Here at Nature’s Packaging we love wood and are always on the lookout for new resources where we can learn more about it. Recently, we discovered this gem of a website:

The Wood Database

 

The website creator is a gentleman named Eric Meier. As a woodworker, he found himself using the library to find material on wood identification and began pulling it together on his computer and printing out a file for reference. This wood reference sheet or chart was added to over time and became an indispensable resource.

He came to realize that a lot of the information and data available about wood species was vague and subjective (moderately hard and heavy, with good strength properties…what does that even mean?). There was no benchmark or standard or so he thought until he came upon this:

Wood Handbook:  Wood as an Engineering Material

This is an excellent free resource made available to the public by our friends at the USFS-Forest Products Laboratory which we covered previously on Nature’s Packaging, All Things Wood: USFS-Forest Products Laboratory The Wood Handbook and Tropical Timbers of the World became the cornerstone pieces for the project.

Over time, Eric compiled more data and information on various woods and decided it was time to build a website for his project. Thus, the Wood Database was born.

The Wood Filter

The key feature of the Wood Database website is the Wood Filter. Here you can use various filters narrow down the search for a specific wood. Here is a list of the Basic Filters:

• Genus
• Wood Type
• Location
• Color/Appearance
• Decay Resistance
• CITES Status
• IUCN Status

and some of the Advanced Filters:

• Tree Height
• Trunk Diameter
• Avg Dried Weight
• Janka Hardness
• Modulus of Rupture
• Elasticity
• Crushing Strength
• Shrinkage %
• T/R Ratio

There are also numerous good articles on general wood information, identifying wood, mechanical properties, wood shop reference sheets, working with wood, and wood safety.

The Wood Database by Eric Meier is truly a great resource for wood workers and those working in wood. Take a few minutes to read a few articles, try out the filter, and learn more about the wide world of wood.