I *love* the smell of Olivewood and Tulipwood.

I made myself an Amboyna Burl cigar style pen about a year ago, and it still smells.  It's interesting, and robust, but I don't like it that much.

Ironically, I've cut about 1000lf of red oak doing molding work in the past 18 months, and I can't stand it anymore!

I like the smell of oak, but you can't beat the scent of crappy pine!

Pine smells pretty good, I almost burned some black walnut the other day drilling dowels and realized it had a nice sweet smell 

I like the smell of pine too. I can't say I have much experience with any other type of wood though. I mostly use pine, MDF or particle board. Can't say I'm so fond of the smell of MDF or particle board.

I love the smell of pitch pine and also Oak
Its great working with real wood not just MDF which smell yuck  
The worst is some WBP ply which smell of cat pee  

Bear with me please for a slightly off topic story...

We were visiting one of the local Indian reservations here in New Mexico and stopped at the gift shop.  They had a video running of the process they use to give their pottery a black glaze.  It involved covering the clay with cow dung and putting the mess in an oven.

A tourist asked the native who ran the shop "Doesn't that smell awful?"

His reply: "It smells like money to me."

Lets see as far as nastiest smells, I'd have to go with Hawaiian signature(?) wood.  Beautiful stuff, but even a small piece will make you want to leave the shop - fast!  When I still had a Jet canister DC, imbuia and Alaskan yellow cedar would make you want to puke (too overwhelming).  Each on their own is fine in the board, but using the dc just about had me heaving.

Eastern White Pine is a smell that brings back memories of my Dad teaching me how to use hand tools as a child.  I played with some sugar maple once that smells good, as does mulberry.

I cut some Ash for the first time in 25 years the other day and it brought back memories. It smelled nice to me, but the thing that stood out was how the smell reminded me of other things.

It's definitely not koa, as I do not object to the smell of koa.  The signature wood was harder than a rock and definitely was spalted.  Much harder than purpleheart, bubinga, etc.  It looks great but smells so awful...

Nothing comes even close to being as good as the smell of fresh cut cedar.  Not only does it smell good, but the smell brings back so many happy memories.

My least favourite is the smell of walnut when I am cutting it -although I like working with walnut.

The best: Western Red Cedar ( thuja plicata ), Pine ( pinus spec. ) , spruce ( picea spec. ). Cherry is nice, Oak is nice.

The worst: Bankirai ( shorea laevis etc. ) smells hideous ! Strange, for other shorea species ( like Meranti ) smell rather nice when freshly cut...

Regards,

Job

Chris if you want to marry the smell and taste of Oak try what I accidentally discovered while working on a project over the Holidays.  I covered a glass of champagne with a scrap piece of white oak to keep dust out of my drink and the champagne tasted incredibly better.

For my favorite wood smell, teak has a slight edge over Brazilian Rosewood.   

Mark, I don't know what kind of finish your guitar had on it but, freshly cut rosewood (dalberga nigra) smells like red roses.  I read somewhere (I think it was in one of James Knenov's books) that finishing the inside of cabinets and drawers leads to a rancid smell over time.  Could that be the smell in your guitar?

My favorite would be Walnut with Oak as a close second.

Ken, that has changed with age then!

What did you poke in it then?

Yes!
I was sanding a guitar body made from Alder & my daughter came into my workshop and said "smells like popcorn"

My favourite smell is an african wood called Kiaat.
Also like Madagascan Rosewood.
I had a "doh" moment as I realized why it was called Rosewood.

I try to only use local and sustainable woods.  This is just a personal preference, not a strong belief.  Walnut is pungent but I like it.  I really like both maple (smells like syrup) and oak.  Poplar reminds me of shop class in high school.  I am allergic to pine and have to wear a mask when working with it.  This is partially what brought be me to Festool in the first place.  I can at least sand pine without a mask when using the Festool sanders and vacuum.

Camphor smells nice

I've often pondered whether northern and southern sassafras are the same. We have golden and blackheart out of Tassie. Not sure about what else is about in Oz.

A bit of nostalgia - as a youngster I'd often go trekking is Sassafras Gully in the Blue Mountains (west of Sydney) ... here's a link for interest

http://www.wildwalks.com/bushwalking-and-hiking-in-nsw/blue-mountains-springwood/sassafras-gully-loop.html

Info from internet>>>   Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) Sassafras heartwood is pale to golden brown, resembling ash or chestnut. The narrow sapwood is yellowish white. Sassafras lumber has a coarse texture much like Oak and is generally straight-grained. Well-known as an aromatic species it is said that it resist moths and other winged pests much like Aromatic Red Cedar does. It is light weight but strong. Sassafras lumber is easily worked and takes a finish well. It glues well and holds screws very well. Interestingly enough, the roots and blossoms of this tree were used by colonial Americans to make tea. The Mountain folk of east Tennessee, were I grew up, called this tea "the spring tonic". My Grandmother believed that it thinned the blood after a long cold winter and that it prevented what she called the spring lethargy. Sassafras lumber is great for furniture, millwork, custom moldings, windows, doors and cabinet work. It is also used to make walking sticks, musical instruments and beautiful hand crafted Canoes. It is very buoyant and was the primary wood for making oars and boat paddles before fiberglass came along. Sassafras lumber is also very rot resistant. Sassafras is a great all around wood which will work well for nearly any project that you have in mind. We guarantee this lumber to be structurally sound and 100% usable. <<<

My own observations to add to above >>>I have used Sassafras for fire wood.  Like Ash, it is one of the few woods that you can burn immediately after the tree has been felled.  you don't have to season it.  It burns better, of course, after it has seasoned.  You don't want to burn it in an open unscreened fire place, or an open doored woodstove.  It will blow sparks 10 or 12 feet across a room.  Especially if it is still green.  Don't trust it to not throw sparks no matter how long you season it.  It smells like Spearamint chewing gum green or seasoned, altho to a lesser extent when seasoned.  around here (SW Connecticut), it is considered a "weed tree" as it spreads by both seeds and roots.  If a small tree gets started, it doesn't take many years for many trees to become a part of the family.  I love the smell of a sassafras grove.  It becomes even more aromatic as it is being cut.  The lumber is easy to work and reminds me of Butternut for its workability.  With out staining, it is about half way between Ash and Chestnut in pattern appearance.  With staining, it can pass as Chestnut, or it almost looks like a stained red or yellow oak, depending on the stain applied.  no resemblance to White oak.
Tinker

I like most of them...redwood, cedar and pine are my favorites, but they all smell good to me and one of the benefits of working with wood.

Scot

I was afraid my 11th grade English teacher might be checking in
Tinker

Plus.....Root beer is a carbonated, sweetened beverage, originally made using the root of a sassafras plant (or the bark of a sassafras tree) as the primary flavor.

Plus.....Filé powder, also called gumbo filé, is a spicy herb made from the dried and ground leaves of the sassafras tree (Sassafras albidum),[1] native to eastern North America. The Choctaw Indians of the American South (Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana) were the first to use dried, ground sassafras leaves as a seasoning, what we now call filé, or gumbo filé, used in Creole cooking.

Tros(e)y

I'm over the smell of Western Red Cedar.  I think I am becoming allergic to it as well.  I got a rash on my forehead from the fine sawdust, and my throat started to close up from the dust in the air.  Wearing a respirator in 90+ degree weather is lame.   

I'm not sure if there is a wood smell that I prefer over others, but some bring back fond memories.

The smell of fresh cut, still wet Doug Fir reminds me of my first job at 15 cleaning up jobsites. 

Purpleheart - the smell of it reminds me of the first box I ever made for my college girlfriend

Zebrawood - burnt by saw blade or router bit smells like horse crap.  The smell in general reminds me of an unpleasant time   

wet concrete - my grandfather
freshly excavated dirt - my childhood

There are many others... I hope they still bring back the same vivid memories in 30 years

Wayne,

When did you find out you were allergic to penicillin? If it was many years ago, there is an 80% chance you are not allergic to the antibiotic now, either because you were never allergic to it or because you have become desensitized over time. This was the case with me.

It's quite helpful to know if you are allergic because penicillin and its wider drug family are still the most general effective antibiotics around and remain the first-line treatment for many infections. A simple skin test will tell you.

Richard.

Hey Guys, what about  willow, I bet you have never heard of that on, huh ?. The timber that they used for toilet seats was called  willow. when they are new there wasn't much smell but after a few months you could tell the difference. they dont use that timber any more they are all made of plastic

Without a doubt my favorite wood smell is Santos Mahogany by far. For me nothing compares and no other wood is even close.

Hi Reiska,

Normally oak barrels start their life in the wine trade, often in 'les caves de France'. They are then sold on, for more than they cost originally, mostly to the port or madeira makers. Then many years later they are sold again, also at a premium, to the distilling industry. By then the flavour of the original barrel is a distant hint and it is the previous contents which impart most of the flavour and nose. Some barrels go straight from the wine trade to the distillers. If you ask anyone in any of these three 'stages' to tell you the history of their barrels they usually say very little.

The very nicest tequila that I tasted (in a very smart hotel in DC) was over $200 a bottle and had been aged in port barrels. It tasted almost the same as a good whisky.

Now I reckon Festool should store their Carvex machines in the boxes that the dominos are stored in - maybe then there would be a better customer satisfaction rating for their little jigsaw!

Peter

I love it, Reiska, well done.

Peter

Best smelling wood, Sandalwood by far for me.  Found about 20 BF a little over 10 years ago and bought it.  Still have a some left.  I use it mostly inside boxes. 

I'm quite fond of fresh cut pine. Also, burning pine in a fire is nice as well.

Heart Pine.

I used to buy "Whiskey Barrels" to make hard cider. 
Tinker