Wood ID

[Patrick Baney]

Hey all

I'm trying to ID some of this mystery lumber I came across in a recent purchase. Both were lumped in with "walnut", which they very well may be, but for several reasons I suspect they're not.

First 3 pics: Other than the figure, the most noteworthy bit about this wood is it stinks, like piss. It's a strong aroma that sticks around on your hands. It's fairly punky, and probably around 600-700 janka. To reiterate...it stinks. Also, the pictures may mislead it's beauty...or lack thereof, as it's actually a pretty ugly puke looking color. Any ideas?

473979473978473980


Second Set: This certainly looks more like walnut, but I'm fairly certain it isn't. It smells nothing like walnut, a smell which I'm very familiar with. It smells like perfume and (you guessed it) piss. Not quite as unpleasant as the piece above, but definitely a smell that wore on me as I worked with it. Note how well defined the grain lines are in the shooting board pic. Those grain lines are just as well defined in the endgrain. I've also never seen those orange hues in walnut. One more thing...it was incredibly difficult to plane without tearing out, despite it being about the same hardness as walnut.
473983473981473982473984

[Kurt Wyberanec]

I don't have a good answer but reminds me a little of imbuya... at least the color... Can't say anything about that lovely aroma though lol

[Dave Roock]

Whomever sold it to you may have stored it in a garage or barn with many mice. That smell of piss is good indication of that, seller may have tried to bleach or clean smell off.

[Erik Loza]

I also see Imbuia or at least one of the Mahoganies. The Imbuia I worked with had a very pungent odor, though not like urine. "Burned" something but hard to describe.

Erik

[Kurt Wyberanec]

And the ones with the crazy figure might just be an anomaly...insects or the like....if it were mice I would expect to see a lot of staining which doesn't seem to be the case. Some woods just stink!