What is it?

[gibby]

I need help the ID of this log/board.

It was cut down in the northeast New Jersey.

When it was sawed the smell of the dust was sweet pungent.

[woodtroll]

with a quick scroll through the pics, the last one makes me think sassafras. The 2nd to last looks like it also, good grain, darker wood, strong smelling. Sassafras is my guess.

[SwampDonkey]

I'll second that motion.  The lumber will look similar to black ash, that one piece with the natural edge sure fits the bill.

[LeeB]

Could also might be catalpa.

[woodtroll]

catalpa wood is very similar. The bark is different, and less fragrant.

[SwampDonkey]

It has a faint kerosene odor and rings are sometimes sinuous (wavy) because they vary in width along an individual ring. Would you confuse it for ash, I don't know?

[gibby]

when i cut it the smell was to knock you over, sweet cinnamon

thanks for the help

gibby

[Tom]

My first inclination was to call it a Persimmon.  One of the tests for a persimmon tree is to bore through the bark with the point of a knife, and you will see a brilliant orange color there.

Most older persimmon has dark hearts, this one doesnt .   There may be areas of dark (almost black) wood scattered throughout the sapwood.  This one looks like it might.

[Lanier_Lurker]

The bark looks more like sassafras than persimmon - especially in the last picture.  None of the horizontal fissures that cross the verticals and yield blocks like you usually see on persimmon - especially one that size.

The orange color and smell you mention are strong clues for sassafras as well.  If it is sassafras then that is a nice log for that species.

[ely]

my vote is persimmon, if i have a vote.

[WDH]

Sassafras.

[bitternut]

I side with those that say its Sassafras. I have a whack of wood in my shed that came from a log that looked exactly like the one pictured. It also had the same fragrance as described when it was milled. The dried boards are very light weight after drying. Haven't figured out what to make with it yet, its on my gonna list though.

[woodtroll]

I have seen some very nice furniture made with Sassafras. It takes oil or stain very well and has a great grain pattern.

[jrdwyer]

Sassafras. I think it has beautiful natural wood color in furniture and it is also used for canoe paddles and wooden boat parts.

[Mike_Barcaskey]

I'd say sassafras, always has a peppery smell to me

[tyb525]

We have some sassafras on our property, I haven't found any big enough to cut and mill. Not sure if I would want to though, I'd like to keep. Sassafras smells like fruit loops to me, and that grain and bark looks like others I've seen. I agree with others that say the barks is not blocky enough to be persimmon.

Great looking lumber you got there!

[Tom]

Well....... It's not Sweet Gum, either.   

I've tasted Sassafrass before.  Pretty good stuff.  I don't keep up with the Government's assessment though.  In reading some articles that I found on Google, I learned that the FDA banned Sassafrass root as a flavoring agent in root beer.  It turns out that it causes permanant Liver Damage and doesn't show up for years.  I didn't know that.

[OneWithWood]

and to think all this time I thought it was alcohol that I needed to be concerned about 

drank a bunch of sassafrass tea through the years so if any liver damage shows up that's what I'm blaiming it on!

[SwampDonkey]

You could sub black or yellow birch, just tap it in spring time and boil it down to a mint tasting syrup. Call it birch extract. 

[Tom]

What does it do to you?