Helpful Links and Documents
Over the past few years, I've become more curious about the wood I work with. Getting a lathe really spurred my interest since suddenly I can work with a lot of woods that I never did before - 'found' wood. Found wood can be imports or native varieties like you'd find in a lumber yard, but can also be ones that are typically too small for commercial lumber use. Sometimes it's just wood that's expensive and I hate to spend money on wood when we have such a good variety locally. Anyway, I've collected some stuff and written some notes. I've also found some really great sites. Here's the list:
The International Wood Collectors Society is a small organization but full of very helpful, friendly people.
If you like turning, then you should join the American Association of Woodturners.
The United States Forest Service has a lot of good information as does Forest Product Labs
They have a lot of good information there, although it can be scattered. I've downloaded a lot of it. Go to their site for the latest & greatest. My stuff could be dated, although it's handy.
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Kiln Drying Lumber:
A large (18mb), 12 part PDF file, "The purpose of this manual is to describe both the basic and practical aspects of kiln drying lumber. The manual is intended for several types of audiences. First and foremost, it is a practical guide for the kiln operator-a reference manual to turn to when questions arise. It is also intended for mill managers, so that they can see the importance and complexity of lumber drying and thus be able to offer kiln operators the support they need to do their job well. Finally, the manual is intended as a classroom text-either for a short course on lumber drying or for the wood technology curriculum in universities or technical colleges."To download it in its entirety, here is the zip file DryKilnManual.zip or you can read it on-line in chapters.
USFS Wood Handbook:
A large (15mb), 22 part PDF file, "Summarizes information on wood as an engineering material. Presents properties of wood and wood-based products of particular concern to the architect and engineer. Includes discussion of designing with wood and wood-based products along with some pertinent uses."To download it in its entirety, here is the zip file
USFS_Wood_Handbook.zip or you can read it on-line in chapters.|
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Just for fun, here's the 2005 issue of Maryland's Big Tree List. It's available usually from your state's extension office (Department of Natural Resources), http://www.dnr.state.md.us/forests/trees/bigtree.html Your state's DNR office is probably available just by changing the 2 letter state where mine says 'md'. Copy & paste this link into your browser & edit it before clicking go. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/
The Woodwright's Workshop by Roy Underhill is one of my favorite shows and this link goes to the PBS page for it. You'll find a lot of information, links and help here. I have many of his books, all the Woodwright books, & I highly recommend reading him. Not only is he knowledgeable, but he's a good read. One of the texts that he refers to is John Lawson's survey of the 'Carolinas' in 1709. I don't know if there is a copy of the book around, but here's an ebook of it, in text format: John_Lawson1709.txt & you really need the map he drew: John Lawsons Map of the Carolinas.jpg If you look at it, you'll see why I put quotes around the area.
My wood notes:
These are written in Word 97. They're for my personal use & you're free to read them, but you can't print them. I didn't write them for publication & you'll find stuff I've copied from all over the web, books & other sources as well as personal observations. I don't guarantee the accuracy of it, especially my observations. I've found myself wrong a number of times - the reason I wrote them. ;-)
Some of the pages in the notes seem blank. There may be a blank page that I put in so it would print out with sections starting on odd page numbers so they'd face up, but if you see 2 in a row, it's probably just a picture that hasn't loaded yet. Word is slow at that, be patient. Also, if you're viewing this through your browser, pictures may not line up correctly. It's best to right click on the link and choose the Save As option. They are fairly big for documents, running up to 7mb each. There are 3 sections; Hardwoods parts 1 & 2 & Softwoods.
Birds:
My wife and I have recently been getting into birding. We've found that we rarely see some species, but hear them. Others, such as the Black Capped and Carolina Chickadees, can't be distinguished by sight, just their song. I found a free CD from Ohio Wildlife Department with over 100 bird calls on it. That has helped, but I decided I needed a better visual aid than the book they supply plus, there were some other birds I wanted to include. So I put together a slideshow in web format of over 100 birds and their calls. It's about 100mb zipped. Download it here:
birds.zip or you can play it online here: Bird ID page
There are a lot better sites for identification and bird songs than this, if you have an Internet connection. The best is probably the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Get your own free CD of bird sounds, look up birds & more at:
Ohio Division of Wildlife
2045 Morse Road Bldg G
Columbus, OH 43229
1-800-WILDLIFE
1-800-945-3543
www.ohiodnr.com/wildlife
Gardening:
I'm not a terribly good gardner, but I try to keep the place looking halfway decent. One of my many collections is Hostas. They're easy to grow and come in an amazing variety. I knew of a few, but until I visited The Azalea Patch I had no idea there were so many. Last time I dropped by, I think Mike was up to 260 varieties! He has some with leaves the size of your thumb while others are larger than I can reach around. Flowers come in different colors, bloom at different times and shapes. It's a great place to visit, if just to look around.
Every garden and house has its own issues with weeds and bugs. Here are a few links to free documents from The Maryland Cooperative Extension Office. They have a lot of good stuff - everything from Ant Control to Wild Life Management. Here are some of their publications that I have found helpful.
