strange smelling timber?!?

[Gary H]

Hi all.
Being a complete newbie to the world of hardwoods , I'm not at all good at identifying them visually or otherwise. Do any of you good folk know of a hardwood that, when you cut it or plane it, it smells of cola??? :shock:

The reason being, I was dismantling a small table which had outgrown its use (only a cheapo job we bought ages ago from where I can't remember) with the purpose of using the donor wood for another project. Anyway, when it came to planing the awful stain from the lengths to see what the condition of the wood was, I noticed that a few of them had this strange smell eminating from it. The closest smell I could come up with is cola. It's not the stain, (or anything that has spilled onto it, before anyone asks :wink: ), and not all of the wood is the same and so doesn't smell the same as these.Thats as much info as I can give, really but I can post a pic if needs be.

It may be a simple answer for someone to provide but I'd like to know as the wood is really nice to work with and I'd like to use it again.

Sorry for the long-winded query BTW

Ta muchly

Gary

 

[Chris Knight]

Gary,
Could be walnut. Both the English and the american black walnuts have distinct smells and not unpleasant. I think black walnut is my favourite - fresh cut it smells to me like some very fruity thing - raisins perhaps - it literally makes my mouth water!

 

[johnelliott]

I don't know the common name for it, but it sounds like Pepsicus Challengonia to me
John

 

[Alf]

I don't know the common name for it, but it sounds like Pepsicus Challengonia to me

LOL :lol: :lol:

Dunno, Gary. Got any more detail? Colour, open or tight grain? Distinctive figure? Not that I'll be any the wiser of course, but it all sounds good doesn't it? :wink:

Cheers, Alf

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Gary

The only wood I can tell by smell is oak. A sweet nutty smell.

Photos of end and long grain for your wood might get a more usful response

 

[Gary H]

Thanks Chris,Tony I'll try and get a pic posted today or tomorrow and see what you (and others) think. It might help.

John... :lol: :lol: :lol:
I knew someone would say something like that. Should have expected it really... :roll:

Thanks guys for your help (John :?: Cheers!!)

Gary

EDIT: Sorry, Alf. Missed your post there, somehow!! Err, mid-brown/red tinge, quite tight grain, fairly straight too, no knots/eyes etc. tears out a little at times but probably more to do with my sharpening/planing skills than anything! Oh and smells of cola :shock: . Can't get my head round the smell!!

 

[Aragorn]

Might this be a mahogany variety???

 

[johnelliott]

Is it an oily wood? Best way to tell is to sand it and then polish it with an old leather glove etc. If it shines then it is oily. I know from my guitar making days that rosewood (very oily) can be very aromatic, used to put me in mind of perfumed pipe tobacco such as Clan.
Oh, my remark earlier, I knew someone would say something so I thought that I would get in first with something tasteful
John

 

[trevtheturner]

Gary,

Any chance it might be camphor laurel - which releases fresh smell when you scratch the wood, e.g. with a fingernail. (Second thoughts - the camphor smell may be too pronounced to be likened to cola - but might be worth trying).

Cheers,

Trev.

 

[Chris Knight]

Mid brown to reddish straight grained says Sapele to me but let's see a piccy.

 

[Gary H]

Okay folks, as requested here are some pics of said timber...

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/mort the red/colawood3.JPG
along the grain

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/mort the red/colawood4.JPG
end grain

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/mort the red/colawood2.JPG
end grain again

The timber is dry here, no stain, oil, or water present.

HTH folks

Ta muchly

Gary

Post Edited on request

 

[johnelliott]

Nope, don't recognize it, and I've seen quite a few timbers, especially tropicals which I think this may well be
Any chance you could reduce the size of the pics? Takes quite a while to download
John

 

[Chris Knight]

100% sure it's Sapele - OK 99%.

 

[Gary H]

Sorry John, I'll change them to url's if that helps. Thought you may need larger pics for detail, see. :wink:

Sapele, eh Chris? Thanks. I may try and get some as it it lovely to work with and the scent is to die for!! Isn't that supposed to be quite hard to come by?

Ta muchly

Gary

 

[Alf]

Which would mean what I thought was sapele, isn't. Drat. :roll:

 

[Chris Knight]

Gary,
Actually it's quite plentiful at the moment and not too expensive. You may have seen it elsewhere in its veneer form as here http://chrisknight.info/woodwork/Ruth's Bookcase/Ruthbookcase1.htm. The figure in the picture (pommele) is particularly striking and not too expensive either. As lumber it is very straight gained, pretty well behaved and quite nice to work.

 

[Anonymous]

Pretty sure it is Meranti. My recent dovetail effort was in Meranti and this looks like it!

Here is the image of my Meranti efforts

Looks similar to me - especailly the end grain

Cheers

Tony

 

[Gary H]

Tony.

Yes I thought I'd seen something similar, somewhere, but I couldn't remember where!! It does look quite close though.

How did you find chiseling it? I thought it was excellent, even with my limited skills, crappy chisels and questionable sharpening efforts, it still cut nice and clean with the chamfering on the end grain looking superb!

Think I might give it an oiling and see what happens

Lovely saws, BTW. I want me some of dem!!! 8)

Chris. Another beautiful piece of work there, and the sapele veneer looks great!! :wink: Proud, proud moments....

Ta muchly

Gary

 

[Chris Knight]

Tony,
You may be right it does look similar - how is the smell though? Sapele is Sooo distinctive - I don't recall Meranti having much?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Chris

I just nipped down to the garage to smell some wood (a very bizzare moment) and my Meranti does not smell very strongly at all.

Maybe the search goes on.

Gary
I really like working the Meranti. Cuts, planes and chisels beautifully and it's fairly cheap too :lol:

Saw came from Dieter Schmid site
http://www.fine-tools.com/japsaege.htm

Cheers

Tony