What wood is this?

[mathias]

I found some abandoned wood the other day. I went back the day after (after heavy rain) and there was a very strong fruity smell, perhaps plum and/or apricot. Does anyone have an idea what wood it is?

 

[mathias]

Another pic:

 

[novocaine]

what ever it is, don't go making anything nice from it, that much heart, you can expect shakes and splits up the wazoo as it dries out. also looks to be very fast growth too from the spaces between the grain.

to me it looks like run of the mill, fast grown pine I'm afraid, although the colour difference between the heart and the new growth is interesting.

 

[thetyreman]

it's pine, I'd seriously consider burning it, as it's pith wood.

 

[ED65]

Sure looks like a softwood to me too, but I couldn't say if it's pine specifically.

To avoid the pith issue just cut the middle out. Geez guys, that's perfectly decent (riftsawn/quartersawn!) heartwood to either side!

 

[mathias]

I have 14 all together. Most of them are 210*40mm, length 2.1m. Unless the smell has been "added" somehow, I've never had this with pine.

 

[timber]

Is it Blue Ceda?? (Atlantica )

 

[mathias]

I have no idea. When I search about Cedrus atlantica it seems like oil is distilled from to wood to make perfume.... I have small cut off above the screen and the smell is so strong. The only other wood that smells so strong to me is Juniper which sometimes we use to make wooden butter knives in Sweden

 

[acewoodturner]

Lawson's cypress is also another possibility. I milled one up this time last year which had been windblown about 4 years prior to that. It is a very strong sweet smelling timber which is white ish/ yellow in colour and very light, weight wise. The smell in the workshop was like being in a perfume factory for months! Its an ornamental tree in the UK but grown commercially in the US where its also known as Port Orford Cedar and Oregon Pine iirc.

Mike

 

[ED65]

I don't think a cedar is likely, they certainly have an odour but it's quite characteristic and not fruity.

Mike, I think Oregon pine is another name for Douglas fir.

 

[mathias]

Many thanks for all suggestions. I imagine that the trees where cut here in France and all suggestions seems to exist here too.

The fruity smell was when it was wet from rain. The small pieces I have next to me are no longer fruity, still smell strong though but not at a distance.

Cedar, isn't that used for cigar boxes? Then this smell a little different but perhaps some similarities.

The wood I found had been used somehow during a recent strike here in France and then left with a lot of other rubbish so my guess is someone had this lying around in a barn somewhere and considered it of no/low value... It is straight, "no" twist and nice in general. If possible I'd like to use it to build a chest that will also serve as a bench (my workbench is next to our dining table, no workshop here.... compact living).

 

[ED65]

Cedar, isn't that used for cigar boxes?

Yes, the lining at least. Also the characteristic odour of pencils, although most are not made from a true cedar but a member of the juniper family.

 

[mathias]

After sitting for a year in a outdoor climate shed the strong fruity smell is gone.

I plan to use the wood for a bench that will also serve as tool storage so I took the most twisted one for the shorter pieces, cut and started to plane to thickness. The fruity smell is now replaced by a strong smell of turpentine. The wood not so much as the shavings. Does this information help to narrowe down the type of wood?

I borrowed 60€ pinless moisture meter that say 8% average for hardwood range ans 12% when set to softwood.

 

[Trevanion]

Radiata Pine.

 

[mathias]

At wood-database.com the say "a faint, resinous odor while being worked". Mine have a very strong odor.
Here is a photo

 

[Trevanion]

At wood-database.com the say "a faint, resinous odor while being worked". Mine have a very strong odor.
Here is a photo

Every tree is different, I've used oak boards that have absolutely stunk of manure before. It's Radiata pine, there aren't many pines with the brown flecking between the growth rings and so white in colour, that and I've used so much of it I know what it looks like.

 

[mathias]

Ok then, thank you for helping me out!

So then it is soft wood and if the meter I used is correct the wood is a little too humid...