yes the lumber is aromatic red cedar i got from a guy on freecylce.com (yahoo group) he cut down a tree in his back yard here in toledo ohio two years ago ! so i took the logs and this is what i got when i started milling them , truely a great find!!!! And yes the shop smells great , I kind of had a hampster cage smell on my work coat and thats all i smelled the next day at work , so as soon as i got home i started milling again!!! theres alot of free lumber out there if you just look, or post free wanted ads some people just want it gone so everyone wins!!!