Fine Woodworking on Wood and How to Dry It: 41 Articles ("Fine Woodworking") (Paperback)

~ Kahn (Author), Fine Woodworking (Author) "Wood comes from trees..." (more)
Key Phrases: slabbing rail, throttle attachment, sawlog trees, New England, Bruce Hoadley, Fine Woodworking From Fine Woodworking (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Learn how to buy, dry, store and mill timber. This text explains which species are good for which jobs and how to design joints that accommodate wood's seasonal swelling and shrinking.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Taunton Press (October 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 091880454X
• ISBN-13: 978-0918804549
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 3.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #287,805 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

81 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource for sawing/drying/do-it-yourself kilning., February 28, 1999

By A Customer

Book is a compilation of articles on growing timber,sawing methods using a variety of mill types as well as how to stack and air dry lumber. It also includes a detailed section on kiln construction for the hobbiest. Different types of kiln plans are included including solar, and dehumidification types. Overall, an inexpensive resource with a lot of usefull information for the serious wood hobbiest that harvests, saws and drys their own lumber.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Depends on what you're looking for, May 11, 2007

By	wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

What it is: 20 or 30 articles reprinted from Fine Woodworking magazine, between the 1970s and early 1980s. The articles cover a range of topics, only a few of which deal with drying lumber on the scale of a beginning-to-mid amateur.

A lot of the topics are of interest: spalted wood, a bit of the theory behind wood's material properties, essays on a few favored species, turning a trunk into lumber, and even logging with a horse. Don't laugh - I heard of one guy who makes a very good living using his horse to remove unwanted trees from ecologically sensitive areas.

What it's not: an organized discussion of any one topic. Maybe you'll find a few good grains in this collection, but a lot of chaff. The few articles that spoke to my needs were too short to give a discussion that I'd find worthwhile. For example, I won't be pouring a concrete slab for my drying barn any time soon. I do want to understand the relative merits of drying logs whole vs cut into planks, and I want some idea of how long to dry wood of various species and sizes under different conditions - topics that aren't addressed.

//wiredweird

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun read, January 3, 2007

By	Neil Moomey (Anchorage, AK United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Like other Fine Woodworking books it's basically a collection of articles from their magazine. But they are very interesting articles. I enjoyed reading it and learned alot about how to cut and dry lumber myself. Plenty of info on air drying and solar kilns but I wished it revealed the mysteries of a large kiln. I would like to see a drying table with humidity control and more on stress relieving wood.