Reclaimed Wood: A Field Guide

The first handbook on reclaimed wood, combining useful information, rich history, and home design ideas.

Reclaimed wood is a gift from ancient forests and a versatile material. Our ancestors built their homes and barns, warehouses, and factories with white pine and oak from the Northeast and the Midwest, longleaf pine and cypress from the South, and Douglas fir and redwood from the Northwest. When we salvage these and other woods for new projects, we are strengthening our own roots.

Reclaimed Wood: A Field Guide is the first complete visual survey of this valuable resource, with chapters on history, sources, and types of wood, reclamation, and practical information, and its use in modern architecture and design.

Klaas Armster and Alan Solomon are partners at Sawkill Lumber Company, a leading Brooklyn-based supplier of reclaimed woods. The son of a mill owner/architect, Armster lives in Guilford, Connecticut. Solomon has spent a life in salvage, starting with a family scrapyard in the Boston area. He was profiled in a New Yorker article in 2008. He lives in Brooklyn. Michel Arnaud’s books include Detroit: The Dream Is Now and Design Brooklyn, both from Abrams. He lives in Chatham, New York.