Customer Reviews

The Real Wood Bible: The Complete Illustrated Guide to Choosing and Using 100 Decorative Woods

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

 

 

I bought this book because a quick glance showed the the photos are very good. As one reviewer noted, most woods includes a full page photo that is split in half, one showing unfinished, one showing finish.

However, the book doesn't offer much practical advice for working the wood. A lot of the lesser used species include advice like "Gluing: Little is known, best to experiement on scraps." Uhh, thanks?

The reason I purchased a reference book was so that if I use something uncommon, I could look up things I don't know. Instead, the author, an editor of a woodworking magazine no less, tells me that the only thing his book is good for is the pretty pictures. This is especially true of the section called "Secondary Woods"--substamtially lacking in useful information.

Why isn't there a book that compilies USEFUL information about a wood?

Some of the photos on unique aspects, such as quarter sawn surfaces and figure, do not illustrate the wood well. For example, the photos of figured cherry, curly maple and crotch mahogany don't even start to illustrate the beauty of these woods. The spalted maple photo makes one think that spalted maple should be used for heating the house. The burl photos do a very good job however. (Why is bog oak listed under diseased wood?)

Also, there are inconsistent names used. For example, American elm is listed with the note that it is "often referred to as white elm" but later in the description it is referred to as "gray elm". So, is this just a typo or is there another type of elm called "gray".

Finally, the information provided is not very consistent. For example, Some woods have information regarding assembly (screwing, nailing, gluing) others don't. The omission of assembly information is inexplicable and rather unforgiveable. Anyone who buys woods will assemble it, won't they?

Another example, under Dutch elm, it says that it must be given "the opportunity to move when used as a panel or tabletop". Don't you need to do this with all wood? And if so, why isn't mentioned with any other wood? Is Dutch elm special?

And here's a list of woods not covered that probably should be: aspen, big leaf maple (aka oregon maple), ipe, lyptus, pernambuco, myrtle, claro walnut, peruvian walnut, granadillo, black acacia, red gum, canarywood, regular/american chestnut, mesquite,, goncalvo alves, cypress, box elder, lacewood, leopardwood, olive, lauan/phillipine mahogany, kwila, doussie, alaskan yellow cedar, port orford cedar, vera/argentinian 'lignum vitae' and sycamore.

If I could, I change my rating to 1 star.

BTW, the picture for horse chestnut is wrong.

This is a likable book, with plenty of color pictures of a nice quality, that present the true colors rather faithfully. I can well imagine this will be a convenience for somebody who is thinking about selecting wood for a project.

However, this is a book written by a woodworker for woodworkers. By this time I can make a list (prior to opening the book) of the errors that are likely to be in such a book. Opening this book I find all these errors faithfully perpetuated, as expected. A rather spectacular new blunder is made in the entry for /Aniba/ (in this case /Aniba rosaeodora/ under its synonym /Aniba duckei/) where the text points out that there is an African "pau rosa" and a South American "pau rosa", and then blithely combines the name of the South American "pau rosa" with a picture of the African "pau rosa" (to be clear "pau rosa" is a vernacular or trade name attached to several woods: the two woods that are linked in the book have less in common than a Boeing 747 and a Rolex watch).

Another quible is that $30 is rather pricey for a middle-of-the-road book, that offers nothing new. Still, all in all a likable book.

Very good book, can be used as quick reference guide when trying to choose a wood to build any furniture, I found very useful the fact that it shows the wood appearance with and without finish so one figure out how the colour will change when a finish is applied.
For the ecological concious woodworker it tells you those species that are endangered. It describes the characteristics of each wood, hardness, grain, workability etc.

The only drawback I found was that I would have appreciated that in addition to the latin name and english one it should show the name of the wood in other languages

I like this book. As other reviews have pointed out, this book is not all inclusive, it does not list thousands of species, but lists basic information on many of the more common species used in woodworking. The pictures are of good quality. This is the only book I have found with information on sustainability of various woods. I refuse to purchase woods that are endangered (like wenge), or vulnerable (like cocobolo,) and this book provides such information, and is small enough to carry around when shopping. So, at least for my purposes, I really like this book. I wish more books would at least address sustainability. I would like to have a more comprehensive reference with such information but have found that difficult to find.

Not bad. Lots of color photos, and basic information about each species, but a bible it is not..more like Cliff Notes.

I would like to see examples of finished pieces of some of the species, and I couldn't find many of the species I was looking for. While I understand it will not contain every concievable wood, it was lacking information about all five of the species I was looking for, each of which was available at my local hardwood supplier and woodworking store.

Not bad for a basic reference, but you could get better information by doing a Google search of your particular wood.

We liked the first one that we bought for our carpenter apprentice son that we purchased 2 more for presents. The sprial binding, allowing the book to lay flat, is a great feature. This book is interesting and useful for novices and professionals.

I am constantly trying to figure out what kind of wood I'm trying to work with and this book helps immensely in that. The color pictures give a great identification of both finished and unfinished wood.

We found this book at Barns and Noble. I decided to look on line and was happy to find it at a price I wanted to pay. I got this for my husband for his birthday. I was happy with the messages of when it was sent out and when I should expect it delivered. I will use this business again in the future.

Thanks!

I would not want to pay full price for this book but at it's current reduced price I believe it is a good buy. It has a nice cross reference to substitute woods and traits of the wood when working with it in the shop. There are also a number of other traits listed that provide a good brief summary. I'm glad I bought the book.

A good overview of wood, but do not expect to be an expert after reading this book. A good introduction to wood for the novice or woodworker with limited experience with exotic woods.