A free Wood Handbook published by the USDA Forest Service Laboratory is avail for download (PDF 14.3 MB)..... It's a very large file.
Wood as an engineering material. General Technical Report 113. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory. 463 p.
formatting link
of printing on my printer, I went to my local library, downloaded a chapter or two each visit and printed using their laser jet printers. Bring your own ream of paper to save even more money. After 13 visits, I binded the printed matter and Viola! a nice, in depth, engineering handbook.Or of course, you could purchase a copy via the government webiste or Lee Valley Tools.
Thought I share this little free hidden gem on the Internet.
Mike