I managed to get a nice piece of wood from an old flowering cherry tree that had been cut down by the city arbourists. It has some beautiful spalted figure to it, but the smell is terrible! At first it smelled like dog pooh, now that it is slightly drier, the smell is not as bad, more sort of fungal/mushroom-y, but still raunchy.

Once the wood is completely dried does anyone know if the smell will go away, or is the best I can hope for to seal it in with some kind of finish? Any suggestions are welcome.

I am also not sure if I want to even work with the wood in my shop, the smell may linger on for a long time.

Dan