Reply To: Advice sought: learning how to make well-designed furniture
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Understanding Wood by R. Bruce Hoadley might perhaps be one source.
Another one is perhaps The Wood Database (available on line and in printed format)
Both discuss the main properties that govern when wood will bend and break.
Prudence, I think, calls for pointing out that two of those properties (Modulus of Rupture and Modulus of Elasticity) rest on rather widely dispersed observations. So the point values presented by these two sources should possibly be taken with some care.
There is a very good correlation between the density of a specific kind of wood and its tendency to bend under load.