In today’s artisan, hands-on, and environmentally conscience landscape, there are many reasons to harvest your own lumber: you can access new species and unique cuts of wood; you can save a healthy log from the landfill by finding it a useful purpose; and there’s a pleasing symmetry in building a toy for a grandson from the branch that held his daddy’s tire-swing. Plus, harvesting your own timber will save you a few bucks.
A concise guide for the small shop or enthusiastic hobbyist, Harvest Your Own Lumber covers all of the important steps in the conversion of wood. John English takes the reader from selecting the raw material to the final drying of the harvested timber. All of the steps in between are explained in clear text accompanied with photographs and charts that make the process of harvesting your own lumber a guaranteed success.
The process of harvesting your own lumber is much more than just felling the tree and sawing it into usable boards. You must consider which species of tree will produce quality timber; how to safely fell the tree; and how to dry and mill the log into usable lumber. Harvest Your Own Lumber explains and illustrates the various choices available from what types of grain pattern to expect to the many defects to be aware of. Also included is an extensive chapter on chain saws and safety while felling trees.
Harvest Your Own Lumber also provides detailed information on sawing to grade — that is, how to get the best yield with the specific grain — plus useful information on humidity and wood, kiln and air drying, various types of kilns and milling rough boards to get them flat and straight. Harvest Your Own Lumber is a must-have handbook for any woodworker, builder, carpenter, or craftsman that relies on good quality wood.
Publication Date: February 2015
$18.95 ($19.95 Canada) • Trade Paperback • 6" x 9" • 130 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-243-7
250 Color Illustrations
![]() |
$24.95 $14.97 |
The popular Code Check series latest installment cover commercial buildings, including apartments, restaurants, offices, retail, educational, manufacturing facilities, and more.
![]() |
$24.95 $14.97 |
Revised and updated. Remodel Plumbing focuses on the challenges of working in tight spaces like bathrooms and utility rooms, selecting the right fittings, fixtures, and materials and completing expert alterations to a home's existing water supply, drain, and vent systems. With a special section on emergency plumbing repairs, the book enables readers to stop leaks, shut down water lines, and avoid major damage associated with plumbing malfunctions. Remodel Plumbing also covers common plumbing upgrades and alterations in kitchens, bathrooms, utility rooms, basements, and additions.
![]() |
$34.95 $20.97 |
Benson has revised his original book and brought it up to date with new designs, new materials, and all new photography. There is a new chapter focused on home design and complete coverage for weather-tight exteriors, wiring, plumbing, heating, and cooling. Benson has also included information on how to incorporate timber frame into conventional constructions for economical but dramatic results.
![]() |
$49.95 $29.97 |
THE COMMERCIAL WOODS OF AFRICA: A Descriptive Full Color Guide profiles 90 exotic African woods. A full set of relevant facts is provided for each tree, including: a full-color photograph of each woods grain and pattern, a list of botanical, commercial and vernacular names, a map indicating the trees habitat in Africa, and descriptive text about the tree itself, the qualities of its wood, and its common uses and applications. Finally, mathematical values detailing the woods various physical properties such as density, durability, bending strength, and shrinkage are included.
![]() |
$9.95 $5.97 |
One of the earliest guides to traditional whittling, this reprint of a 1930s classic preserves all of the original projects and text. This manual is still sought after by whittlers because it explains how to carve many items popular in American tramp art and more complicated items that are not included in most whittling books, such as continuous wooden chains, hand tools, puzzles, balls inside spirals, swivels, entwined hearts, and buildings inside bottles.
![]() |
$19.95 $11.97 |
Anyone whos 50 or older should have this intelligently conceived, wonderfully illustrated, room-by-room guide. With advice on everything from creating multilevel countertops to installing grab bars in the bathroom, it explains how to make your beloved house safe, easy to navigate, and conducive to independent living, as you or your parents get older. Three sections help you plan for any necessary remodeling, present makeover examples for every room, and lay out projects with instructions. Some of the alterations are do-it-yourself; others may require a professional. More complicated tasks receive especially detailed discussions that clarify exactly what the job entails, how long it should take, and what it typically costs.