What wood smells like ginger when split?

[hickoryhoarder]

I got a little bundle of wood from my local hardware store to split into kindling, which I often do. Their bundles are inexpensive, with squared off pieces from some kind of woodworking business. Usually all red oak, but this time there were a few maple and two pieces that smelled like ginger when cut. The inside of the wood is also about the color of a piece of fresh ginger. My guess is Oregon cedar (sometimes called Port Ortford Cedar). What's yours?

Whatever it is, it's a great smell!

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Looks like Sassafras which has a nice, strong, clean smell to it.

 

[Woody Stover]

Looks like Sassafras

That's what I thought, looking at the grain. I wouldn't describe the smell as ginger, though. hh, did you saw, cut or break it for a fresh whiff? Kind of like a Hall's mentho-lyptus cough drop. Tons of it here, and probably around hh. Look for orange under-bark, rather coarse bark and odd-shaped leaves. It doesn't burn long, it's a bit poppy in the stove, but will light fast for kindling. It's quite rot-resistant, and I've used dead poles laid on the ground to elevate pallets.

 

[hickoryhoarder]

Yeah, I also associate orange color with sassafras. There was zero orange in the original piece before I split it into kindling. The bark and leaves of sassafras are very familiar to me, but these were pieces from a wood shop -- rectangles -- no bark or leaves.

Too bad I don't have a split of sassafras to compare the smells. Given it's from a wood shop, I'm still guessing Port Ortford Cedar, which does apparently smell like ginger.

 

[Woody Stover]

Yeah, I never heard of Sass used for furniture. I guess it could have come in with some other wood, and they just busted it for kindling..?
I just wonder how they would end up with a western wood?

 

[hickoryhoarder]

Yeah, I never heard of Sass used for furniture. I guess it could have come in with some other wood, and they just busted it for kindling..?
I just wonder how they would end up with a western wood?

My impression is it's a specific wood that might be used commercially across the country. I could be wrong. It's definitely used commercially in the west.

 

[Osage]

My impression is it's a specific wood that might be used commercially across the country. I could be wrong. It's definitely used commercially in the west.

Have used it for scales on some of the knives that I make.