Customer Reviews

The Encyclopedia of Wood

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For anyone interested in wood, in its ability to withstand stress, its bark, shrinkage, moisture content, fastening it to things, or even its preservation this is a wonderful book. A work of the U.S Department of Agriculture, Forest Service's Forest Product laboratory it is not strictly an encyclopedia but a collection of essays, pictures and descriptions of various aspects of wood.

The first sections detail types of wood, structure of wood and physical properties of wood. Later sections examine more obscure mathematical concepts regarding wood such as stress grades and structural analysis equations. Important chapters detail types of fastenings, drying and control of moisture as well as protection and preservation. An important chapter examines the use of wood in buildings and bridges. This is not a book that is a `how to' regarding wood. It is also not a book about all the types of wood in the world or how to identify all of them necessarily. It is rather a collection of sometimes seemingly unsystematically collected material on wood and many aspects of it.

An interesting book.

Seth J. Frantzman

The Encyclopedia of wood is a good reference text for forestry students or those wishing to learn about the scientific aspects of many wood species. For those wanting reference material for wood working it is too technical. There are many other books available better suited for crafts people.

A Government supplied book that is very thorough, goes into genetic detail, but is in black and white

This is a reprint of the 1999 edition of the "Wood Handbook - Wood as an Engineering Material", a classic reference to those who use wood as an engineering material (illustrations are few and consist of black&white photographs). Several other reprints exist, but this has the distinction of being the cheapest in the market, which will be due, at least in part, to the fact that this is a paperback, while the others are hardbacks.

I was hoping for a book that went deeper into the anatomical structure of wood. That was not the case. I think it is a good book for people in the construction trades but not for people looking to get a more scientific education of wood.

This book is full of information!!! It's got everything you'll ever need to know to work with wood safely and efficiently. If you use it for a living, or if you're just a hobby woodworker, like myself, it's a great reference to have around.

The USDA Encyclopedia of Wood has a tremendous amount of information on wood, and is a very good buy for the price.