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Gene Wengert

Gene Wengert (1942-2025) was popularly known as “The Wood Doctor.” He trained thousands of people in efficient use of wood for more than 50 years and authored foundational resources on wood technology. He worked at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Virginia Tech. His popular "Wood Doctor's Rx" column has appeared regularly in FDM and FDMC magazine since 1978. Because so much of his advice was timeless, he asked that we continue to run his columns in memoriam.

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Wood Dr

Grain pattern showing through painted doors

Q. We have a problem with painted pieces of solid wood in cabinets that we send out. They are smooth when we ship them, but a month or so after they are installed in a house, the grain pattern of the wood shows through the painted finish.
By Gene Wengert, October 27, 2020 | 5:09 pm CDT
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Wood Dr

Cupping in a tabletop

Q. We made a table out of an 8 inch wide piece of lumber and I can guarantee that the top was flat when we shipped it, but now the customer has said that the individual pieces are cupped. Indeed, when I inspected it, he is correct. We were careful to make sure that all the pieces had the grain running the same direction (heart side down) to give a nice look. We did screw the top to the metal frame but the screws pulled out. What advice can you give?
By Gene Wengert, August 27, 2020 | 3:07 pm CDT
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Wood Dr

Best way to store lumber

Q. We are a medium-sized shop and find ourselves with a little bit of extra KD lumber that we want to keep safely without a change in moisture. How can we do this?
By Gene Wengert, August 27, 2020 | 2:56 pm CDT
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Wood Explorer

Gluing high-density jatoba

Q: We tried to glue some jatoba (Brazilian cherry) and it was a complete failure. The joints had almost no strength. We also had lots of trouble with machining, with lots of burn marks. Any suggestions?
By Gene Wengert, August 24, 2020 | 4:05 pm CDT
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Wood Dr

Sources for exotic wood information

Q: Where can I locate a very complete listing of most of the exotic woods of the world, which specifically lists specific gravities, densities and weight-per-board-foot. I'm currently building up a few samples using wenge, padouk, zebrawood, purpleheart and bubinga. That is our marketing niche using the highest quality exotics at affordable prices.
By Gene Wengert, August 24, 2020 | 3:52 pm CDT