Yellow pine has some heft to it (dense) and a very distinct pine pitch smell regardless of the age of the timber. The grain pattern, softness, and light weight lead me to think that we are talking about cypress here.From a 100+ year old outdoor round oil tank in the Pennsylvania woods. Would have thought it would be white oak but after cleaning and planing, think its cypress. Its not very hard and is lightweight.
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It smells strongly of oil from the decades holding crude. The smell is so powerful that i can smell it 10 ft away. I'm also sure it hasn't seen oil in 50 years. Here's 2 items I made from the pieces I cut off - the cutting board has alternating cherry wood for some contrast. for the lamp, even after three coats of Varathane poly, the smell still comes through.If it's old growth long leaf yellow pine (also called heart or pitch pine) it will weigh about the same as white oak. It was not commonly used for water tank staves but I've never run across a wooden oil tank so wouldn't know it that was a common use for it. Cypress would be about the weight of the current doug fir framing lumber but gets quite heavy when swelled up. Port orford cedar is quite light and was often used for water tanks. Western red and northern white cedar where also used for water tanks and would also be fairly light in weight. If it's heart pine you should notice the scent of turpentine when you cut it.
Beautiful, but I’m not sure I’d want to use a cutting board smelling so strongly of crude oil. Then again, maybe an oil baron would love it. Smells like money!