29+ How To Know If Wood Is Treated Or Not. Treated wood can smell oily or chemical as opposed to a nice natural smell of untreated wood. Now that you know how to tell if the wood is treated, you can do a quick check to see if your old lumber is safe.
Appearance and condition are one way to tell if wood is treated.
(also, anyone know what kind of wood it is?) not treated, btw. There are a couple of ways to do that, but why is it so important to know? If not, what are its disadvantages? Tanalith treated wood is highly toxic and should not be burned in open fires or in homes.