WoodWorks Blog

Updated Wood Handbook Now Available – Download Free from the US Forest Products Laboratory

If you’re designing a wood building (or thinking about it) you’ll want the centennial edition of the Wood Handbook—Wood as an Engineering Material, released by the US Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) in honor of its 100-year anniversary.

Updated to include new developments in the field of wood utilization, the handbook provides engineers, architects and others with a source of information on the various properties of wood, its relationship with moisture, and characteristics of wood-based materials. It includes (among many other things) information on the newer wood preservative treatments, copper napthenate and zinc napthenate, as well as related information on codes and standards. It’s also one of the only resources available that includes a discussion of adhesives and epoxies used with wood.

According to FPL, the handbook is intended to serve as a primary reference on the use of wood in a variety of applications, from general construction to the use of wood for decorative purposes. Chapters can be downloaded free of charge from the FPL website and include the following:

• Wood as a Sustainable Building Material
• Characteristics and Availability of Commercially Important Woods
• Structure and Function of Wood
• Moisture Relations and Physical Properties of Wood
• Mechanical Properties of Wood
• Commercial Lumber, Round Timbers, and Ties
• Stress Grades and Design Properties for Lumber, Round Timber and Ties
• Fastenings
• Structural Analysis Equations
• Adhesives with Wood Materials - Bond Formation and Performance
• Wood-Based Composite Materials - Panel Products, Glued-Laminated Timber, Structural Composite Lumber, and Wood-Nonwood Composite Materials
• Mechanical Properties of Wood-Based Composite Materials
• Drying and Control of Moisture Content
• Biodeterioration of Wood
• Wood Preservation
• Finishing of Wood
• Use of Wood in Buildings and Bridges
• Fire Safety of Wood Construction
• Specialty Treatments
• Heat Sterilization of Wood

A research unit within the USDA Forest Service, the Wisconsin-based FPL was established in 1910 and was the first institution in the world to conduct general research on wood and its utilization. Information in the handbook is based on many of the scientific investigations conducted over the past century.