Woods of the World--An Interactive CD

by Fred Holder

Some time back, I received an E-mail from Tree Talk, Inc. asking if I would be interested in reviewing a copy of their interactive, multimedia database on wood and wood products that covers more than 900 of the world's most important wood species. My return was why not, if my computer could handle the program. I was told that it should handle it although, perhaps a little slow at times.

This CD, called Woods of the World Pro, really requires a state-of-theart computer. My 486-66 with 28 meg of ram and a single speed CD Rom Drive just wasn't up to the task. Over a couple of weeks, I tried installing and re-installing the program. Most of the time, all I got was the Woods of the World introduction page with a forest of evergreen trees and that was where it stopped. It wasn't that my CD was setting there driving and driving. My computer simply hung up and had to be re-booted to proceed. I got passed the initial page on one installation, but it crashed before I could get anywhere. So, I fell back to plan "B". I called Roger, my friend and fellow woodturner who lives down the road. Roger recently bought a new, state-of-the-art computer. He was coming over so we could try out one of his new tools so I sent the CD home with him. In a couple of days, I got a call. The program was installed and running. Finally, I got a chance to try it.

If you're a wood collector, wood researcher, architect, or someone who simply loves to know more about the wood you're using, this program should prove to be quite useful. It didn't seem to be difficult to use and it comes with an extensive Help facility. There is no manual, you have to depend on the Help capability or the try and try again method. I mostly used the latter.

After you get passed the forest and into the program, the first screen allows you the capability to locate a particular species by referencing its scientific name or some part of its common name(s). You can then obtain quite a bit of useful information about the selected species and be shown pictures of the wood, both side grain and end grain views. You can learn a myriad of other information about the wood, such a weight per cubic foot, specific gravity, bending features, breaking strength, in fact, most of the specifications that an architect might need to determine whether this wood would meet his/her needs in a particular design application. Select maps and you get a world view map indicating the areas in the world where this particular wood grows. Place your cursor on a spot on the map and tap the mouse button and you zoom in onto a smaller part of the map. This continues down until the map is getting pretty grainy, but it gives you a much closer look at a area to determine whether that species really grows in an area.

Besides locating a particular wood and determining specific data about it, you can use the program to perform tasks that might take you days or even weeks to do if you're working with reference books. For example: you can identify species of a particular color, appropriate to a particular end-use, which match any combination of up to 10 variables including physical and mechanical characteristics. You can compare the appearance of up to nine woods at one time and simultaneously compare five basic physical properties of one wood to any other nine species you choose. This latter feature would be useful to an architect trying to locate a non-endangered species to substitute for a long standing selection that has entered the endangered species list. I can also see Woods of the World receiving much use at colleges and universities by both students and professors who are studying the various species of woods available in the world, their properties, and their physical and mechanical properties.

I didn't try out the capability to enter your own notes and data on any species, which makes the program a one-stop repository for important information you have collected on the wood species you use. After all, this was Roger's computer and I couldn't easily go back to it for quick reference. I do believe, however, that in a year or so, when I'm forced to upgrade to a new, state-of-the-art computer, that I'll want a copy of Woods of the World available for quick reference on a particular type of wood. I currently use my book, World Woods in Color by William A. Lincoln, which has only about 275 commercial woods included. That's not quite a third of the woods included in Woods of the World and, although the same general information is provided on each species, there is no easy means of comparing two or more species. A feature easily done in Woods of the World.

Briefly, let's look at what Woods of the World Pro includes:

910 wood species and wood products, over 700 of them from outside North America, more than 3000 pages of text documenting them.
full-sized pictures of each wood
160 micrographs
3500 maps
one hour of video
full searching and comparing capabilities
report writing functionality
extensive on-line tutorial
global text searching features
wood sourcing information
complete USDA and British kiln drying schedules
dozens of additional wood-related tables
glossary of wood terms
extensive bibliography.

This data encompasses more than 35,000 fields of information that has been collected from more than 100 books and periodicals and numerous other sources. There is probably more information on woods in Woods of the World than most of us could ever want.

Woods of the World Pro has been developed under the direction of Tree Talk's wood technologist, Dr. Charles K. Baah. It represents a rare collaboration of government organizations, public and private institutions, environmental groups, manufacturers, business people, and individuals from around the world. It is an on-going scientific and environmental effort, designed to provide wood users everywhere with the information they need to make the best wood choices.

Tree Talk, Inc. is a non-profit organization, whose mission is to assist the forest products industry in managing the world's forests on a sustainable basis. When you purchase Woods of the World Pro, you aid them in accomplishing this mission. It's guaranteed. If you're not happy with it for any reason, you can return the product for a full refund within the first 30 days.

Ok, how do you order it. Try calling or writing:

Tree Talk, Inc.
P. O. Box 426
Burlington, Vermont 05402
TEL: (802) 863-6789
FAX: (802) 863-4344

The product costs $99.00 and is available for either the IBM/Windows or the Macintosh.

Here's what they list as minimum system requirements:

IBM/Windows: Windows 3.1 or later, 486 processor (33 MHz or faster), eight meg of ram, super VGA monitor with 256 colors, sound card, mouse, CD-ROM drive. I recommend you have a pentium machine and eight or more meg of memory with a 4X or more CD-ROM. The program runs well on a state-of-the-art computer.

Macintosh: System 6.07+, 5 meg of ram, 13" 256 color monitor, DC-ROM drive. I was quite pleased with the performance of the program on Roger's machine and feel that with a suitable machine this CD-ROM would be a useful product to have for a number of wood workers, researchers, and architects. If you're looking for more information on the woods you use, this product may well be the answer to your needs!