Good Wood Handbook

Good Wood Handbook addresses Brazilian mahogany's dueling traits--its inherent quality and fragile future--in a thorough and educational manner that leaves the reader seeing the forest and the trees. Authors Albert Jackson and David Day organized this effort as a guide to selecting the right wood for the job. Along the way, they cover softwoods, hardwoods, veneers, and manufactured boards. Wood production, logging, milling, drying, and seasoning are explained, as are tips and techniques on laminating, veneering, and steam bending. The middle of the book is devoted to nearly 150 types of wood. Each is pictured in color and specifically detailed in a number of categories, including what country it comes from, the characteristics of the tree, the characteristics of the wood, common uses for the wood, and its average dried weight. Good Wood Handbook explains, for example, that while all wood shrinks as it dries, it will shrink roughly twice as much when cut along the line of a tree's annual rings as it does if cut across them. (And, yes, there are good illustrations to make such descriptions easier to understand.) It also covers the varieties of plywood, including decorative, three-ply, drawerside, multi-ply, four-ply, and six-ply.

As with Brazilian mahogany, Jackson and Day are keenly aware that some woods are in short supply, even endangered. They note in their introduction that it's important that any new--as opposed to recycled--wood come from a well-managed source, and that users should be aware of which species are at risk. This way, they write, "informed choices can be made and steps taken to ensure continued supplies of this beautiful material." --John Russell