Oak smell test

[Jere39]

I cut mostly dead Red Oak, more than 90%. I occasionally find a dead White Oak, and last winter I took down a monster Pin Oak in the middle of my lawn. A couple weeks ago a long dead Oak, that bore no leaves for years, and no longer had any bark came down on a steep hillside and crashed into a neighbor's BBQ pit. I cleaned it up for them, and hauled the wood home with my ATV in very small loads.

Now the question: What kind of Oak is this?

It is not Red Oak, I am pretty sure it is not White Oak, the splits are more yellow. It cut like all the oak I've cut, but didn't split nearly as nice as the Red, more like Pin Oak. But, the location, on the hill side, suggest it was not a Pin Oak. And, the biggest clue, is that it flat stinks. It's been about a month since I split this pile, and whenever I walk near it, it still has that smell of something dead about it. Unfortunately, it has been raining lately, so these pictures, for what they might be worth, show wood that has been rained on.

Here is the tree laying on the hillside with my Dolmar 6100 into it:


And one of my stacks getting the sniff test by my French Brittany, Scout:



Here are is a close up of a couple splits on the end of my stack:



And, finally, a single split laying on one of the rounds I am using as a chopping block. This round has absorbed a couple days of rain, sorry, I know that messes up the image for id purposes:



Now, among the thousands of live Oaks on my property, I have found about half a dozen Chestnut Oaks, and all of them are near where this dead one came down. Does anyone suspect this might be a Chestnut Oak? Has anyone noticed a stronger and more enduring smell from one sub-Oak specie than others?

Thanks for any clues, guesses, ideas, or just plain shrugs.

 

[066blaster]

Maybe burr oak. Did it have thick bark on it. I've cut quite a bit. It can get stinky.

 

[Jere39]

No bark anywhere; top all the way to the ground. I've never seen Bur Oak that I recognized. My little Tree ID app suggests they aren't here in SE PA very likely. But, I'm asking because I don't know.

 

[cigmaker]

I never can get pictures to load right on this site but I have some that looks just the same with bark. I am no expert at tree Id but the old timer I got it from said it was willow oak. You might not even have them and I may look like a dumb a$$ just passing what I was told along. If someone knows for sure I would also be interested.

 

[stihly dan]

Its in the red oak realm so does it really matter.

 

[Jere39]

It doesn't matter to the stove, and likely won't matter to anyone sitting in front of the stove. But, I am a curious soul, and I like to know things. So, at least to me, it does matter.

 

[Stihlofadeal64]

We cut some oak species (at least it seems) that smelled like piss (excuse the vernacular). My wife would not let it into the porch where the wood to be burned until it was WELL dried.
Anyone here experienced that before?

 

[capetrees]

No but if you're going to keep drinking beer, stop pissing on your wood pile.

 

[hseII]

We cut some oak species (at least it seems) that smelled like piss (excuse the vernacular). My wife would not let it into the porch where the wood to be burned until it was WELL dried.
Anyone here experienced that before?

Was it red?

 

[babybart]

Piss Oak...

 

[flotek]

Well There's tons of species of oaks .a leaf would really tell us . It's all good and burns great when seasoned so who cares

 

[BoBDoG2o02]

Any possibility it was hickory. I have butternut here in lancaster that has a distinctive smell. The punk around the outside reminds me of some hick.... was the heartwood red when cut?

 

[babybart]

Butternut is white walnut, Bitternut is hickory.
Well I guess technically hickory are walnut genus too, so nevermind. Just got home from work and its late.. err early, whatever.

 

[Whitespider]

It has the look of Bur Oak to me... but that don't mean a lot.
*

 

[Iska3]

I cut a bunch of Bur Oak once that had the smell of cat urine or coon urine. I always thought the barn cats backed in to the wood pile and marked it until we cut another older log that was back in the woods so maybe Spidy is right.

 

[Fred Wright]

Pin oak = piss oak. It carries the name for a reason.

Willow oak, a variety of red doesn't have the pee aroma. Willow oak grows wild here, we've cut a lot of 'em over the years. The growth rings are usually wider; it's a fast-growing tree.

 

[sunfish]

Looks just like the dead red oak I cut around here and it does have a very strong smell.

 

[ashy larry]

Red stinks. Could be a variety like Scarlet oak.

 

[BoBDoG2o02]

Butternut is white walnut, Bitternut is hickory.
Well I guess technically hickory are walnut genus too, so nevermind. Just got home from work and its late.. err early, whatever.

My phone did the autocorrect thing. I meant bitternut

 

[hseII]

Pin oak = piss oak. It carries the name for a reason.

Willow oak, a variety of red doesn't have the pee aroma. Willow oak grows wild here, we've cut a lot of 'em over the years. The growth rings are usually wider; it's a fast-growing tree.

Looks just like the dead red oak I cut around here and it does have a very strong smell.

Exactly, we remove them here from time to time, and that's what we call them: piss oak.

Off to look @ Pin Oak leaves.