Customer Reviews

Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material

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

 

 

This book is available free online in PDF format from the Forest Products Laboratory (a division of the USDA). I decided to buy the paper copy because the price was fairly low, and I thought it would cost me about that much to print out all the chapters. Unfortunately, the technical production quality of this edition is VERY bad (small, murky print & illustrations). To make matters worse THIS IS NOT THE MOST RECENT EDITION. The online version has been updated to include newer research reflected in current building codes.

This handbook is a classic, don't get me wrong. It should be part of any wood designer's library. It gathers together lots of basic technical information on things like creep and shrinkage that's very hard to find anywhere else. But do yourself a favor - skip this edition!

Bob Fitzsimmons is right in pointing toward "The Encyclopedia of Wood," which is an unfortunately retitled reprint of the public domain "Wood Handbook." That confuses. The price of $13.57, on the other hand, pleases.

This book is great, but since it was last revised in 1999, it needs to be revised again. Check out "The Encyclopedia of Wood," also from the United States Department of Agriculture for an updated, definitive wood resource.

One of the best kept secrets in wood working literature, the 2002 edition brings together more useful info than in many other similar reference books. I recommend this book to the wood fabricator and to the designer.

This is the be-all end-all manual that describes everything you need to know to build strong, safe, crates and other engineered containers.
This could easily be called "The Crate Builders Bible," written in plain english, and backed by the engineering formulae to use if you need to get out of the normal range for its included tables.

Very approachable and understandable text.