"I want to turn me some Cinnamon wood"

[Patrick Miller]

sung to the tune of Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl"-

Has anyone turned any of this? Where did you find the wood? Does it smell as good as the bark?
Thanks

 

[robo hippy]

Near as I can tell, Cinnamon wood is another name for sassafras. It is a eastern/southeastern wood. Very strongly scented wood.

robo hippy

 

[Patrick Miller]

Thanks- Wonder if it is the same as or similar to the SE Asian variety where I think the bark for the cinnamon spice comes from? Being up in the PNW I am not familiar with sassafras either.

 

[Gretch Flo]

sassafras

Near as I can tell, Cinnamon wood is another name for sassafras. It is a eastern/southeastern wood. Very strongly scented wood.

robo hippy

Haven't researched this as far as cinnamon wood. I have sassafras on my south "tree" line. I can get 10-12" diameter "trees". Has nice large red leaves in the fall. It dies at the bottom and "keels" over. The biggest pieces have large central holes. I haven't turned it in several years. Had a dead sassafra lening towd some lines to my house, and fortunately with big winds it fell to the east. I was able to drag it with tr4actor ok and cut up. Haven't turned it yet as I am not enthusiastic about it.
The bark is awesome with thick, deep ridges, and the inside color of the bark is a light orange. The wood is soft and yellowish brown . I have an "urn" with my mothers ashes on the mantel I turned 11-12 years ago. Has bark on the outside and looks as good as when I turned it. Has distinctive odor of "sassafras" (but of course!!!) when turning. May get to it this winter, Gretch

 

[John Jordan]

Sassafras is not the same as cinnamon. Sassafras root is what was once used for root beer, and it has that smell, which is very different than cinnamon. I've turned a lot of sassafras, which is very common in the south, the small is nice, but fugitive.

Here's the wiki for cinnamon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon

john

 

[robo hippy]

I got a piece of 'Cinnamon' wood some years back from 'out east', like Virginia or some thing like that (almost everything is back east from here). I inquired on some of the forums about it, and was told a couple of times that Sassafras was called that some times. For sure, it is not the same as the spice cinnamon.

robo hippy

 

[Bill Boehme]

Sassafras is not the same as cinnamon. Sassafras root is what was once used for root beer, and it has that smell, which is very different than cinnamon. I've turned a lot of sassafras, which is very common in the south, the small is nice, but fugitive.

Here's the wiki for cinnamon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon

john

Do any of you remember when Yosemite Sam would burst through the saloon doors and tell the bartender to "Give me a sasparilly and make it snappy"?

When I did some online searching it indicated that bark from sassafras tree roots was not used to any great extent in North America to produce "sarsaparilla" or "sasparilla" (there are two versions of the word depending on local use) because of the great difficulty in obtaining usable amounts for large production. There is a Sarsaparilla vine that grows in Central America that is used for many purposes including making the carbonated beverage with the same name. I don't know about the "roots" (excuse the pun, but I did it on purpose -- "origin" just seemed to lack spice) of Root Beer -- maybe at one time it was made with some version of Sarsaparilla or Sassafras, but today's beverages that are called root beer use artificial flavorings as far as I can tell. Many many years ago when I was into fermenting, I made a batch of Sarsaparilla soda. It was OK, but a bit low on carbonation and a slightly more subdued taste than root beer soda.

"Fugitive"? John, is this is a spelling error or do you have a 'shine operation going on in the woods among the sassafras trees?

 

[KellyDunn]

Pat, Here the only cinnamon wood I have gotten was from a tree that was almost 24 inches at the base. The bark smells great. The wood no. And the wood is not all that nice to really want to go out of your way to get some. Does turn well. Someone told me incense was made from the bark. I did not get to see any skinny branches to see if the bark peeled like the cinnamon you get in the store. But I was told its not the same cinnamon. But I dont know that for sure.

 

[John Jordan]

Do any of you remember when Yosemite Sam would burst through the saloon doors and tell the bartender to "Give me a sasparilly and make it snappy"?

When I did some online searching it indicated that bark from sassafras tree roots was not used to any great extent in North America to produce "sarsaparilla" or "sasparilla" (there are two versions of the word depending on local use) because of the great difficulty in obtaining usable amounts for large production. There is a Sarsaparilla vine that grows in Central America that is used for many purposes including making the carbonated beverage with the same name. I don't know about the "roots" (excuse the pun, but I did it on purpose -- "origin" just seemed to lack spice) of Root Beer -- maybe at one time it was made with some version of Sarsaparilla or Sassafras, but today's beverages that are called root beer use artificial flavorings as far as I can tell. Many many years ago when I was into fermenting, I made a batch of Sarsaparilla soda. It was OK, but a bit low on carbonation and a slightly more subdued taste than root beer soda.

"Fugitive"? John, is this is a spelling error or do you have a 'shine operation going on in the woods among the sassafras trees?

Ha! That was supposed to be the smell is fugitive. Smells great when turning, but goes away in a few days. Never made any, but did drink it a few times-there's good, and there's the other. :cool2: Most of the folks that used to make the rotgut stuff now grow pot and make meth, so they say.

John

 

[Dale Jablonski]

I've made sassafras tea back when I lived in Missouri and it does taste faintly of rootbeer. Smells more so. It would be interesting to get a piece large enough to turn.

 

[Brian McInturff]

My grandmother use to make sassafras tea from the roots. What we had was more like a large shrub than a tree. Boy, this conversation brings back good memories.

 

[flyrod444]

I've never seen or turned any Cinnamon wood but do have some nice size sassafras trees on my property. There is one behind my shop that is around 15 inches through. Never turned any of it, but sassafras was the preferred wood for split rail fences by a lot of the old timers around here. My brothers father in-law is 96 years old and he used it for most of the split rail fences he use to make. It seems to resist decay as well as locust for out door use. My grandmother use to make tea from it and always looked for young seedling size bushes to collect the root from for this purpose.
Jack