Selecting
and Drying Wood
Best of Fine Woodworking
Softcover
220 x 280mm
153pp
Published by The Taunton Press, Connecticut, USA.
R.R.P.$19.90
ISBN 1-56158-830-X
As reviewed in The Australian Woodworker Issue 133
If there is one thing that will do more than anything else to help you decrease the cost of your woodworking, while at the same time increasing your enjoyment of the craft, it is improving your knowledge of wood as a material.
Selecting and Drying Wood is a collection of articles which first appeared in the US publication, Fine Woodworking. All of these articles are focussed on one or other aspect of wood. They include selection at the timber supplier, testing of moisture content, stacking, drying, working with highly figured woods, tackling wayward grain and even tying down timber for transport.
There are some obvious differences in jargon: US woodworkers buy lumber, not timber - a term which is generally reserved for trees. Also, wood is priced according to different units of measurement - the board foot in the US and the cubic metre in Australia and New Zealand. Finally, most of the species mentioned are from the Northern Hemisphere (though there are two articles on tropical hardwoods and Silky Oak is mentioned in a section on hazardous species). But none of this seriously affects an understanding of the principles involved.
For example, the notion of taking an inspection kit to the timber yard, what should be in that kit and how it should be used, has universal application.
Similarly, articles on building a Dehumidification Kiln and a Solar Kiln are as pertinent to the needs of woodworkers in this region as in any other. An unusual inclusion is a short discussion on How a Kiln Dries Wood which includes a rare mention of the Case Hardening effect.
This is a book to be read and kept for reference. Although some 20 authors were responsible for its many articles, the book is a reasonably cohesive argument for learning more about the raw material with which we deal every time we enter our workshop.
Photos & Illustrations: Colour
Units of Measurement: Imperial
Contents
Introduction
Buying
Lumber
Vincent Laurence
Take
an Inspection Kit When Buying Lumber
Roland Johnson
Lumberyard
Sleuth
Cliff Scott
Finding
Figured Woods: Desirable Defects and Irregularities
Lane Decamp
When
Run-of-the-Mill Won't Do
Vincent Laurence
Lumber
from Your Own Backyard
Gus Carlson
Alternative
Sources for Wood
Mike Dunbar
The
Right Wood for the Job
Mike Dunbar
The
Right Board in the Right Place
Louis Irion
Wood
Against Weather
Jim Tolpin
Choosing
Tropical Hardwoods
Jason Grant
Using
Unfamiliar Tropical Woods
Scott Landis
Seasoned
Wood: What You Need to Know
William W. Rice
A
Dehumidification Kiln
William Bolf
A
Solar Kiln for Drying Wood
John Wilson
Air-Drying
Lumber
Lee Grindinger
Moisture-Meter
Survey
Lon Schleining
Working
Highly Figured Woods
Peter Tischler
Wood
Moves
Mike Dunbar
A
Guide to the Wayward Ways of Wood Grain
Strother Purdy
What
Woodworkers Need to Know about Light
Jeff Jewitt
When Wood Fights Back
Jon Arno
Tying
Down Lumber
Gary Williams
Three
Ways to Rack Lumber
Matthew Teague
Index