WOOD! Identifying and Using Hundreds of Woods Worldwide

Eric Meier, who owns/runs The Wood Database web site has now published a really good wood book, called "Wood! Identifying and Using Hundreds of Woods Worldwide". It’s better than most of the other reference books I have. The introductory chapters about wood structure, etc, are REALLY good. He’s clearly put a lot of time, research, and thought into this and it shows. No book with just introductory chapters on wood characteristics will ever rival Hoadley’s “Understanding Wood”, but Eric's is better than most such sets of introductory chapters and it might be the best around. I haven’t read enough detail yet to be sure. Another bit of good news is that he covers a lot of woods. I haven't counted them but the "Hundreds" in the title is not an exaggeration. Like all books, its biggest drawback in being helpful for wood ID is that it has only one picture of each wood. As we all know, most woods don't really have a "representative" look that would help ID every piece of that wood. That's why my site has LOTS of pics of each wood. Eric chose to use a full size image, so it is of necessity of a very modest sized area (about 4" square) of each sample. The good news about this is that it shows the graininess of the face quite well. The bad news is that it's too close up to give a good feel for what the a plank of the wood actually looks like. Eric has also included a picture for most of the more common woods of an object made using the wood, which helps. His choice of pieces of each wood to photograph is good, his photography is excellent, and the color plates are good but do suffer pretty severely from the problem of darkening. I corresponded w/ Eric about this and he is frustrated by it. His original images were quite good and in the proof copy he approved they looked good on the page, but when they were printed on glossy paper, there was a lot of darkening. The affect of this on the accuracy of the wood color varies, but it's a problem in all such books. A further advantage of this book is that Eric has images of, and discussions of, the end grain closeups that can be so important in doing wood identification. Sadly, the darkening of the pics is the worst on some of these, compounded by a loss of contrast/detail, to the point of making them not very useful. The end grain pics on his site are much better. Like most such references that have end grain pics (the few that HAVE end grain pics) it suffers from the fact that it's not much help in identifying a wood unless you have a pretty good guess about what wood it is, or at least can narrow it down to a small number of possibilities. That's why on my site's anatomy pages I categorize the end grain pics so that you can use the characteristics of an unknown wood to target the search (for example, ring porous -> large rays -> parencyhama characteristics -> etc.). Hoadley has a decision tree that helps do the same thing. Anyway, I consider this a great addition to my bookshelf. Eric said it took him 6 years to get it done and I believe it. It was time well spent. There's more good stuff I could go on about, but buy one and you'll see what I mean :smile

For the beginning woodworker like me, this is a vital reference for wood species. The content is fantastic, and I highly recommend it. My only problem is that the pages are organized by the Latin species name. Who knows which Latin name is used for common species like maple? This requires frequent use of the index, which *is* organized alpha by common name, but really, shouldn't maple be in the "M" pages, and rosewood in the "R" pages? (Maple == "Acer..." and Rosewood == "Dalbergia..."). Similarly, the Janka hardness charts are organized by hardness index, not by species (Engrish or Latin). If I'm looking for the hardness of species X, wouldn't it be nice to have a handy chart by species, and not have to guess as to the hardness?

I found this to be a very informative subject that should give me some added insight into my woodworking hobbies and interests. Lots of great information, beautiful and detailed pictures. Plus, the physical book itself is very well made. It feels sturdy and should hold up well over the years. I think it is only made is small production batches so if you are interested and it is available, don't wait too long. I missed it a couple times before I managed to get one.

Fantastic book! It has genuinely has increased my interest in wood and trees. I am thankful to the author for all of his contributions with this book and his wood database.

Superb book for those looking for a broad overview of a wide variety of wood. The Good - Excellent variety of wood types, including our native Australian timbers (Although I'm expecting more in the second edition...), with commentary on their best uses and/or specialty uses. Particularly useful for me as a bowmaker. The scientific data is useful and the pictures, in particular, are great to provide an idea of not only what the timber looks like, but to begin to understand the mechanical properties, too. The articles on different wood types and their appropriate usage tie in well with the data and the book treads a very fine line between informal, 'crafty' focus and scientific, 'formal' focus. The Bad - As mentioned above, I'm looking forward to a few more Aussie timbers in the next edition - the book isn't exhaustive, but is certainly a huge start on most of the timber species out there. The timbers are also sorted by their Latin names which, for those of us more familiar with the common names, can make finding specific timbers rather difficult. It would be good to have some lists or discussion on geographical grouping of certain timbers - this timber is common in N. America, rare in Asia, etc. There can also be comparison between species here - for instance, Yew is exceptionally rare in Australia but White Cypress Pine is very common, and shares many characteristics (as does Celery Top Pine, which is a very distant cousin to Yew). Some discussion on alternatives and/or woods with common characteristics would be great. Conclusion - For all my nit-picking, this is a great book. You can sit down and flick through, or you can really get into a heavy article, it's very flexible in how you approach it. The data is great, as is the brief discussion piece on uses of timbers accompanied by clear & consistent photographs.

I read a few of the reviews that were bad, but I think they had different expectations for this book. It is a reference book for a large number of woods used in wood working. I would have perhaps used only Alphabetical order or perhaps a hardness scale going from the softest wood to the hardest but they did it another way and frankly it works. I think the layout of the book is fantastic, I think the color pictures , the information and layout is all VERY good. If your new to wood working and don't know of all the different types of wood and what it looks like this book is amazing. It has no adds, and can be taken with you. Sure I look like a noob in my lumbar yard comparing woods to this book but frankly I don't care. I can get an idea of what I'm going to be able to do with it by comparing it to other woods I know, which is why I think the hardness is the most important, but that's just me and I am new and am likely wrong ...Still this book, A++++ fantastic book

As the owner of a tree and shrub nursery, I am always amazed at how little people know about plants, even though they are surrounded by them every day of their life. They run out and buy plants to make their yard look better, but just grab whatever looks good and half the time it dies, because it wasn't the right plant for the area, or they never asked what it needed to survive and thrive. The same goes for wood. People purchase it for their home and for every aspect of their life, but have little to no knowledge of what they are buying, or how to use and care for it. They buy furniture, have work done on their house, or get an expensive wood jewelry box and wonder why they are all trashed in a few years. This book can help you become an informed buyer, or a better craftsman, simply by helping you become a more informed buyer and user of the wood that makes up our world. This book is very well written, for a novice, or someone well versed in working with the medium. It is not too dumbed down, or too cerebral and it will keep you interested from cover to cover. Additionally, it will also serve as a fantastic reference book, that you will be going back to over and over. PS: for those people who just have to know what are the hottest peppers, or the best knife steel, or the fastest car, etc...this book would be great for you too.

I enjoy making custom musical instruments and music boxes. I like how the book shows the wood unfinished AND finished. I also like the information about the wood. It's all useful information that helps me decide what wood I want to use for projects. My Mom and Dad like it, too! A very practical book that is very helpful! Thank you!

Wonderful resource for woodworkers and arborists and foresters or for anyone who wants to increase their understanding and knowledge of trees and woods from around the world. The author has done a thorough, meticulous job of researching the subject and delivers his message in a very efficiently laid out and well written way.

Wonderful book! Excellent source of wood informations. Essential reading.

Übersichtliches Nachschlagewerk mit den wichtigsten Informationen zu den verschiedenen Holzarten.

Just the thing for helping to choose some veneer ...

An Encyclopaedia on wood and trees. Read and re-read to learn, for me anyway and thoroughly absorbing.