Hawaian wood help

[DON FRANK]

I picked up a chunk of wood last week off a beach in Kauai and brought it back home. It's very wet and looks similar to sycamore but smells like a very bad piece of Elm, like it was buried in a horse stall for a year. I'm trying to decide if it's worth stinking up the shop further to get it hollowed. Any help from our Hawaiian turners would be appreciated.

 

[Richard Coers]

Throw a piece of sassafras on the lathe and then continue with that piece. Nothing trumps the smell of sassafras.

 

[DON FRANK]

Maybe Camphor, but my wife would be packing my bags if my lathe was in the house with this.

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I picked up a chunk of wood last week off a beach in Kauai and brought it back home. It's very wet and looks similar to sycamore but smells like a very bad piece of Elm, like it was buried in a horse stall for a year. I'm trying to decide if it's worth stinking up the shop further to get it hollowed. Any help from our Hawaiian turners would be appreciated.

We need a much better pic, close up and large

 

[hockenbery]

Maybe Camphor, but my wife would be packing my bags if my lathe was in the house with this.

camphor has a lot of color variations.
few are neutral on its “Vic’s vapor rub” smell. smell wise I like camphor and tolerate Elm.
Camphor is terrific for turning and carving.
there are 3 camphor camps
Those who enjoy the this terrific turning wood and like the aroma.
Those who enjoy turning this wood and put up with a smell they hate
Those who don’t want to be near camphor.

you smell description doesn’t match camphor.

 

[Karl Loeblein]

Wonder if stink could be reduced by boiling in some water outside with some lemon juice to help with the smell?

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

No native Hawaiian wood smells bad. Who knows what washed ashore, could be something from Japan. Picture is too small to see it well.

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Wonder if stink could be reduced by boiling in some water outside with some lemon juice to help with the smell?

Karl, it is the evaporating sap that makes the smell, let it dry and the smell is gone.

I have had a few pieces that smelled nice and also few that did not , I remember one time turning a tropical piece of wood in our shop in The Netherlands, I stopped the lathe and looked under my shoes and the area I had stood, as I was certain a cat had made a dump there, and I stepped in it , it was only then that I realized it was the wood, but when it was dry there was no noticable smell.

Same with Elm or Ailantis wood, even aromatic Cedar will loose it's smell when the oil is gone.

 

[robo hippy]

I have had some big leaf maple that smelled very sour, and when dry, it still smelled that way. I have one catalpa box that I bought at a club auction years back, and it smells slightly on the outside, and open it up, the smell is a lot stronger. A scent I don't like...

robo hippy

 

[DON FRANK]

Sorry, I caught a bug while flying back home and have been out of the loop since I posted. My comment about camphor was poorly worded. I just meant that camphor was another wood that had a very strong distinctive smell like sassafras and also elm. This is certainly not camphor.. Had planned to hollow it but then got a head cold. I had it wrapped in a plastic bag still on the chuck and when I came over tonight I decided it just wasn't worth the smell. I took this piece off the lathe and put it outside as it just stunk too bad. I'm glad Emiliano responded about the smell factor. Was glad he didn't report there was something that would give you flu like symptoms lol.
There were several pieces in similar size that were washed up together so perhaps it had more to do with floating around in saltwater. Anyway, I think life is too short to spend time on something this stinky even if the smell would eventually fade.
Thanks to all for your comments.

 

[Dean Center]

By any chance, was this beach downhill from Emiliano's horse barn? Maybe it's a piece of that giant koa he cut up last year that leapt out of the cart on the way to his shop.

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I have had some big leaf maple that smelled very sour, and when dry, it still smelled that way. I have one catalpa box that I bought at a club auction years back, and it smells slightly on the outside, and open it up, the smell is a lot stronger. A scent I don't like...

robo hippy

Reed, I think that at a very damp place the pieces of wood don't get really dry ever, maybe that's the way it is in Oregon .

At my place you can not smell a single piece of wood, and there are quite a few of different woods, from Elm and Sassafras to Willow, Catalpa and Poplar, Oak, Maple, Honey Locust, and so on.

Step into our so called Bowl Room, there is no wood smell, and throughout the house there are many more pieces, maybe the kitchen has some smells at times

 

[DON FRANK]

Dean, from the prices I saw for Koa on the island of Kauai I'm pretty sure they figure out a way to even use the sawdust and shavings. That stuff is like gold.