Stinky, Smelly Red Oak

[George Denecke]

So, I'm working intermittently on this project to replace my bathroom cabinet door & drawerfronts. My red oak stock has been in my basement "studio" for less than a year. As I grab a piece and start to enjoy working on it, the smell get really strong. I've noticed this faint odor before on other projects but it was never this strong. I've brought it up into the main rooms of the house but I'm wondering if this will ever go away. It's not offensive to me as a WW'er but some of my guests may be put off. I'm going to let it sit in a sunny window for a while but I'm wondering if this will be an ongoing problem or is it just a reaction to summer heat & humidity. The project will be protected with polyurethane eventually & I hope this will reduce the odor. Am I dreaming??

[AHill]

Do you think maybe the smell might be animal urine? Could be from rats or mice or even household pets.

[R Clark]

I've had some red oak smell like urine and some smell like vomit. The smell didn't stay with the piece after finish. I've read on here about others who have experienced the same. You could take small sample, mill it and the put on finish to see if the smell persists.

[Robert Adams]

Some of it smells very very bad. I call it pig $##^ oak. It smells extremely bad when cutting some of it. Once the air gets to it it's fine.

[carlsonalex18]

Robert Adams said:

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Some of it smells very very bad. I call it pig $##^ oak. It smells extremely bad when cutting some of it. Once the air gets to it it's fine.

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We call it pi$$ oak no matter what you call it, it stinks, but what Robert says is true. The smell does not last, and you dont need to leave it sit.

[wood2woodknot]

That's how I was informally taught to identify red oak - wet it and if it smells like pi$$, it's red oak (aka "pi$$ oak).

[jasfrank]

Oak that had the oak wilt disease has the bad odor. It should go away with time.

[FS7]

I always thought red oak smelled more or less like feet, especially when cut or machined. Not awful, but certainly not a wonderful smell like pine, or cedar, or walnut, or almost anything else...

[Steve N]

FS7 said:

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I always thought red oak smelled more or less like fee

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Stinky feet, yep

If it actually smelled like urine I would worry what Allan suggested might be true.

[Sundowner]

FS7 said:

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I always thought red oak smelled more or less like feet, especially when cut or machined. Not awful, but certainly not a wonderful smell like pine, or cedar, or walnut, or almost anything else...

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funny, I always thought it smelled like baby vomit. Sometimes I'll run some cedar through the planer without the D/C on just to get the stink out of the shop afte rworking with red oak. I know no one who likes the smell of cut red oak