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From Tree to Table · Series guide

From Tree to Table

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From Tree to Table is a woodworking class we teach at ASMBLY, a nonprofit makerspace in Austin. The written chapters follow the same order as the class.

Chapters

  1. Tree anatomy for woodworkers. Earlywood, heartwood, pores, rays, and figure on the faces you pick from a bundle.
  2. How hardwood logs are cut. Plain, quarter, rift, and live sawn cuts change grain, price, and how much the board moves indoors.
  3. Thickness and milling terms. What 4/4 means on a tag, and how rough, S2S, and S4S describe work left in your shop.
  4. NHLA grades and color sorts. How FAS and Common set clear yield, and when mill color sorts sit on top of the grade.
  5. How board feet work. The volume formula dealers use, and why nominal rough thickness still drives the math after surfacing.
  6. Drying and defects. Kiln-dried targets for furniture, air-dried tradeoffs, and defects like case hardening that bite in the shop.
  7. Reading the grain. Read direction before you plane, and practice the same board-selection habits that pay off when you pick boards at the store.
  8. Janka hardness. Compare dent resistance when you choose species for tops, floors, and hard-use furniture.
  9. Wood identification basics. Why face grain alone is unreliable, and what end-grain anatomy adds when tags are missing.
Start with Part 1. Tree anatomy. Prefer to learn in person? We teach From Tree to Table at ASMBLY, a nonprofit makerspace in Austin.

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