World Woods in Color [Hardcover]

William A. Lincoln (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1996

Contains information on over 275 commercial woods from worldwide sources.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This attractive book illustrates the veneer and discusses the wood of 267 species of trees from all over the world, and comments on several hundred more. Entries consist of standard name, scientific name, plant family, commercial and vernacular names, distribution, a general description, mechanical properties, seasoning, working properties, durability, and uses. Due to the arrangement, alphabetically by standard names instead of by family and genus, related species are scattered (e.g., ebonies appear in four places; rosewoods in five). But the combination of concise information and excellent full-color photographs, produced natural size, will make this a much used reference for hobbyist and professional alike. Annette Aiello, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Linden Publishing (December 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941936201
• ISBN-13: 978-0941936200
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #899,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best, concise summary of every wood in the world., September 12, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Monrovia, Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: World Woods in Color (Hardcover)

I've look at many books on wood but most are very technical and provide more information than is typically needed by the avid woodworker. Each page in this book covers a separate wood, with a very nice 5-1/4" by 3-3/4" color picture followed by commercial name, other names, distribution, general discription, mechanical properties, seasoning, working properties, durability, uses and any important notes. Of particular interest to the average woodworker are the sections on mechanical properties, seasoning and working properties. Here one will learn such things as ease of steam bending, whether it exudes resin, checking and twisting as it seasons, ease of use with power tools such as blunting effects, sanding, and any cautions on nailing, screwing, gluing or finishing. This is my one concise and constantly referenced, single source for all the information I need on the different woods I use or would every use in my shop. Can't recommend it enough.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best shop reference currently available, December 29, 1999

By 

Roger Purdom "R Purdom" (Wenatchee, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: World Woods in Color (Hardcover)

If you are serious about working with wood, this is the best reference book I've yet encountered. I still run into wood supplier lists that have names not listed by Lincoln, but he catches most of them. Chances are, the dealer used a nickname and Lincoln calls the missing wood by its more proper name. Occasionally, a fairly common name such as Australian lacewood is missing - a sign that a new version should be released. The color photos are fairly close to the real thing.

51 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Overdue for a revision, March 17, 2001

By 

P. van Rijckevorsel (The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: World Woods in Color (Hardcover)

The concept of this book is a good one: a large color picture accompanied by half a page of text. Unfortunately this was not well executed. Leaving aside the text and ignoring the callous mistreatment of scientific names a minimum requirement for a book of this kind is to have proper color pictures. Three steps are involved: 1) the correct wood; 2) exposing a characteristic face of the wood; and 3) proper surfacing. Although there are a number of quite good pictures in this book, it is an easy matter to find major transgressions against each of these three steps. For example the picture given for pink ivory could be replaced by a bit of copper plating for a gain in accuracy. It is impossible to tell if there is a single correct picture for a mahogany (in the wider sense) since no diagnostic faces are shown (however, at least one of these is definitely wrong). For a capital offense against proper surfacing see balsa. All in all something like 40% of the pictures must be replaced for this book to work. This book has the potential to be a handy reference, but a lot of overdue homework must be done first.