Wood Identification Books

[Bill Rogers]

The only reason that I am asking this "again" because when I try to search the Sawmill Creek forums for "Wood Identification Books" I get an error message telling me sure that "The web address you entered is not available".
So with that said, what books would you recommend that would help me identify milled woods?
I am not particularly concerned with what the tree and leaf structures look like. I want to know what the wood looks after the tree has been cut and the wood has been milled.

Bill

[John Pratt]

I am a big fan of having reference material around, but for this one I think, "Why buy, when free is better?"

Try this:

http://www.nhla.com/illustrated_guide/IllustratedGradingGuide.pdf?userid=

or this:

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/

or this:

http://www.wood-database.com/

[Dave Gaul]

If you want a hardcopy reference, I really like the "Real Wood Bible" I picked up at Borders...

[ian maybury]

I've just bought a copy of 'Wood Identification and Use' by Terry Porter. Published by Guild of master Craftsman Publications Ltd. in the UK. ISBN-13:978-1-86108-436-1 It seems to cover worldwide species, there's lots of US, Australian and African types in there.

The format is a page per species - covering good colour photo, description, properties, seasoning/drying, durability, health risks and typical uses. There's a short section on harvesting, milling, drying, toxicity, figure and the like.

These UK timber merchants have a decent species identification guide, albeit limited to what they sell: http://www.john-boddy-timber.ltd.uk/species_az.htm

ian

[John Piwaron]

long ago, the woodworker's store, now known as Rockler, sold a small box with a ton of different veneers in it. I like it for wood identification.

[Callan Campbell]

+1 on the Real Wood Bible. It's easy to read, packed with many species, but also forgoes listing some common ones like Black Locust if I remember right. Anyway, it's a good reference when I need it:cool: