshot

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 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.

Take a piece to a local hardwood supply and have them chop it. Maybe
they can ID it.

In article ,
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?

"Lars S." 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" wrote in message
oups.com...
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.

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.

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/...s/aawlocal.cfm

Capital Area Woodturners
http://capwoodturners.org

Potomac Antiqe Tools and INdustries Association
www.patinatools.org

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

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?

On Mon, 21 Mar 2005 18:52:08 -0500, donald girod
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.a...096,46127&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

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/=ADpag...=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/tr...age=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.