Top 16 Books About Wood Updated 04 /2024

The Essential Wood Book by Tim Snyder

The Essential Wood Book explains how to use and choose wood in a way that is easier to understand. While some wood books can be too technical or full of exotic and hard-to-find woods that you'll never use, this handy, easy-to-read resource is perfect for anyone who wants to learn about the most important woods for their next woodworking project. The Essential Wood Book also talks about the best woods from Ash to Zebrawood, as well as how to work with wood, find unique wood sources, store and dry lumber, and learn about wood movement and other characteristics. Essential Wood Book has a lot of photos and useful information that you can understand. It's a great resource for woodworkers, carpenters, crafters, or DIYers who want to learn how to work with wood.

Identifying Wood by R.Bruce Hoadley

How to Accurately Identify Over 180 Types of Hardwoods and Softwoods with Simple Tools

With just your eyes and a hand lens or some simple microscopy, this book will show you how to identify more than 180 types of hardwoods and softwoods from around the world.

This is what Bruce Hoadley, a professor of wood science and technology, says:

In this video, we show you how to identify wood.

A look at how woody plants are made.

Hundreds of charts that are easy to read and clear pictures and microphotographs that are easy to see.

Information and materials come from places that give people and things to learn about.

A glossary of all the technical terms used in the book, in case you need to look them up.

Selecting and Drying Wood by Editors of Fine Woodworking (Author)

Things must be right with your lumber before you can use it. Wood that isn't ready to work with can cost you money. These articles, from Fine Woodworking, will help you understand how to choose wood. There is information on how to dry your own wood, how to get wood from other places, how to protect wood from the elements, and more.

Understanding Wood (Hard Cover) R.Bruce Hoadley

In this book, R. Bruce Hoadley talks about everything from how trees grow to how to cut, season, machine, join, bend, and finish wood. Why do miters open and glue joints fall apart? How do you get a really clean cut? Problems and solutions help woodworkers figure out how to do their own projects, and 325 full-color photos and tables show how to do things right. The information on composite materials, adhesives, and finishes has been updated.

Wood Identification & Use by Terry Porter

Terry Porter's unique and visually appealing handbook has always been a must-have. This new edition adds 17 species of wood that weren't there before, making the list of 400 species. Plus, there's a new section that shows different types of decorative figuring, information about wood defects and possible health hazards, and a bigger glossary. Wonderful full-color photos show the different wood grains up close. The main section of the book shows more than 200 woods that are used in cabinetmaking, joinery, carpentry, turning, carving, and a lot of other things. Another 200 are given shorter descriptions. Every wood that is featured is shown and described in great detail, with important information about its working properties, seasoning needs, durability, and typical uses. Size: 10.9" x 8.5" x 1/64th.

Celebrating Birch by North House Folk School

The history, art, and craft of an old tree

Woodworkers, crafters, and artists who use wood will love this new book from the North House Folk School. It's full of beautiful wood projects that you can make at home, and it'll also teach you a lot. Celebrated its 10th anniversary by paying tribute to the birch, which has been important to northern civilizations for hundreds of years. The birch is also known as the "Mother Tree" for this reason.

Besides 20 beautiful and useful projects, you'll learn about the history, myths, and ecological importance of this beautiful and legendary tree. These include a turned wooden bowl, a carved box, a woven basket, and more. It turns out that after reading Celebrating Birch, you'll learn that the birch is more than just an oak or a tree. It's a link to the past that improves the lives of people who work with it.

Woodworker's Guide to Wood (Back to Basics)

Woodworkers today need to hear straight talk.

In this shop-tested manual, woodworkers learn everything they need to know about their favorite tool: wood. People who work with wood will learn how it reacts to changes in humidity, how to measure its moisture content, how to shop for wood, how to manage different lumber grades and defects, how to work with manufactured boards and veneers, and how to harvest and season their own wood. This course is for people who work with wood. In this guide, you will learn how to build a solar kiln to keep wood from getting moldy, as well as how to build racks to store things. It helps woodworkers save money on their next project by choosing the right species and grade of wood. An extensive list of wood species with working properties and full-color photos helps them do this.

How to Season and Dry Your Own Wood by Alan Holtham

Wood may grow on trees, but it still costs a lot, especially if you're a good woodworker who wants to buy good lumber. Find, process, season, and dry your own wood with this expert's handbook. It was written for people who work on their own, and it focuses on how to work with small loads, which isn't covered in most other books on this subject. There are tips on where to get wood, as well as how to choose and prepare it to get the best grain patterns. One of a kind.

Harvest Your Own Lumber by John English

How to cut down, saw, dry, and mill wood

A craftsman, artist, or builder can get access to a new species and unique cuts of wood by milling their own lumber. There's also the Yankee in us all who doesn't like to see healthy logs thrown away when they could be used for flooring or furniture. Finally, there's the symmetry in building something for a grandchild from the branch that held his dad's tire-switch. On top of all the other great reasons, harvesting your own wood will save you a few bucks, as well.

Harvest Your Own Lumber is a short guide for people who have a small shop or are interested in making things with wood. It covers all of the important steps in the process. John English walks the reader through the process of picking the raw materials to drying the wood. It's easy to read and understand, with pictures and charts to help you through each step. Making your own lumber is guaranteed to work.

Many steps must be taken before you can make your own lumber. For example, you must cut down the tree and saw it into boards. The first thing to think about is, of course, what kind of tree will make good, usable wood. Once the sawyer has made that decision, he or she must figure out how to fell the tree in a safe way, and then how to turn the log into lumber that can be used. The author talks about and shows the many options that are available, from what kind of grain pattern to expect to the many defects to look out for. Also, there is a long chapter on chainsaws, safety, and felling.

One of the most important things you need to know about timber harvesting is how to "saw to grade." In other words, how to get the best amount of grain from a certain log. You can learn how to saw to grade in Harvest Your Own Lumber. It also gives you a lot of useful information about humidity and wood, kiln and air drying, different types of kilns, and milling rough boards to make them flat and straight. This is an important guide for any woodworker, builder, carpenter, or craftsman who needs good wood.

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