Acacia wood smells?

Q: I have boxes of both Bellawood Ash and Short Leaf Acacia, both 3/4″ prefinished hardwood. The ash, from the US, has virtually no aroma. The acacia, an exotic hardwood, prefinished in China, has a strong aroma which I am attempting to vent. What is the aroma? Could it be just the wood scent, the poly, the aluminum oxide? Or something else?

By the way, the acacia is carefully packaged, with foam between the layers of boards and the whole is wrapped in plastic inside the wooden box. The ash has no foam or plastic packaging.

A: I’m not aware of any strong odour from this wood. Even if one could be smelled for example when cutting as can be the case with some woods, products made and finished in China are coated on all sides. So I don’t see how a wood odor could be the cause of this. I don’t know what finish they used either. But they typically will receive an order with the required specs which they must fulfill. After such a long trip across the ocean the finish is long dried. My suspicion will fall to the packaging. That foam wrap they used.

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