Understanding Wood - A Craftsman-s Guide to Wood Technology Description:

Understanding Wood : A Craftsman's Guide to Wood Technology review:
5 stars (a craftsman's guide to wood technology) - This book gives a great account of all the properties of wood and even shows why different woods are better for different applications.

I was able to select the best wood for an application in which I was using wood for a bearing surface.

This is a great book.
5 stars (New Edition combines the best of several Undergraduate txt.) - As a professional Wood Scientist, I wholeheartedly recomment this updated book for wood identification of softwoods, domestic and exotic hardwoods(colored side by side photos), basic engineering princilpes, utilization, and general wood principles. For my oral exam in graduate school, I was advised to memorize this book and neglect all others. The advice was good!
5 stars (The theory of woodworking) - I can honestly say that this book is for everyone who works with wood, from the occasional home whittler or handyman to the professional creating engineered lumber.



It covers every aspect of the material, starting with the way a tree's growing environment affects the lumber product. Hoadley gives a variety of different points used in identifying the wood's species. He then discusses the effects of cutting green wood in different ways, drying it (how-to, how long, when it's done, etc), and machining it.



Hoadley doesn't discuss woodworking machines per se, but gives a lot of attention to the interaction of blade and material. He shows the details of how cutting tools affect the visible surface of the wood, and the problems that can come from poor edges, blade angles, pressure, and other factors. He also discusses joining pieces of wood, gluing them, and finishing them.



There is so much here that it's omissions are more noteworthy. It discusses glue joints, but says very little about specific adhesives. That's fair - there are so many, for so many purposes, that the topic deserves an encyclopedia of its own. Also, the adhesives and bonding techniques used commercially are very different from the ones available to home woodworkers or small shops. Any detailed discussion of adhesives would have missed someone's needs. Ditto finishes - the topic is mentioned only briefly. Hoadley's most surprising advice about finishes is the idea of skipping them altogether. He's passionate about the wood itself, and a "least is best" approach shows the material to its best advantage.



With it's profuse and beautiful illustrations, this could be a coffee table book. The information around the pictures is the book's real strength. I find something new in it each time I come back.



//wiredweird