1. Some Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: A Softwood is a soft wood and a Hardwood is a hard wood. Right?
A: False. A Softwood is the wood of a conifer (or a Ginkgo), a Hardwood is
the wood of a Dicot tree. The hardest hardwood is some three times as hard
as the hardest softwood, but the hardest softwood is some four times as hard
as the softest hardwood. The softest woods in the world are hardwoods.

Q: A Conifer, that is the same thing as a Gymnosperm. Right?
A: Not quite: there are four groups of Gymnosperms, of which the Conifers
(with some six hundred species) are the biggest and most important. Ginkgo
(one species) is another. The other two groups don't yield anything that
could be regarded as timber.

Q: A wood with "cedar" in the name will be a softwood. Right?
A: False: "cedar" is a word that does not mean anything except that the wood
has a certain type of fragrance (if that). In the US "cedar" will usually be
Western Redcedar (Thuja plicata), sometimes Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus
virginiana) also marketed as Aromatic Cedar, but it could also be one of
several other woods (Calocedrus, Chamaecyparis, Juniperus, Thuja, etc). In
Central America "cedar" will usually be a Cedrela species. In SE Asia
"cedar" will usually be a Toona species. Etc, etc.

Q: "Cherry" is the wood from the Cherry tree. Right?
A: False. The tree that cherries grow on does yield a classic wood, called
cherry, but this has always been fairly rare. There is a US timber tree that
yields a look-alike wood almost as good, and certainly a lot more available.
This is called cherry for convenience.

Q: Brazilian Cherry is a kind of cherry. Right?
A: False. The nearest wellknown relative of Brazilian Cherry (Hymenaea),
more properly known as Red Locust or Jatoba will be Honey Locust
(Gleditsia). A (much) more distant relative is Black or Yellow Locust
(Robinia).

Q: Yellow Locust is something entirely different from Black Locust. Right?
A: They are pretty much the same. Most books will say they are the same.
Nobody seems to know for sure if they are exactly the same.

Q: Yellow Oak is something entirely different from Black Oak. Right?
A: False. They are exactly the same. It is a Red Oak, a prefered firewood.

Q: White Oak has tyloses and Red Oak doesn't. Right?
A: False: White Oak has tyloses (in its heartwood), Red Oak may or may not
have.

Q: A Live Oak is an oak that has not been cut down yet. Right?
A: False. There are three categories of genuine Oak (Quercus), found all
over the Northern Hemisphe White Oaks, Red Oaks and Live Oaks. The woods
of these three are not closely comparable in any respect. Characters that
are shared by all three woods are prominent rays and a dendritic arrangement
of pores. All in all there are some 400 species of genuine Oak. In addition
there are any number of woods called Oak, for whatever reason strikes the
fancy of a wood trader.

Q: Phillipine Mahogany is Mahogany from the Philippines. Right?
A: False. It may or may not be from the Philippines, but it won't be
Mahogany, ever.

Q: Honduras Mahogany is Mahogany from Honduras. Right?
A: Depends. It could be, but usually is not (from Honduras, that is).

Q: African Mahogany is mahogany from Africa. Right?
A: Just about. The wood of Khaya is from tropical Africa and is usually
assumed to be a Mahogany.

Q: Rhodesian Teak is teak from Rhodesia. Right?
A: False. Baikiaea plurijuga is not teak, but a member of the Pea family. It
grows in several countries of which one used to be called Rhodesia.

Q: Nigerian Teak is teak from Nigeria. Right?
A: Right. Plantation grown. Not that anybody would want to use it.

Q: Java Teak is teak from Java. Right?
A: Right. Plantation-grown, from the days the Dutch were there.

Q: Steel is stronger than wood. Right?
A: Depends. A piece of steel of a certain size will almost always be
stronger as a piece of wood the same size. A steel rod of a particular
length and mass as compared to a rod of wood the same length and mass ...

+ + +

2. A handful of useful sites dealing with wood:

FPL:
- intro-page of the Forest Products Laboratory:
http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/

- technical properties of wood
http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/TechSheets/techmenu.html
including two downloadable books on US-woods

- the FPL "Wood Handbook. Wood as an engineering material"
(downloadable):
http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/FP.../fplgtr113.htm

- common and scientific names of wood
(best database around, with a fairly low level of error):
http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/CommNames2000.html
[apparently off-line more often than not, and usually reports:
"The system has encountered an error that was logged"]

OTHER SOURCES:
- "The American Woods" (pictures):
http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/archives/forestry/hough/

- lots of pictures (fun), but short on accuracy and real information
full version (slow):
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/person...indextotal.htm
small version (faster):
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/person...pics/index.htm

- for a more extensive link-page see:
http://www.nehosoc.nl/paginalinks.htm

+ + +

3. BOOKS:
Good entry-level books on wood are
"Good Wood Handbook" by Albert Jackson & David Day (cheapest and best)
"Woodworker's Guide to Wood" by Rick Peters (passing grades)
"Woodworker's guide to Selecting and Milling Wood" by Charles Self
(somewhat modest, pictorially, but written in a friendly style)
"Harvesting Urban Timber" by Sam Sherrill

Adult books on wood are
"Understanding Wood" by R. Bruce Hoadley
"Identifying Wood" by R. Bruce Hoadley

For those not shying away from a thick book:
"Holzatlas" by Rudi Wagenfuhr

In article , "P van Rijckevorsel" wrote:
1. Some Frequently Asked Questions:

[snip]
Q: "Cherry" is the wood from the Cherry tree. Right?
A: False. The tree that cherries grow on does yield a classic wood, called
cherry, but this has always been fairly rare. There is a US timber tree that
yields a look-alike wood almost as good, and certainly a lot more available.
This is called cherry for convenience.

Well... IMO it's a bit of a stretch to say, categorically, "false". The two
trees are very closely related. The fruit tree is Prunus avium. The North
American timber tree is Prunus serotina, and it does bear edible cherry-like
fruit, although it's much more commonly consumed by birds than by humans.

[snip]

Q: Steel is stronger than wood. Right?
A: Depends. A piece of steel of a certain size will almost always be
stronger as a piece of wood the same size. A steel rod of a particular
length and mass as compared to a rod of wood the same length and mass ...

Depends on the conditions it's exposed to as well. One of my woodworking books
has a dramatic photo of the aftermath of a major building fire, showing steel
I-beams softened to the point of failure by the heat of the fire -- bent in
parabolas, draped over and hanging from a heavily charred but still intact
wooden beam.

--
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?

PVR writes:

"Woodworker's guide to Selecting and Milling Wood" by Charles Self
(somewhat modest, pictorially, but written in a friendly style)

It's also a decade old and out of print. I'm expecting to do better with the
next one, which I will know something more about in 2-3 months--I hope (the
book business moves at a really high rate of speed).

Charlie Self
"Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves."
Dorothy Parker

http://hometown.aol.com/charliediy/m.../business.html

"P van Rijckevorsel" wrote:
1. Some Frequently Asked Questions:
[snip]
Q: "Cherry" is the wood from the Cherry tree. Right?
A: False. The tree that cherries grow on does yield a classic wood,
called cherry, but this has always been fairly rare. There is a US timber
tree that yields a look-alike wood almost as good, and certainly a lot more
available. This is called cherry for convenience.

Doug Miller schreef
Well... IMO it's a bit of a stretch to say, categorically, "false". The
two trees are very closely related.

+ + +
Depends on what you call closely related. To most people Almonds, Cherries,
Peaches, Plums, etc are quite distinct, and they have been in different
genera (on and off) for centuries. At the moment they are all in Prunus.
+ + +

The fruit tree is Prunus avium [syn Cerasus avium]. The North American
timber tree is Prunus serotina [syn Padus serotinus], and it does bear
edible [overstatement] cherry-like fruit, although it's much more commonly
consumed by birds [understatement] than by humans.

+ + +
A more closely run thing would be walnut wood and walnuts. The American
walnut tree (Juglans nigra) is not the tree yielding the walnuts bought in
the store, which should be from the real walnut tree (Juglans regia). Both
species have been in the same genus forever and the seeds from Juglans nigra
are edible (also IIRC they are the walnut in walnut ice cream).
+ + +

[snip]
Q: Steel is stronger than wood. Right?
A: Depends. A piece of steel of a certain size will almost always be
stronger as a piece of wood the same size. A steel rod of a particular
length and mass as compared to a rod of wood the same length and mass ...

Depends on the conditions it's exposed to as well. One of my woodworking
books has a dramatic photo of the aftermath of a major building fire,
showing steel I-beams softened to the point of failure by the heat of the
fire -- bent in parabolas, draped over and hanging from a heavily charred
but still intact wooden beam.

Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

+ + +
Quite
PvR

On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 14:22:40 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:

Q: Steel is stronger than wood. Right?
A: Depends. A piece of steel of a certain size will almost always be
stronger as a piece of wood the same size. A steel rod of a particular
length and mass as compared to a rod of wood the same length and mass ...

Depends on the conditions it's exposed to as well. One of my woodworking books
has a dramatic photo of the aftermath of a major building fire, showing steel
I-beams softened to the point of failure by the heat of the fire -- bent in
parabolas, draped over and hanging from a heavily charred but still intact
wooden beam.



wow. could you scan and post that?

In article , "P van Rijckevorsel" wrote:
[snip]
A more closely run thing would be walnut wood and walnuts. The American
walnut tree (Juglans nigra) is not the tree yielding the walnuts bought in
the store, which should be from the real walnut tree (Juglans regia). Both
species have been in the same genus forever and the seeds from Juglans nigra
are edible (also IIRC they are the walnut in walnut ice cream).

It all depends... you can buy black walnuts (the fruit of Juglans nigra) in
some grocery stores in the US, as well as what we call "English" walnuts (the
fruit of Juglans regia). Whether black walnuts are edible or not is a matter
of personal opinion, though. I can't stand them.

--
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?

In article , Bridger wrote:
On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 14:22:40 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:

Q: Steel is stronger than wood. Right?
A: Depends. A piece of steel of a certain size will almost always be
stronger as a piece of wood the same size. A steel rod of a particular
length and mass as compared to a rod of wood the same length and mass ...

Depends on the conditions it's exposed to as well. One of my woodworking books
has a dramatic photo of the aftermath of a major building fire, showing steel
I-beams softened to the point of failure by the heat of the fire -- bent in
parabolas, draped over and hanging from a heavily charred but still intact
wooden beam.

wow. could you scan and post that?

See post titled "Fire aftermath photo" in abpw. Photo is from "Modern
Woodworking" ISBN 0-87006-246-8, page 313. Text attributes the photo to the
Forest Products Lab, and notes:

"... wood beam construction ... provides a high fire resistance factor. Wood
beams do not transmit heat like unprotected metal beams which lose their
strength and quickly collapse under extremely high temperatures. Exposure of a
wood beam to flame results in a very slow loss in its strength. It is weakened
only in proportion to its slow reduciton in cross section due to charring.
This takes place slowly and thus provides precious time in an emergency that
may save life and material."

--
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?

On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 18:51:33 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:


See post titled "Fire aftermath photo" in abpw.


got it. thanks.

"P van Rijckevorsel" wrote:
A more closely run thing would be walnut wood and walnuts. The American
walnut tree (Juglans nigra) is not the tree yielding the walnuts bought in
the store, which should be from the real walnut tree (Juglans regia). Both
species have been in the same genus forever and the seeds from Juglans nigra
are edible (also IIRC they are the walnut in walnut ice cream).

Doug Miller schreef
It all depends... you can buy black walnuts (the fruit of Juglans nigra)
in some grocery stores in the US, as well as what we call "English" walnuts
(the fruit of Juglans regia). Whether black walnuts are edible or not is a
matter of personal opinion, though. I can't stand them.

+ + +
I have no personal experience with black walnuts, but I understood that the
reason they were not widely sold was size not taste. IIRC they do taste
different.

Technically speaking the fruit is the whole thing including the "husk". What
is eaten is only the seed, like with almonds.
PvR

In article ,
says...
I have no personal experience with black walnuts, but I understood that the
reason they were not widely sold was size not taste. IIRC they do taste
different.

Yes they do - more flavor.

Used to collect them and husk them as a kid. Took forever for the dye to
wear off of your hands - and your face if you wiped the sweat off :-).

A friend of mine's son found the magic cleanser though - Purify
mouthwash. I made a mental note never to let it in my mouth if it'd take
off walnut dye :-).

--
Where ARE those Iraqi WMDs?