Wood Id - lemon smell?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.

hamslam42

Member
Oct 13, 2015
63
Columbus, OH
Help with another scrounge wood ID. This was scrounged from some neighbors, mixed in with some ash. I thought it was pine, but when I split it I noticed a really nice scent...kind of smells like lemongrass. The bark has a slight reddish hue to it. Any blue markings in the pics are marking paint from bucking. IMG_1656.JPG IMG_1657.JPG
 
It is a pine but what kind I don't know. I am going to take a WILD guess and say white. Maybe one of the pine burners will chim in.
 
I also think it is pine, and I don't really know what kind.
 
Scotch pine? Maybe red pine . . . although I'm not really good at identifying by bark.
 
Thats easy. It's lemon scented Pine Sol. ;)
That's exactly what my neighbor said! I didn't think of Pine Sol but I guess I've never used the lemon-scented kind. Anybody else out there ever split pine and ended up with a really nice lemony smell? My wife wants me to split it into small chips so she can use it like potpourri.
 
Only bark I've ever seen like that was on Hemlock..
 
That's exactly what my neighbor said! I didn't think of Pine Sol but I guess I've never used the lemon-scented kind. Anybody else out there ever split pine and ended up with a really nice lemony smell? My wife wants me to split it into small chips so she can use it like potpourri.
Women!
 
Now you know why they call it Red Pine
 
Good for your wife with the potpourri, so noodle some shavings for her. Take a round and noodle it up. Lol
I buy essential oils in the pine group to add to orange oil for simmering potpourri.
Spruce is very popular.
I dont know what you have, never use bark for IDing softwoods.
 
I burn a lot of Scotch Pine. I'm almost positive that's what it is. It's heavy when green, heavy when dry. It's a dense pine. If it's noticeably heavier than pine you are used to of the same size, it's probably Scotch.
 
If it was 30 to 50 tall and long needles, red pine.
 
Tall, straight, scraggly crown, short needles, small cones? Sbortleaf pine range juuuust makes it up to Columbus area.
 
Looks like red pine to me.
 
Looks like red pine to me.
Yep,that's what I've been calling my shortleaf trees for years. Then I realized they don't get this far south. Don't seem to be native to OH either. Widely planted though
 
Looks like hemlock to me. Is the reddish part of the bark on the inside? If yes it's hemlock because mine has it too. It's been are great wood to burn. Not too high on the btu ' s but split easy and dries fast.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Clyde S. Dale
Thanks for all of your replies. I have looked at various pics online and I think it could be either Hemlock or Scotch Pine. Someone else asked if the reddish part of the bark is on the inside, and I would say no to that...I would call the outside bark reddish or possibly orange-ish - the inside of the bark is a lighter brown. One thing I did notice about the bark when I peeled some off to look is that it is very fibery/stringy when you tear the bark apart. Kind of like hemp rope. The nice lemony smell fades fast as I don't really smell it anymore, but I'm sure if I split it again it would be back.

Unfortunately I don't have any other details as I don't have the source tree. I got this wood last summer when I caught wind of a neighbor getting some tree work done. I talked to the tree guys to see if they had any wood they wanted to leave me, and they said they had trimmed her oak and had some decent-sized limbs, but they had already thrown them in the back of their truck. But they said I could take whatever I wanted if I was willing to climb in and throw it out. So I did, and I think when I was doing that I got some other limbs that they already had in their truck from another location. I took a look at my neighbor's property and didn't see any trees that had bark like this.