wdwerker Posted August 26, 2014 Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 Started building a bar out of red oak today. It's looking good but I hate the smell of some of the boards. Kinda reminds me of a sweaty unwashed backside. So what kinds of wood do you detest the smell of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted August 26, 2014 Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 Zebra wood can have a stench to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted August 26, 2014 Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 I don't want to know how you came up with that comparison!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted August 26, 2014 Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 Cedar makes me sneeze! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted August 26, 2014 Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 White oak smells like burnt popcorn to me. And it reminds me of whiskey. And I hate whiskey. Padauk smells like Grandma's perfume. And I hate Grandma's perfume, too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted August 26, 2014 Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 I was repairing a century old violin a few months back. I used some mineral spirits to take off the top layer of damaged French Polish. Man did that stink . 100 years of somebodies ingrained sweaty fluids unleashed all at once. I had to leave the shop for a couple of hours for it to dissipate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freddie Posted August 26, 2014 Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 If I show a test piece of a hand cut joint to my mom, she smells it before she observes the joint or board. I guess we are all used to it here, for her she is interested in the smell of the raw wood after if has been cut into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Coop Posted August 26, 2014 Popular Post Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 If I show a test piece of a hand cut joint to my mom, she smells it before she observes the joint or board. I guess we are all used to it here, for her she is interested in the smell of the raw wood after if has been cut into. How things have changed from generation to generation. We used to call them hand rolled and my Mom would have never let me bring a joint into the house 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el capitán Posted September 5, 2014 Report Share Posted September 5, 2014 Black Walnut nasty stuff I hate that smell. I only get it when I thickness it, but I just can't stand it. If you have ever smelled a black walnut that is losing it's green hull that is exactly what the wood smells like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted September 5, 2014 Report Share Posted September 5, 2014 I love when the wood data base says "none distinguishable" with regard to odor, yet I can walk into a shop and know that species by smell with no hesitation. There is no such thing as a lack of odor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-astragal Posted September 5, 2014 Report Share Posted September 5, 2014 I love black walnut smell. Red oak is stinky at least most of the time. White oak smells great to me. African mahogany smells like rubbing alcohol sometimes. Spanish cedar smells great but leaves a nasty bitter taste in my mouth. Greenheart stinks. I love fir, cedar, and pine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted September 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2014 Yea, I spent the day smelling nothing but nasty red oak again. I will be glad to finish this big bar project ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reberly Posted September 6, 2014 Report Share Posted September 6, 2014 Ailantha smells like broiling dog vomit when you cut it. It is a beautiful, tonal wood with nice yellows, creams and browns and smells like hell. It also had urishiol in the wood, sawdust, etc so you break out like poison ivy after you mill it. It is a 9 out of 10 as in irritant. Such a wonderful combination. I would have used a vomiting icon but there isn't one. Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 6, 2014 Report Share Posted September 6, 2014 I like white oak, sycamore, cherry, purple heart, genuine mahogany. Maple and poplar smell like sweat soaked whitey tighties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jHop Posted September 10, 2014 Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 I've had acrylic smell worse than any wood I chucked into the lathe. Like I wanted to light the hair in my nostrils on fire so I could get the smell out... Zebra's a close second for me. Other than that, I like the dry smell of some lumbers that others here have already mentioned they don't like...so maybe my nose is off kilter. (Probably from some other scent-removal process I did as a kid.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mds2 Posted September 10, 2014 Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 Purpleheart. It just straight up stinks to me. I like the smell of Padauk but the dust is terrible. Same with cocobolo, I think it smells great but it makes my lungs and eyes want to die. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted September 10, 2014 Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 Wow, my sniffer must be broken. I love the smell of Walnut. I also like Purpleheart. I have no problem with maple, and kind of like poplar. I really liked Padauk as well, and I thought the dust was so cool, I saved a half-gallon bag of it. I did once cut some fiberglass pieces on a lathe and that smell was awful. the stuff machined great, but made me ridiculously itchy afterward. I'll never do that again. But come to think of it I don't think there has ever been a species of wood that I thought was too stinky. Having said that I will add that on more than one occasion I had to leave the shop because my own B.O. was becoming intolerable and I needed to shower. So maybe it's all just a matter or perspective. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapid Roger Posted September 10, 2014 Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 I don't have a very good smelling nose either but, I will admit that when watching my brother turn a pen out of antler, I had to leave the shop. Rog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wfd55 Posted September 11, 2014 Report Share Posted September 11, 2014 Ailantha smells like broiling dog vomit when you cut it. It is a beautiful, tonal wood with nice yellows, creams and browns and smells like hell. It also had urishiol in the wood, sawdust, etc so you break out like poison ivy after you mill it. It is a 9 out of 10 as in irritant. Such a wonderful combination. I would have used a vomiting icon but there isn't one. Rich That sounds awful I will have to stay away from that one. One big poison ivy log no matter what the results not worth it to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted September 11, 2014 Report Share Posted September 11, 2014 Red Oak..P.U. I actually thought I melted a belt or something in my table saw the first time I cut it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 White oak smells like burnt popcorn to me. And it reminds me of whiskey. And I hate whiskey. Padauk smells like Grandma's perfume. And I hate Grandma's perfume, too. Coincidently, my Grandma's perfume smells like whiskey. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
croessler Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 Worst I have ever smelled by far has been a tie between Ebony and Kingwood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasahan Posted September 15, 2014 Report Share Posted September 15, 2014 I've not used any exotic woods. I agree that usually red oak smells like one of the animal houses at the zoo. I don't care for the smell of poplar. Reminds me of the '70's (even though I wasn't alive then). But my coworker loves it. The "mahogany" (have no idea what kind) we have reminds me of bbq. We once had some wood that filled the shop with the smell of rosemary. That was nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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