Product Details
Wood: Identification & Use (Revised & Expanded)

Wood: Identification & Use (Revised & Expanded)
By Terry Porter

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Product Description

Terry Porter’s unique and visually dazzling handbook has always been indispensable—and this new edition adds 17 species of lumber not included before, bringing the list up to a grand total of 400! Plus, there’s a new section displaying a variety of decorative figuring, information on wood defects and potential health hazards, and an enlarged glossary. Wonderful full-color pictures give close-up views of the various wood grains, while the main section showcases more than 200 woods used in cabinetmaking, joinery, carpentry, turning, carving, and a host of specialist applications, and another 200 receive shorter listings. Every featured wood is illustrated and described in detail, with invaluable facts on its working properties, seasoning requirements, durability, and typical uses.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #231004 in Books
  • Published on: 2007-02-01
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 288 pages

Customer Reviews

Great Resource Tool5

In the personal property appraisal field this book is a very helpful tool in the identity of woods used to create antique furniture. Recommend it to anyone who needs to view broad cross sections to match grain. For folks who work with wood it also identifies the pluses and minuses of wood selections and related health issues.

a good addition to your library5
Found this to be very informative on woods and their characteristics. A must add to any woodworkers library, it helps to understand what woods are available and how best to use them. Now I have to figure out how to get some of the different woods I read about. Liked it enough I actually bought my original one elsewhere and then bought this one for a fellow woodworker friend of mine for his use.

Good reference but left some out, too.4
I am a woodcarver/wood sculptor and I use a good many exotic woods in my work (hobby, actually). I am regularly receiving small pieces and mill ends that others have simply forgotten the names of. This book helps quite a bit in identifying the majority of them but it is somewhat limited in scope. There cannot be a complete list of trees and their woods yet stay affordable, but this one covers the ones that most woodcarvers are likely to encounter. A few of the local species are left out; however, they are mostly local or regional and not of commercial value on a larger scale. The color illustrations seem quite accurate for those woods I have checked - possible two dozen. The basic facts, including the specific gravity, appear accurate, also, all of which are quite helpful. For the price, I couldn't let it go by. I find it handy and a good reference -- even interesting to just pick up and browse through when I have few idle moments. It has resolved more than one disagreement among my fellows, but then we can really come up with some truly rare woods at times.

The safety and health considerations were very general in most cases and seemed to always exaggerate on the side of maximum safety. Many of the woods that they identified as having health threats are those I have used extensively without difficulty while using only minimal precautions. (I should point out that I am Asthmatic and, therefore, am extra careful, specially when making fine sawdust.) This is not a matter of inaccuracy, but more a matter of being too general to be very helpful - after all, they do not claim to be doctors or health experts - this is a wood book.

Anyone having health or breathing problems should do more research specific to their condition. I know I certainly do; and, if you are here, you must have the internet available. It's out there -- just go get it.