Hello,
I drilled a hole in a wall stud that sits against the floor to run an Ethernet cable. It was supposed to run over it, but instead, it went through.
To my surprise, the sawdust was oily (see picture) about halfway through. I've never seen this before, but I also haven't worked with old original studs from the 70s before. It was on the second floor, so it shouldn't be pressure-treated because they rest on concrete or something.
Any idea what this might be? I've checked with a reliable stud finder and also made some holes in the wall to ensure I haven't damaged anything I shouldn't have, but I see nothing. The stud is solid wood when you scrape the top.
Any idea what this could be? It might be resin, but I thought it was a bit too much for that. Unless it's intentionally chosen as tar wood or something. It smells like resin.
I drilled a hole in a wall stud that sits against the floor to run an Ethernet cable. It was supposed to run over it, but instead, it went through.
To my surprise, the sawdust was oily (see picture) about halfway through. I've never seen this before, but I also haven't worked with old original studs from the 70s before. It was on the second floor, so it shouldn't be pressure-treated because they rest on concrete or something.
Any idea what this might be? I've checked with a reliable stud finder and also made some holes in the wall to ensure I haven't damaged anything I shouldn't have, but I see nothing. The stud is solid wood when you scrape the top.
Any idea what this could be? It might be resin, but I thought it was a bit too much for that. Unless it's intentionally chosen as tar wood or something. It smells like resin.
You have most likely drilled into a resin pocket. It's hard to imagine anything else that could have remained moist 50 years later. Even pressure-treated beams dry out in a year or two depending on the surrounding environment. Probably dense-grown heartwood of high quality if there's still fresh resin in it.