Favorite smelling wood (or other material) to turn

[JasonM]

Doing a lot of prep work for projects this past weekend and it had me drilling and cutting a variety of woods.

I was working with some BOW and was reminded again how much I love working with that wood. Not just the ease of working with it, but the smell is wonderful to me. I'm also a big fan of the smell from working with Tulipwood.

I know there are probably a ton of other pleasantly fragrant woods out there I've never even heard of.

What are some of your favorites?

 

[hewunch]

BOW, eastern red cedar and coffee bean blanks

 

[animefan]

I love the smell of BOW and camphor.

 

[arioux]

BOW and Tulipwood

 

[BigguyZ]

BOW, of course. But Paduak is also really good.

Though it should be mentioned that we preferably shouldn't be able to answer this, as our lung protection should make sure that the wood/dust doesn't reach our nose... But that's only in an ideal world.

Other than antler, most everything smells good to me.... Even acrylic...

 

[Willee]

Cocobolo can have a smell something like cinnamon ...
but my favorite smelling wood has got to be ...

Tambootie


http://www.exoticwoodsusa.com/about_tambootie.htm


The smell that fills the shop when drilling or cutting that wood is awesome.

 

[USAFVET98]

BOW and Padauk.

 

[burgerman]

Mesquite. I think it has a cinnamon smell to it. And an all-time favorite, Spanish Cedar.

 

[islandturner]

I know there are probably a ton of other pleasantly fragrant woods out there I've never even heard of. What are some of your favorites?

You'll never forget the scent of western yellow cedar once you've worked with it... As nice as my wife's fancy purfume...

 

[snyiper]

BOW, Eastern red cedar for me as well.

 

[mick]

1. BOW
2. Thuya Burl
3. Amboyna/Narra
4. Padauk

 

[jskeen]

I like the smell of antler. Smells like money!

But, seriously folks... Olive wood is about the only thing I can think of that actually smells good that I've turned. I hear about some of the others, but must have never gotten around to turning any.

 

[Skye]

It's been a while since i've turned them but I want to say Pink Ivory had a nice smell to it.

 

[robutacion]

There are indeed a few wood species that have a strong smell that are in most cases pleasurable to most people, I say this because not long ago I had a fellow that openly admitted that he totally hates the smell of Olive wood...!

There are 4 to which I work regularly with and I can never get enough of their smell, they are Olive wood, Macrocarpa, and Knotted pine (full of resin) and my #39 Australian Eucalyptus Peninsularis (oil producer). The strongest of them all, of the 44 species I work with, is the dry Macrocarpa, just something else...!

Olive wood smells a lot stronger and better when is green and semi-dry, when very dry, most of the resins are gone, and so most of its smell...!

Cheers
George

 

[dgscott]

Amboyna. Smells like an extraordinary Dominican cigar.
Doug

 

[KenBrasier]

Eastern Redcedar, BOW and Sassafras

 

[monophoto]

Sassafrass

 

[JasonM]

gotta ask - does Sassafrass smell like root beer? =)~

 

[wood-of-1kind]

Bermuda cedar. Don't ask me how I got some.

 

[monophoto]

gotta ask - does Sassafrass smell like root beer? =)~

Yup

 

[gr8danish]

I LOVE the way that Bloodwood smells... It sort of smells like a mixture of berries and citrus.

I've been using an Ivory altrnative that smells like Coconut when it gets cut...

 

[Lenny]

1. BOW
2. Narra/Amboyna burl

 

[rjwolfe3]

BOW, Amboyna Burl, Camphor, Sassafras

 

[rjwolfe3]

I will say this, wet hickory is the nastiest smelling stuff I have cut recently! Smelled like raw sewage.

 

[Gagler]

Cedar from central Texas is my favorite, followed by BOW.

 

[spnemo]

Coffee Bean, any type of cedar, pine, juniper, rosewood, tulipwood, olive, and most fruit woods.

 

[SDB777]

Zebrawood...smells like fresh zebra chit! OK, I kid, I kid!

Sassafrass...minty smelling to me.
ERC....smells like moms HOPE chest.




Scott (garage still smells funny) B

 

[Reece]

Huon Pine is my favourite, followed by (in no particular order) BOW, Amboyna/NG Rosewood, Camphor and Sandalwood

 

[turbowagon]

- Huon Pine
- Amboyna Burl
- Thuya Burl
- Palo Santo
- Jack Daniels-soaked White Oak

 

[jthompson1995]

Walnut, Cherry, Lignum Vitae, olive wood to name a few

 

[David Keller]

Sandalwood has got to be my favorite... I was lucky enough to have someone bring me a few pieces back from a trip to India... Amazing smell, but very plain looking wood.

I like bocote... It smells like pickles to me.

Amboyna and the rosewoods are nice as well.

 

[bensoelberg]

I'm super excited now! I just bought some BOW blanks that I'm going to use on a set of pens for my parents. I've never worked with it before, so now I have something to really look forward to. I just turned my first lignum vitae blank and thought it smelled nice. I was also surprised how nice it looked when I was done vs. what the blank looked like before turning.

 

[Drcal]

A friend just brought me a suitcase full of wood from Peru. There was a number of pieces of a wood called ishpingo and I just turned it a few days ago. It was wonderful smelling---very much like vanilla.

Carmen

 

[SDB777]

Zebrawood...smells like fresh zebra chit! OK, I kid, I kid!

Oh, be honest. it DOES smell like chit! First time I turned it, I kept checking
my shoes to see what I stepped in.

Wife walked out in the garage while I was turning it and wondered what I had done. Guess she thought I had dropped a buscuit!



Scott (the smell was in my clothes for days) B

 

[ed4copies]

One that has not been mentioned:

Mango. Got to turn one piece last year---caused me to purchase several blanks---now, I just have to get it on the lathe, again!!

 

[shawnmhill]

Jack Daniels Whiskey Barrel! Oh and camphor.

 

[Rfturner]

some of my favorites are padauk, and olive wood(sometimes),



Some of the nasty ones are in no particular order, PR, Indian Rosewood, Zebrawood(i checked if my dogs got into my shop 1st time), just to name a few.

 

[oneula]

sandalwood
cedar
norfolk pine

 

[Pens By Scott]

Cocobolo and Paduak. Although, Money always smells nice too....

 

[Scratch]

I love the smell of BOW and camphor.

Ditto