Official Luthiers Forum!

I was resawing some aspen to make purfling, and I noticed it smelled like hot frying oil. I have also noticed that cutting sycamore smells like gun powder burning and that african mahogany smells like cinnamon!

Anyone else smelling anything odd out there?

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

oak smells bad.

EIRW smells like Olive
BRW like chocolate
Bloodwood like coconut
Port Orford like pepperminth
Cocoblo like sort of cinnamon
Ipe like like sh*t
Rotten Ebony like dang f****** sh*t (Believe me)
Pine like my Grand'ma

_________________
Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

Padauk smells like cotton candy.

By the way, if Aspen is what I think (I'm french-speaking, so I miss some translations sometimes), it makes me think that I've always been surounded by those trees but I have not idea what the wood looks like...!

Is this it...?



In french, the name may refers that it's a kind of poplar.. Is that right?

_________________
Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

The mixture of super blonde shellac flakes dissolved in 190 proof Everclear that I use has a mild and very pleasant wood and ripe fruit smell once it’s been applied to the wood.

Joe

I have something sold as Benge that smells like really bad, old socks.

Sandarac in shellac smells like mothballs.

Pat

_________________
formerly known around here as burbank
_________________

http://www.patfosterguitars.com

oops. double post.

_________________
formerly known around here as burbank
_________________

http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Those are very different than I'd give
That rotten ebony cracked me up though Never let any rot before, or got much of a smell off fresh stuff, so I'll believe you.

EIRW smells like elephant dung (surprisingly not unpleasant)
BRW not quite like anything else, but Bazooka bubblegum is a pretty good comparison. Best smelling wood
Port Orford Cedar unmistakably like Pine Sol
Western Red Cedar like a hardware store
Spruce like a mouse cage (pet mice as a kid, wood chip bedding)
Pine like carpentry. Building furniture or working on the house
Olivewood like olives (finally one that makes sense!)
Walnut like perfume
Spalted mango like a musty basement

Still trying to identify some old memories in the BRW smell, although I don't think I ever encountered the real thing until a year ago... Also trying to match smells to cocobolo (never smelled like cinnamon or any spice to me... very sharp smell), African blackwood (once got an auto parts store off of it... but other times more floral, similar to Madagascar RW), and sinker redwood.
Bubinga and Australian blackwood have smells too, but not very interesting or connected to any memories.

Spanish Cypress. Sweet, spicy smell. Lovely.
Eastern Red Cedar (Pencil cedar?). Lovely as well.
Bubinga. Some African Animal dung.
Cherry. Don't smell of Cherries to me.
Gum Benzoin. Vanilla. Truly wonderful.
Alcohol. The best.

Is aspen good for purflings? If so it's much more available to me than holly.

Aspen is soft and has long fibers. It tears easily if a tool is dull or going against the grain. It works fine for purfling if you keep those attributes in mind. I prefer Holly and Boxwood as they are easier to work with but use Aspen quite often because of the availability.

Steve

Willow smells like urine, makes great linings though.

_________________
Randy Muth
RS Muth Guitars Website
RS Muth Guitars Blog
Facebook Fan Page

I love threads like this. Similes and metaphors are so much fun. I can't really put my nose on what smells like what but I do have my favorites.

Good Walnut is probably my favorite substance out of all the one's I've encountered, tea being a very close second. The smell reminds me of all the great times I've ever had as a luthier so far, which isn't saying too much. I love it though. I could build with it forever.

Spanish cedar is a new one to me but I love it. Real punchy and spicy. Reminds me of the stereotypical flamboyant Cuban.

Mahogany and/or Sapele aren't bad. I like the smell of them while bending.

Bloodwood reminds me of Red Hots, those very spicy little red cinnamon candies.

Ebony has a very sterile smell to me, like it's a mineral rather than a wood.

Cocobolo smells like a battlefield. Working with it is a similar experience. Very intense relationship we share. I think everyone here can agree that there is hardly anything subtle about Cocobolo. A very wild child.

Spruce smells like business. I get a feeling of great tangibility and purpose when the smell is in the air, and the shavings on the floor.

Granular hide glue smells exactly like pet stores that specialize in reptiles. Brings back memories of before I knew what luthiery was.

Can't put my finger on what MDF reminds me of but I don't like it.

Zebrawood smells like, well, zebras...

Zebrawood smells like, well, zebras...

The smell of cherry, while I agree that it doesn't smell like cherries, makes me hungry every time I work with it.

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

Redwood smells like Wrigley`s Double mint gum.
Love the stuff.

_________________
Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

Walnut smells like perfume
EIR to me smells like bubble gum
Gaboon ebony smells like nasty sweaty feet.
Maple has no smell that I can detect
Mahogany just smells good

Cutting up some BRW soon. Can't wait to smell it.

After playing in the snow, my yellow lab smells like a wet dog. weird....

Yup...Same family. Poplar is an Aspen but there are others.

Cardboard!

_________________
Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Never smelled Bloodwood, but Snakewood definitely smells like coconut...

funny thread... i´ll bite.

from my limited experience:

brazillian rosewood: very scenty, actually like rose essence with some pepper and an hint of vanilla ( i could relate to chocolate too), i could smell it all day long.
indian rosewood : very dry smell, vegetable (but that elephant image makes some strange sense)
amazon rosewood: very nice scent, more flowery than brazilian rosewood, but also more "animal"... musk?
cedrella : very nice too... a fresh, citrous smell, with hints of white flowers (reminds me of the missus, which is still a good thing)
spanish cypress: lovely smell, kind of balsamic
thuja: brings me back to infancy, that pencil smell.

_________________
member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Hi!
i´m not a native english speaker either, and i can not see your image, but from what i gather an aspen, sensu stricto, is Populus tremula (wikipedia gave me peuplier tremble as the french translation). i believe that, sensu lato, it could be applied to other poplars (at least i´ve heard Populus alba, the alamo, referred to as aspen at least once).

HTH,
Miguel.

_________________
member of the guild of professional dilettantes