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Can you tell the wood type just from the smell?

Started by flatrock58, September 27, 2016, 09:57:20 PM

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flatrock58

I cut for myself and have mostly cut pine and red oak.  In the last week I cut some aromatic cedar, red oak, wild cherry, ambrosia maple, pine and black walnut.  When the wood is freshly cut it is amazing to walk in the barn and notice the different smells of the wood. 
I can image most people that have done this for a while could tell the species based on smell alone.
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Joe Hillmann

Red oak and pines and cedar all have very specific smells.  Basswood when it is being cut has no smell but a few hours later it starts to smell and the smell just gets stronger the dryer it gets.

Gearbox

A bunch of chainsaws a BT6870 processer , TC 5 International track skidder and not near enough time

Andries

I'd second that Gearbox, American Elm.
Buddy calls it stink wood.
Pretty close to smelling like a lotta cat pee on a hot day.
:-\
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YellowHammer

Sassafras - smells great the first log, just like root beer, but after sawing it for a day or two, I can't get the stink out of my nose for a week. 

Red maple is about the same - subtle, but after a big whack of logs....whew..

Walnut with black pith, smells like cow manure...

Ah what the heck, I like the smell of all wood, it smells like money... ;D


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OffGrid973

Elm = Hot cat pee, would that mean we want to avoid throwing it in the stove?  Is the heat worth the stink :)
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Ianab

 :D

Lil says she's been on the forum too long because she can tell what sort of wood I've been working with by how I smell when I come inside. Port Orford Cedar is her least favorite, it has a very strong and distinctive ginger sort of smell. It's not unpleasant, but if gives her a headache. So off to the shower and change of clothes before I get any cuddles.  :D

Cypress or most other woods I can get away with calling it "Man Glitter"  ;D
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Bill Ragosta

I recently had some American chestnut sawed and it smells really nice.  I can smell it in the barn or on the back porch if wood is there even weeks after being cut.  Black birch (and probably white and yellow as well) also has a very distinctive and very nice smell.

caveman

I store a lot of my logs in a pond to keep them fresh.  They saw great and the bark sluffs off easily but boy do they smell bad until the sawn logs dry out.  Also, if you want one to saw that will open up your sinuses, saw up a big camphor log (like sticking Vick's Vapor Rub up your nostrils).

Caveman

Ron Wenrich

Black birch gives the wintergreen smell.  Can't say the same for black gum.  Stinks worse than elm.  To me, all wood has an odor, and it can be identifiable, especially in the hardwoods.

Tulip poplar, ailanthus, hickory, oak, black locust, sassafrass, ash, walnut are all fragrant enough to set themselves apart from other wood. 
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goose63

American Elm STINKS for sure.

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sandsawmill14

happy birthday ron :) :)
hickory maple w/oak hackberry poplar and ash all have a very distinct and somewhat pleasant smell  while cottonwood elm walnut and some r/oak dont smell so good :o sasafrass
erc and pine are some of the best smelling that i saw imo :)  and you can tell each blindfolded after you been sawing for a while  :D
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OldMasterTech

Slightly off topic but my fondest childhood aromatic wood memories are spending hot summer days exploring North Carolina Southern Yellow Pine forests. The smell of those trees and their sap is great!
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paul case

I have sawn enough that i can smell very little of the wood anymore and taste none of it! ;D

PC
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
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sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

Kbeitz

Working on a Christmas tree farm this is the time of year for smellin trees.
Concolor, fir and spruce gives off the strongest smells.



 
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Percy

Sitka spruce smells like wood glue to me
W-Red cedar smells like....uhhh.. W-Red cedar
Yellow cedar green logs smell like cat pee too....but after its cut and drying, it smells nicer but still very strong...
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Ox

Short answer - yes!

Story answer - We milled a bunch of popple/poplar/quaking aspen for paneling in a small barn.  Put it up green and while it was drying in there I could hardly breathe.  Seemed like formaldehyde type stenches filling the place.  Made me a little nauseous. 

Red maple has an...interesting...smell while green.  Not horrible but not nice either.

Perhaps my most aromatic is fresh red pine.  Pinus resinosa.  Even in a rotten tree the knots are excellent fat lighter.  This is probably true in most pines, though.  I wouldn't know.  I've been in north Appalachia my whole life so I'm not exactly a well traveled and learned fella.
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WV Sawmiller

   Happy birthday Ron and many happy returns. Hope to be reading your posts on the FF when I am 100.

   
Quote from: cwimer973 on September 27, 2016, 11:43:37 PM
Elm = Hot cat pee, would that mean we want to avoid throwing it in the stove?  Is the heat worth the stink :)

   Okay, does Hot Cat Pee smell different than cold cat pee? Please tell me and I will take your word for it then I won't have to test myself to get the answer. :D

    I have repeatedly said Ash smells to me like old honey (like I used to smell around a bee tree back when they still nested in the woods and survived over several years).

Howard Green
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Magicman

How do you go about heating a cat?  How do you know when it is hot enough to pee??   ???   :o
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Sixacresand

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JRWoodchuck

Black Locust stands out for me. Haven't milled very much wood yet but that one is very distinct!
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paul case

Quote from: Magicman on September 28, 2016, 01:21:12 PM
How do you go about heating a cat?  How do you know when it is hot enough to pee??   ???   :o

????
You made me laugh. Thanks

PC
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

SineWave

Green white oak always smells like whiskey to me.

btulloh

Reminds me of an old joke.  Ya'll probably heard it.  Can't tell it here anyway.
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