The Scent of a Pickle...

[Art Mulder]

Is it just me, or does white oak have a bit of pickle smell to it, when cut?

I'm working with white oak for the first time on a project, and I am always curious about the different scents that wood have. The white oak scent is a bit subtle, but still there. Interesting that it only seems to come when I crosscut.

Then I found myself wondering if actually it was pickles that smelled like white oak, from being pickled in oak barrels...

...art

[tod evans]

art, don`t know about pickles but quite a bit of the red oak i cut smells like cat piss when you cut it? and i promise there are no cats in my shop!

[Art Mulder]

a bit of the red oak i cut smells like cat piss when you cut it? and i promise there are no cats in my shop!

To me, red oak smells a bit more like horse-barn-floor.

[Rick Gibson]

Art, I cut up a lot of white oak when I redid the baseboards and molding in my living room and dining room never noticed a pickle odour. The stuff I had was air dried in a shed for about 12 years so that may make a difference.

[Brian Kent]

I haven't notice the oak smells, but when ripping a lot of Purpleheart lately there was a strong smell like white vinegar that went right through my dust mask. It even happens when I do brush my teeth.

[Jim Becker]

I happen to like the smell of white oak, although I rarely work with any kind of oak. It's a "Fresh" smell to me...

[Jay Knepper]

You don't have to cut white oak to notice the "pickle" smell. I have a few hundred bf drying in my barn, and the smell is quite noticible.

Personally, I like the smell.

[Mark Pruitt]

Hmmm......would this be the scent of hamburger dill slice pickles? Or sweet pickles? or Kosher pickles????? And when my wife says she's going to have me pickled, does that mean she's about to whack me with a white oak board?:eek:

Enquiring minds want to know!:) :) :D

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

White Oak has all sorts of great aromatics in it. Vanilla, Tannin, sugard aldehydes - it's a long list of molecular satructures.
It's one of the reasons reason it's used for aging wint and whisky.

[Aaron Kline]

I love the smell of white oak! But when I worked at the sawmill, red oak just smelled like baby puke.

[Per Swenson]

All smell's like money to me.

Per

[Jim O'Dell]

I think you guys have been sniffing too much glue!!:D :D Never noticed the smell of white oak, but haven't used it too much. I love the smell of Douglas Fir, though. But it makes me sneeze. Jim.

[Mike Cutler]

All smell's like money to me.

Per

:p :p :p :cool:

You definitely took a different fork in the road than most. The perception and clarity in that statment is priceless.;)

I can't stand the smell of Red Oak, cept' when it's burning.:D

[Deirdre Saoirse Moen]

I love the smell of fresh-sawn cherry. Or tulipwood.

Can't say I care much about the others, though white oak does smell "funny" to me. Don't use it much, though.

[Al Willits]

Always thought money had a stink to it....do like cedar, but not so sure about the cat piss smell.

Al ... who learns more here by accident, than anywhere else on purpose.:D

[Ed Bamba]

I have some rough sawn, air-dried white oak that was brought back from Georgia last year. At times when milling certain boards, the garage smells like a skunk was nearby. Just this last time, the smell was alot stronger in the garage. I though maybe a skunk got in the garage somehow. Upon further investigation, I noticed that the smell was comming from the DC top bag. No dead skunk inside as far as I can tell. Colud it be that one of the boards may have been skunk-sprayed when it was being dried and the smell permiated into the wood?

Hopefully it'll get covered up when finish is applied to it.

Take care,
Ed