the smell of wood

[canoehead]

whilst running an old board of cherry thru the planer today, it gave off a wonderful honey aroma. i hadnt noticed this before with cherry. oak, out here smells like olive wood when milled. french oak i thought smelled like capers, and english oak very spicey, like curry powder. what causes this, anyone? anyone else noticed unusual aromas from woods?

[Ropechucka]

You can often smell dogs **** in our woods, nothing unusual though:lol:

[Stihlben]

I usually think robinia bark smells of cat pee....

[Ropechucka]

You can often smell dogs **** in our woods, nothing unusual though:lol:

 

On a more serious note i think Catalpa smells of tobacco

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

Ash can smell of scrumpy. Oak has a massive array inc tea - like sweet chestnut. I had some unknown conny in the shed, smelled gorgeous like mango and coconut...?

[Peasgood]

A wind blown Ash I have been cutting up smells of horse piss.

I even looked round expecting to see a horse the first time I noticed.

 

I always have a sniff of fresh cut wood, don't really know why. I have some bits of cherry spread randomly in my log pile, I can tell when I get to each bit.

[Big J]

Vast array of different aromas from different timber. You can usually tell what I've been cutting recently just from the smell when you walk into the barn.

 

Good rule of thumb is that most softwoods smell nice and most hardwoods either don't, or don't have much of an aroma. Ash can smell really unpleasant with any hit of decay, same for elm. Oak is usually fine. Cherry smells like I'd imagine the colour green to be. My favourite is Deodar cedar. Spruce is underrated I think.

 

I have to have a geeky chuckle when folk come to the mill and say 'I love the smell of wood!' - I feel like asking, which one?!

[Pat Ferrett]

Cedar is a nice smell but Horse chestnut with abit of rot is the pits

Holly is'nt a pleasent smell imo nor is oak,

Elder burnt on an open fire smells like dog pee but the smell of fresh cut elder will always remind me of playing on the farm as a kid

[Pat Ferrett]

Forgot Thuja and bay which both smell nice

[felixthelogchopper]

Forgot Thuja and bay which both smell nice

 

My first chipper job was a Bay. Smelt delicious!