Here is a collection of books to help you learn more about wood. Whether you want to learn how to identify, what are it's properties, how to work it, or it's uses, these books will cover the bases.

Book Index Page

Understanding Wood: A Craftman's Guide to Wood Technology (by R. Bruce Hoadley)

In this essential reference for woodworkers, R. Bruce Hoadley explains everything from how trees grow to how best to cut, season, machine, join, bend, and finish wood. Why do miters open and glue joints loosen? How do you get a really sharp edge? Examples of problems and solutions help woodworkers puzzle through their own projects, while 325 full-color photos and helpful tables illustrate key points. Updated information on composite materials, adhesives, and finishes included.

Culled and assembled by Romeyn Beck Hough between 1888 and 1913 in what still remains and stunning and unparalleled achievement, American Woods —originally published in 14 volumes, with actual specimens mounted on card stock—is a work of breathtaking beauty that has set the standard for study of trees and wood. TASCHEN’s Wood Book reproduces, in painstaking facsimile, all of the specimen pages from the original volumes; for this purpose we have obtained the use of an extremely rare original set of volumes in very good condition, with minimal damage to the wood cuts. For each tree, three different cross-section cuts of wood are represented (radial, horizontal, and vertical), demonstrating the particular characteristics of the grain and the wealth of colors and textures to be found among the many different wood types. Also included in this special edition are lithographs by Charles Sprague Sargent of the leaves and nuts of most trees, as well as texts describing the trees’ geographical origins and physical characteristics. Interior designers, craftsmen, nature enthusiasts, and artists alike will enjoy this beautiful collection of wood samples which includes many trees that are now very rare or completely extinct.

An abundantly illustrated compendium of information about trees, forest types, and the characteristics, uses, facts, and myths connected with many types of woods. At its core is an A-Z directory of 150 woods in commercial use, with identification of growth, distribution, and physical characteristics.

Strong, pliable, and natural, wood is the world's most versatile structural resource. But how to tell one kind from another and choose just the right wood for your project? This remarkable collection of forty actual wood samples shows the color, grain, and texture of the leading varieties. Detailed drawings identify uncut, unfinished trees by their leaves, fruits, and bark. Originally published in 1969, and now in its eighth printing, this straightforward text explains where each kind of tree is grown and how to use its wood to the best advantage--from lamination to veneering, from carving and molding, to finishing. Here, too, is the history of man's use of wood from the Stone Age ax to modern-day conservation issues and rare rain-forest species. What Wood Is That? is an invaluable resource for builders, homeowners, and hobbyists--and a fascinating companion for forest guides and nature lovers.

Well written and very thorough. It begins with an explanation of the structure of wood at the cellular level, in some cases,
in rather great depth. There are chapters on techinques for obtaining and preparing wood samples as well as a description of some of the necessary instruments (hand lens, microscope etc). The sections on identification are divided up into softwoods, hardwoods and tropical woods.

Good Wood Handbook addresses Brazilian mahogany's dueling traits--its inherent quality and fragile future--in a thorough and educational manner that leaves the reader seeing the forest and the trees. Authors Albert Jackson and David Day organized this effort as a guide to selecting the right wood for the job. Along the way, they cover softwoods, hardwoods, veneers, and manufactured boards. Wood production, logging, milling, drying, and seasoning are explained, as are tips and techniques on laminating, veneering, and steam bending. The middle of the book is devoted to nearly 150 types of wood. Each is pictured in color and specifically detailed in a number of categories, including what country it comes from, the characteristics of the tree, the characteristics of the wood, common uses for the wood, and its average dried weight. Good Wood Handbook explains, for example, that while all wood shrinks as it dries, it will shrink roughly twice as much when cut along the line of a tree's annual rings as it does if cut across them. (And, yes, there are good illustrations to make such descriptions easier to understand.) It also covers the varieties of plywood, including decorative, three-ply, drawerside, multi-ply, four-ply, and six-ply.

As with Brazilian mahogany, Jackson and Day are keenly aware that some woods are in short supply, even endangered. They note in their introduction that it's important that any new--as opposed to recycled--wood come from a well-managed source, and that users should be aware of which species are at risk. This way, they write, "informed choices can be made and steps taken to ensure continued supplies of this beautiful material." --John Russell

World Woods in Color (by William Alexander Lincoln)

(Reviewer) - Pick it up, thumb through it, and enjoy the well-printed pictures of each wood sample. There are over 250 of them, all unique, all showing the characteristic grain and coloring of the species. The eye-candy is just the icing on a very substantial cake, however.

Suppose you cut down an apple tree and decide to keep the lumber - do you season in the round, or cut it first? How long will it take? As well as the right way to season each wood, this gives its resistance to insect attack and special considerations in machining, nailing, veneering, and gluing. Only so much can be said in one page, but Lincoln covers the basics in a systematic way.

Appendices cross-reference the common and latin names, and list suppliers and organizations that provide information. Those tables are helpful but weak. Suppliers come and go too fast for that list to have lasting value. The "table of uses" of each species in each application is also helpful but limited. Veneer is not mentioned in that table, even though Lincoln discusses it elsewhere. The indices could also handle conflicting names better. I just gained access to some fresh-cut American linden, and wanted to know how to season it. The word 'linden' has only one index entry, even though the name is applied to several species, and that entry doesn't match the linden I have. I was supposed to look for 'basswood.' Now I know, but lists of synonyms would have helped. More information about each wood would have been useful, too: which woods create dust with breathing hazards? What about the percent change, radially and tangentially, during drying? How does the appearance change when quartersawed?

Still, the book's strengths far outweigh its weaknesses. It's just pretty to look at, for one thing, but it has good information as well. I'm happy with it.

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