Carlsen, Spike. A Splintered History of Wood. New York: Collins, 1952.
This is a wonderful book for woodworkers. It is 411 pages long so if you love to read and you love wood, you would probably really enjoy it.
The following are interesting facts about wood from the book.
"Redwoods are miniature ecosystems in and of themselves. In the upper crowns of larger trees one can find entire huckleberry thickets thriving. Currant, elderberry, and salmonberry bushes have been found, and to underline the complexity of the redwood environment, different species of trees have been found growing in the crowns, including hemlocks, firs, oaks, and in one instance, and 8-foot-tall Sitka spruce. The largest of the largest contain nearly half a million board feet of lumber and can annually add a ton of wood to their already substantial mass." (pg 30)
The beams in Bill Gate's house are "16 inches wide, 55 inches tall and 70 feet long--a total of 5,005 board feet per beam." (pg 32)
"The ranks of amateur woodworkers in the United States alone constitute...seven to ten million strong, annually spending over 41 billion." (pg 46)
The Wild Mountain Man is a chainsawer. "...he can saw out a chair in 10 seconds...He can saw ten numbers on a toothpick. With a chain saw." (pg 51)
"With as many as eighty thousand species of trees on the planet, a person gathering one wood a day would still require 219 years to amass a complete collection." (pg 63)
The Steinway piano designations are S, M, L, B and D. They stand for small, medium, large, big and d..m big." (pg 134)
"...only one of Stradivari's 650 instruments existing today has been left in unaltered condition and only six maintain their original necks." (pg 151)
Major league ballplayers are so in-tune with their bats that Ted Williams sent some bats back to the manufacturer because the grip "didn't feel right." Subsequent measurements showed the bats to be 5/1000 inch shy of Williams' specified diameter. (pg 15)
"What's the difference between a $3,299 cue and one costing $32.99? Absolute straightness for starters." "Arnot starts with a piece of wood that's been seasoned 3 to 5 years, rips it into 2" x 2" blanks, allows it to rest for another year, trims the edges so the blank is octagon-shaped, lets it season for another year, turns it into cylindrical shape, allows it to season for another year, and finally turns a cue." (pg 173)
"One log home built in Norway in 1250 is still standing." (pg 191)
"Many early cultures revered trees." "In Germany, ancient laws dictated that any man who 'dared to peel the bark of a standing tree' was punished in this manner: 'the culprit's navel was to be cut out and nailed to that part of the tree which he had peeled, and he was to be driven round and round the tree till all his guts were wound about its trunk.'" (pg 194)
"A 2 x 6 that can span 9 feet on edge can span only 24 to 30 inches, according to most building codes, when lying flat like a deck board." (pg 197)
"An average of 3.5 pounds of wood is consumed each day by each of the six billion people walking the globe. To sustain this pace, nearly 4 billion tons of wood needs to be harvested from the earth's forests annually." (pg 214)
Some products that depend on wood: ping pong balls, rayon, linoleum, safety glass, imitation bacon, cosmetics, cancer medicine. (pg 215)
Foster's Inc. produces twenty million toothpicks daily. (pg 24)
95% of the Spruce Goose wasn't spruce. Most of it was birch. (pg 283)
The World War II British Mosquito was made primarily out of 3/8 inch thick Balsa plywood. (pg 291)
The Chinese Space Agency uses oak as heat shields for their single-use reentry vehicles. (pg 313)
The Loretto Chapel staircase is amazing, was built in 1852, and no one has been able to duplicate it since.
"If every person in America recycled their Sunday paper every week, we'd save 26 million trees per year." (pg 357)
This is a wonderful book for woodworkers. It is 411 pages long so if you love to read and you love wood, you would probably really enjoy it.
The following are interesting facts about wood from the book.
"Redwoods are miniature ecosystems in and of themselves. In the upper crowns of larger trees one can find entire huckleberry thickets thriving. Currant, elderberry, and salmonberry bushes have been found, and to underline the complexity of the redwood environment, different species of trees have been found growing in the crowns, including hemlocks, firs, oaks, and in one instance, and 8-foot-tall Sitka spruce. The largest of the largest contain nearly half a million board feet of lumber and can annually add a ton of wood to their already substantial mass." (pg 30)
The beams in Bill Gate's house are "16 inches wide, 55 inches tall and 70 feet long--a total of 5,005 board feet per beam." (pg 32)
"The ranks of amateur woodworkers in the United States alone constitute...seven to ten million strong, annually spending over 41 billion." (pg 46)
The Wild Mountain Man is a chainsawer. "...he can saw out a chair in 10 seconds...He can saw ten numbers on a toothpick. With a chain saw." (pg 51)
"With as many as eighty thousand species of trees on the planet, a person gathering one wood a day would still require 219 years to amass a complete collection." (pg 63)
The Steinway piano designations are S, M, L, B and D. They stand for small, medium, large, big and d..m big." (pg 134)
"...only one of Stradivari's 650 instruments existing today has been left in unaltered condition and only six maintain their original necks." (pg 151)
Major league ballplayers are so in-tune with their bats that Ted Williams sent some bats back to the manufacturer because the grip "didn't feel right." Subsequent measurements showed the bats to be 5/1000 inch shy of Williams' specified diameter. (pg 15)
"What's the difference between a $3,299 cue and one costing $32.99? Absolute straightness for starters." "Arnot starts with a piece of wood that's been seasoned 3 to 5 years, rips it into 2" x 2" blanks, allows it to rest for another year, trims the edges so the blank is octagon-shaped, lets it season for another year, turns it into cylindrical shape, allows it to season for another year, and finally turns a cue." (pg 173)
"One log home built in Norway in 1250 is still standing." (pg 191)
"Many early cultures revered trees." "In Germany, ancient laws dictated that any man who 'dared to peel the bark of a standing tree' was punished in this manner: 'the culprit's navel was to be cut out and nailed to that part of the tree which he had peeled, and he was to be driven round and round the tree till all his guts were wound about its trunk.'" (pg 194)
"A 2 x 6 that can span 9 feet on edge can span only 24 to 30 inches, according to most building codes, when lying flat like a deck board." (pg 197)
"An average of 3.5 pounds of wood is consumed each day by each of the six billion people walking the globe. To sustain this pace, nearly 4 billion tons of wood needs to be harvested from the earth's forests annually." (pg 214)
Some products that depend on wood: ping pong balls, rayon, linoleum, safety glass, imitation bacon, cosmetics, cancer medicine. (pg 215)
Foster's Inc. produces twenty million toothpicks daily. (pg 24)
95% of the Spruce Goose wasn't spruce. Most of it was birch. (pg 283)
The World War II British Mosquito was made primarily out of 3/8 inch thick Balsa plywood. (pg 291)
The Chinese Space Agency uses oak as heat shields for their single-use reentry vehicles. (pg 313)
The Loretto Chapel staircase is amazing, was built in 1852, and no one has been able to duplicate it since.
"If every person in America recycled their Sunday paper every week, we'd save 26 million trees per year." (pg 357)
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