Understanding Wood: A Craftsman's Guide to Wood Technology

This book takes you from qualitative to quantitative understanding by means of accurate, readable explanations and a minimum of fuss. For instance, after explaining why a house settles, Hoadley shows us clearly how to estimate how much it will settle and what a knowledgeable builder could do about it. Or take this simple woodworking situation: you are building a towel rack from two side pieces of white pine drilled to accept a maple dowel. Exactly how much wider should the hole be than the dowel so that expansion and contraction due to moisture changes in the bathroom won't split the sides? A little time spent with this book will give you the ability to answer questions like these, quickly, exactly, and with authority. No more guessing about the effects of moisture, temperature, finish, and loads on wood: just look up the data in the clear and handy tables and graphs Hoadley provides and do the simple calculations (it's multiplication and division, folks, with nothing harder than an occasional exponent). Almost every chapter contains revelations for the newcomer to woodworking. Early on we learn not only that wood changes size with moisture, but by how much (according to species), in which directions, how this affects its shape, and what are the common and best techniques to compensate for or design for these changes when building anything with wood. Later we learn how to relate these moisture changes to humidity--there's a clear and handy chart, as well as an easily memorized rule of thumb--and how to build and calibrate a simple shop hygrometer. In another chapter Hoadley applies this information to a discussion culminating in valuable information on sanding and finishing wood. The many applications to an understanding of all things wooden make this book stand out for the casual reader, while the detailed, systematic explanations of the whys and hows make it ongoingly useful for anyone who crafts quality things from wood. It is the ideal supplement to an entire library on the how-to's of woodworking, because with the information given here, you will be equipped to make intelligent choices of how to select, cut, assemble, and finish a project of any size and complexity. The only nit I have to pick has to do with the presentation of mathematical formulas: it's miserable. For instance, in one place the expression "D/O" stands for a single quantity rather than a value "D" divided by a value "O". Potentially confusing, yes; but what compensates for it is the clear descriptions and examples in the text: these are so good, you can totally ignore the formulas and not miss a thing. Overall, Hoadley's long, thoughtful experience with all aspects of wood, from the engineering through the creative, shine through consistently. That's why I give this one five stars and I'm buying more copies for friends.

This item was delivered in time. Very informative. Good for trees lovers, arborists, landscapers. Hard to find

This is a 'must have' for any woodworker! There are some details in this book that go a bit over my head as far as some of the math formulas, but even that was informative. There may be some topics in this book I won't ever use, but whole knows, at least it's there. As a whole, this is one of the best out there to help you understand wood and it's properties and characteristics. I am just getting started into finer woodworking/cabinetry, as opposed to the construction/remodeling that I have been doing for years. It had helped a great deal in understanding wood movement, something that the author says is constant and unavoidable. He let's you know how to minimize or work with the effects of movement. Some of the chapters include gluing, identification, bending, drying, jointing, and finishing. It covers enough for the beginner and advanced. This would make a good gift for anyone into woodworking.

Easy to understand book with a ton of relevant information regarding wood. It has quality pictures, quality pages, and a crap ton of wood details. Why is ____ happening? This book explains! Are you a picture person? Get this book! Are you a formulas person? Get this book! Are you a novice? Get this book! Are you an expert? Have this book as a reference... And write your own book!

As others have said, this is a textbook. It’s organized and written like a textbook with good academic rigor but no more than necessary for the concepts. I was not offended by the author including pictures of his own work; I suspect he carved at least some of the items for the purpose of illustration. No calculus here… just algebra, especially in the “Strength of Wood” chapter. In the Foreword from 1980, the author states his purpose: to convey technical information about wood in a way that is applicable to woodworkers. He does this in three parts (paraphrased): the nature of wood (growth, properties); wood technology (drying, working, finishing), and woodworking materials (lumber, manufactured products, found wood). This 2000 update adds color photographs and new manufactured products. I think Dr. Hoadley accomplished his purpose with a book that’s both enjoyable to read and to keep as a reference. I like both working with wood and reading textbooks, so this one works for me.

My husband is an intermediate craftsman and I bought him this book for Christmas. I thought it would be like an encyclopedia of the types of wood, which is what I wanted to get him, but turns out it is more like a wood textbook (as he says.) He is absolutely thrilled with it, it gives really detailed explanations about everything and anything one would want to know about wood. There is even a section on the psychological characteristics of wood. Terribly interesting, this is a great book. However, the wood identification section is not really large, so I will be purchasing him a wood encyclopedia also. This is not necessarily a flaw, it wasn't advertised to be such, just a misconception I had. Definitely a must have for a woodworker, very interesting and useful information!

After you've advanced past the Time-Life 'how to' style books, get this one. This is an absolute Bible of working with wood. The amount of usefull, intelligent info in here is staggering. This one definately covers the "whys" of wood (why does it do this or that). If you want to know "what" to do with wood (joinery, etc) then look up Tage Frid. I feel the need to say that this book is actually rather scientific. By that I mean it has lots and lots of details and microscopic pictures and things you'd learn in a college class. If you're not really into that kind of stuff, you might not find this book usefull to you. Personally, I wish I would've gotten this book a long time ago and not ruined so much nice wood in the mean time! And as always, Amazon has a great price and had it in my hands within a couple of days (literally 2 days) from ordering it.

This is the bible of science of wood. A beautiful and interesting book about the very nature of wood from every aspect from the trees it comes from to milling and woodworking of many different species. It can be a bit scientific and technical at times and you probably won't need to study every chapter to improve your woodworking skills but more knowledge is always better than not enough! This is an essential reference that I return to again and again for answers about behavior of woods for things such as moisture content, bending, gluing, density and more. A fine guide for any woodworker.

Vraiment très complet et technique, toutes les propriétés du bois et son traitement après la coupe sont abordées en détail.

Very informative book. Well laid out with a great volume of information paired with imagery to tie it all together. Essential knowledge for working with wood. Long live printed books!

Excellent treatise on understanding what wood is, how wood grows and how to use wood (drying, cutting, planing, machining, veneering, gluing, sanding etc). Bruce Hoadley's expertise with wood cannot be doubted and he writes clearly & concisely.

Consigliato a tutti coloro che amano il legno. Un testo ben fatto e completo, ricco di immagini e approfondimenti, chiaro ed esaustivo.

Un gran texto que da detalles sobre la madera y sus diferentes comportamientos debido a la física, naturaleza de la propia madera, etc.