Newcomers to Iowa are always amazed at the yearly changes in the heights of fields. The landscape expands from ground level to ten feet tall and back again every year: from frozen bare ground in winter to light green sprouts in late spring to dark green corn in late summer to acre upon acre of dry cornstalks at harvest time. Slow and unwieldy machines take up more than their share of the roads, clouds of black or yellow dust cover the fields in spring and fall, pigs (or are they hogs?) in various colors look out from fences, huge tractors with complicated add-ons lumber through the fields, shiny silos linked with tentacles tower above tidy white farmhouses dwarfed by huge red barns.
Making Authentic Craftsman Furniture: Instructions and Plans for 62 Projects
Make authentic reproductions of handsome, functional, durable furniture: tables, chairs, wall cabinets, desks, hall tree, more. Construction plans with drawings, schematics, dimensions, lumber specs reprinted from 1900s The Craftsman magazine
This book gives a nice overview on some basic principles of wood, such as its properties, methods of producing lumber, and tips on selecting the right kind of lumber for your needs. I found it to be interesting & informative. Personally, I found the entire section dedicated to veneers & manufactured boards a bit much, but if this interests you, it is probably a good source.
