Welcome to IWCS - Advancing Information on Wood Since 1947
Founded in 1947, the International Wood Collectors Society is a non-profit Society devoted to distributing information on collecting wood, correctly identifying and naming wood specimens, and using wood in creative crafts.
People from all countries around the world are invited to join IWCS, enjoy the benefits of membership and discover more about nature's wonder material -- wood!
Collecting wood and/or using wood creatively has to be one of the most unique hobby interests that you could ever pick. IWCS members around the world have formed a network for information exchange and mutual assistance.
Membership in IWCS gives you numerous benefits including - World of Wood, a 32 page
bimonthly magazine; and Annual Directory of members, and access to wood, wood information and members in some 30 countries on six continents. View a sample issue of the May/June 2011 WOW or see the searchable index of articles published in the last nine years.
What's New at IWCS?
2012 IWCS Membership Directory is now available in the Members Only section. This Directory also contains an index of all articles published in the World of Wood for the last nine years. 02/15/2012
Two new Trustees: John Burris, Indiana USA, replaces Bob Chastain US Great Lakes Trustee 2011 - 2014, and Dave Mouat, California, USA replaces Les Campbell as US SW Trustee 2011 - 2014. 10/06/2011
"IWCS News Down-under" the newsletter for International Wood Collectors Society AstralAsian Region australia-2011-newsletter-65.pdf. 10/04/2011
Corporate Membership - a new package of benefits for Corporate and Donor members in IWCS has been introduced which will make this type of membership much more attractive to such members. These benefits are described in Article I.7 of the IWCS Bylaws. Corporate Membership fees remain the same at $125 per year but longer term options now are: Three years - $325, and Five years - $450.
May 6, - May 11, 2013 South Africa Meet Preliminary Program for 2013 IWCS Meeting South Africa. The conference consists of two days of presentations, two days of field visits and an open day on the Saturday which will include displays.
May 21, 2011, Saturday, Jacksonville Regional Meeting, Wright Township Fire Department, Midland, Indiana.
May ??, 2011, McCauley Spring Picnic at The McCauley Project, a 1000 acre non-profit area for nature in Kampsville, Illinois on the Illinois River just off the confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois Rivers.
April 9, 2011 Saturday starting at 9:00am - A Half-day meeting hosted at the US Naval Academy Museum (Preble Hall).
April 3, 2011 Sunday - Central Region Meeting at Woodcraft at the Woodcraft Store, 2077 Congressional Drive, St. Louis, Missouri.
Appointment: David Mouat has been appointed Associate Editor for the World of Wood magazine as of March 1, 2012. Dave is an avid wood collector, a long time member of IWCS and is currently the Regional Trustee for the IWCS US Southwest Region. He and has travelled the world extensively in his work as a Desertification (land degradation in arid regions) specialist. He has extensive experience as a reviewer for peer review publications and has been editor or co-editor of numerous proceedings of conferences in remote sensing, geobotany, and desertification. Most of these have been either UN or NATO sponsored. Dave will assist the Editor both in the editing of submitted articles as well as contributing articles on a variety of topics. 03/02/2012
New Website Committee Chair: IWCS President, Garry Roux, has announced that as of November 1, 2011, Art Lee will become Chairman of the IWCS Website Committee. Art is a former Chair of the Committee and also Past President of IWCS. He replaces, Chuck Holder who will continue to serve as Chair of the IWCS Publications Committee.
Facebook Page for IWCS Check out this IWCS Facebook page set up by John Lobban. There are many photos and several videos that you can view. 10/27/2011
Wood Specimen Kit Availability: After a period of down time, while the Wood Specimen Kit inventory was transferred to the new Wood Specimen Kit Chairman, Gary Green, IWCS is pleased to announce that the Wood Specimen Kit Program is again in service. This is a great way for new collectors to start their collections, with up to 80 specimens of known wood, identified and labeled, many not commercially available. See the Wood Collecting page; or click here for a link to the IWCS Wood Specimen Kit order form with instructions for selecting and ordering wood specimens from IWCS. Gary is a professional Urban Forester/Sawyer and takes great pride in preparing high quality wood specimens, all properly seasoned, clean, well milled, free from dirt and defects and accurately identified and labeled.
Gary also provides a large selection of hundreds of high quality wood specimens for wood collectors from his own inventory over and above those available via the IWCS Wood Specimen Kit program. On request he will send you a specimen and price list.
GW Green, Urban Forester/Sawyer; 9923 N 800 E; Syracuse, IN 46567, USA; Phone: 574-457-5471; Fax 574-457-8551; www.woodsbygwgreen.com. 08/06/2011
Crafts for Sale. As of July 7, 2009, IWCS is offering donated members crafts for sale. Allan Schwindt, of Washington, USA., is the craft sales coordinator and may be contacted at for information on donating and purchasing the crafts. The top menu has been expanded under Wood Crafting to display "Crafts on Display" and "Crafts for Sale".
PUBLICATIONS
A Man of the Woods. Richard Crow takes you on a charming journey to discover how it is that one man's business and hobby could develop into the singular greatest individual wood collections in the world. This book is for everyone who enjoys the love of collecting or simply a wonderful story laced with historical anecdotes. Copyright 2009, 6 by 9 hardbound, 156 pages. (June 30, 2009)
A Guide to Useful Woods of the World edited by James H. Flynn, Jr. and Charles D. Holder. Published in 2001. Here's your chance to have a copy of the definitive statement on 279 woods of the world.
New Release! A Guide to More Useful Woods of the World includes: * 71 additional wood data sheets (WDS) bringing the total of published WDSs to 350. * 2 comprehensive indexes. * 14 articles from highly respected professionals in wood-related matters.
"A Guide for Developing a Wood Collection" - published in 2005; this Guide explains how to get started in wood collecting and how to develop and maintain your collection. Collection Guide order form.
If you can't read the PDF forms, Download Acrobat Reader
. Richard Crow takes you on a charming journey to discover how it is that one man's business and hobby could develop into the singular greatest individual wood collections in the world. This book is for everyone who enjoys the love of collecting or simply a wonderful story laced with historical anecdotes. Copyright 2009, 6 by 9 hardbound, 156 pages. (June 30, 2009)
A Guide to Useful Woods of the World
"A Guide for Developing a Wood Collection" - published in 2005; this Guide explains how to get started in wood collecting and how to develop and maintain your collection. 
