Wood As An Engineering Material

U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory

Reviewed by:

Charles L. Driggs

This is a virtual encyclopedia of knowledge regarding wood, its properties and its uses, and a very good companion to Bruce Hoadley's book (see elsewhere). It is a bit unique as it is available via two paths: either a) as a bound copy from the Forest Products Laboratory itself, from the Government Printing Office, or via woodworking oriented outlets such as Lee Valley, or, b) as a direct download from the FPL website, which is where I obtained a copy. The printed versions are not expensive.

This reference includes data on woods you've probably never heard of no matter what part of the world you are from, and provides detailed information on properties that are important both in determining how to dry it, how much shrinkage or movement to expect, and how strong it might be relative to a known wood species. There is additional technical information on how best to fasten segments together, considerations in drying it, how to design wooden members for a variety of load-bearing purposes, how to convert wood fibers into man-made materials, how to create and glue up veneers, and much more. There is also a good series of chapters on wood decay, wood preservation, and surface finishing, as well as the basics of building and bridge design with wood, and wood structure fire considerations. The math presented in some sections might be a bit much for some, but if you do happen to be interested in engineering applications, what you need to know is right there. Genuine Information Overload.