Structure Resources
Clark McCombs, May 2001
Desch, H. E. (1968), Timber, Its structure & properties, St Martin's Press, New York.
Chapter 7, The moisture in wood, Chapter 8, The density of wood, and
Chapter 9, The strength properties of wood.
Interesting facts about balsa wood, SIG brochure.
Good general purpose guide to balsa wood.
Get it mail order from SIG.
Helpful structure design and
assembly tips. Make sure to
download related article called Balsawood Structure Design, even if it is half
finished and lacking illustrations.
HairyLunch's Creative Problem Solving Page, www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Campus/6697/CPS/structure1.htm.
More general purpose info about
balsa structures.
Salvadori, M (1980), Why buildings stand up, W. W. Norton & Company, New York.
Mario Salvadori has written many
books, some geared specifically for children.
This one is a little more technical, but has great discussions in chapter
5, Beams and Columns, about column design and how to maximize strength through
design.
Salvadori, M (1980), The art of construction, Chicago Review Press, Chicago.
One of Mario's kid oriented books.
Useful for kid level discussion of beam design.
Water-Towers.com, www.water-towers.com/wtrsbruce1.htm.
Pictures and plans for 2 & 3
story timber water towers.
Billington, D. P. (1980's ?), The tower and the bridge, Basic Books Inc., New York.
Good pictures of real structures.
The John Hancock Center external truss system is an excellent example of
a diagonally cross braced structure.
Panshin, A. J., De Zeeuw, C., and Brown, H. P. (1950's ?), Textbook of wood technology, Volume 1 - Structure, identification, uses, and properties of the commercial woods of the United States, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York.
Like Desch's book, Timber, Its
structure & properties, an excellent discussion of wood properties.
Particularly Chapter 6, The physical nature of wood, pages 238-239,
Figure in wood (the source of SIG's illustration!), and pages 276-277,
compression failure
There's also a lot of web based discussion pages, yours
being the most prominent and thorough, and other information sites.
Among these are:
"Balsa Wood Road Map", http://www.zimsweb.com/balsa/
"Balsa Wood Structure Site Discussion", http://www.specializedbalsa.com/forum/
"Specialized Balsa Wood, LLC", Info about tree growth: http://www.specializedbalsa.com/contact/about_us.php
"Brantacan", http://www.brantacan.co.uk/
"Destination Imagination", http://www.destinationimagination.org/
"East Coast Model Center", http://www.greathobbies.com/
"Links", http://www.interchg.ubc.ca/jatwater/links.html
"Building Supply, wood species library", http://www.cyberyard.com/woodlibrary/
"Official OM Site", http://www.odysseyofthemind.com/whatis.asp