Identifying Wood: Accurate Results with Simple Tools.Identifying Wood: Accurate Results with Simple Tools, by R. Bruce Hoadley R. Bruce Hoadley is a professor of Building Materials and Wood Technology in the Department of Natural Resources Conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He specializes in wood identification and wood properties, has written several books, and is a contributing . Taunton Press Taunton Press, based in Newtown, Connecticut is a publisher of magazines such as Fine Woodworking, Fine Homebuilding, Fine Gardening, Fine Cooking, Threads and Inspired House. , Box 5506, Newtown, CT 06470-5506 (1990). Color and black-and-white photos, 240 pp. Hardcover, $39.95. So long as wood continues to be the world's preferred building and furniture material, people will ask, "What kind of wood is this?" The question is usually followed by folklore, wild guesses, and a lot of finger tapping, nail scraping, gouging Gouging can be:
Or you could call Dr. Hoadley, just as lawyers have done when they are trying to establish product liability or convict a murderer. Fortunately for readers, Hoadley is as good a teacher as he is a scientist. When a tree has been reduced to a few boards or splinters splin·ter n. 1. A sharp, slender piece, as of wood, bone, glass, or metal, split or broken off from a main body. 2. A splinter group. v. splin·tered, splin·ter·ing, splin·ters v. , identifying wood is an exercise in anatomy. That's where Hoadley starts. The first part of this book is a clear and interesting explanation of how nature creates a piece of wood and how the lines and dots and colors you see in a chopping block or gun stock came to be. The most welcome revelation for people who have used field guides to plants is that almost all the tools you will need are cheap and common razor blade ra·zor·blade also ra·zor blade n. A thin sharp-edged piece of steel that can be fitted into a razor. razor blade n → hoja de afeitar razor blade , knife, hand lens hand lens n. A hand-held magnifying glass. , hand saw, and vise. Even the optional microscope need be nothing fancier than a student scope. Once underway, you can check your conclusions against some of the 152 color photos. Most of them are in the step-by-step chapters on identifying hardwoods, softwoods, and tropical woods. This is the kind of book you expect from the practical people at Fine Wood Working magazine: a beautiful and reliable guide. AF |
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