Thread: 4x2

I don’t think it has anything to do with width or thickness terminology, you just said the bigger size first, whether you were using it on flat or edge was irrelevant
you had
4x2 framing
10x2 joists
3x1or2x1batterns etc
and likewise sheet material like ply, Masonite, F/C etc you said the bigger size first ......nobody says a 4x8 sheet of ply

Also found this quote from Wikipedia,

"Also in North America, hardwood lumber is commonly sold in a "quarter" system, when referring to thickness; 4/4 (four quarter) refers to a 1-inch-thick (25 mm) board, 8/4 (eight quarter) is a 2-inch-thick (51 mm) board, etc. This "quarter" system is rarely used for softwood lumber; although softwood decking is sometimes sold as 5/4, even though it is actually one-inch thick (from milling 1/8th inch off each side in a motorized planing step of production). The "quarter" system of reference is a traditional (cultural) North American lumber industry nomenclature used specifically to indicate the thickness of rough sawn hardwood lumber."
If you want to really confuse yourself try walking into an American timber, whoops, Lumber store and try to buy a few blanks with this system.
BTW I was raised as a 4X2 boy.

Rgds,
Crocy.

Originally Posted by Old Croc

If you want to really confuse yourself try walking into an American timber, whoops, Lumber store and try to buy a few blanks with this system.
BTW I was raised as a 4X2 boy.

Rgds,
Crocy.

LOL!
You won't find a "Timber Store" here in the US. Two really great countries only separated by a common language.

My belief is that the system in Oz followed the British system, not surprisingly really, and as the poms went with 4 x 2 so did the Aussies. What I find strange is that the American system, which was also founded on the British system (I have to go with that despite the prevalence of many other nationalities as they stuck with imperial rather than metric), at some point reversed the order of things. Did it occur after the War of Independence in a demonstration of pure bloody mindedness?

Regards
Paul

It all happened when they got befuddled at the Boston tea party.

4 x 2 gets my vote.

4 x 2! Emphatically!

Yeah 4 x 2 .
Its likely just a continuation of whats taught.
At trade school I was taught to describe timber for cutting lists as

Amount x Length x width x thickness

3 x 4.2 x 100 x 50

length by Width by thickness is the only way I work. There is never any mixing of the way to describe it . The whole workshop ran that way .
We just have to put up with the Americans cause they invented the internet .

Think I had an argument with one of my apprentices over this , Or was it the face edge marking argument ??

On a slightly different note I completed my Cabinet making apprenticeship 40+ years ago, and until Bunnings came on the scene I had never heard of DAR timber it was always Planed 1,2.3 or 4 four sides, 4 side being Planed all round or dressed

Originally Posted by China

On a slightly different note I completed my Cabinet making apprenticeship 40+ years ago, and until Bunnings came on the scene I had never heard of DAR timber it was always Planed 1,2.3 or 4 four sides, 4 side being Planed all round or dressed

In the UK it was always described as PAR: Planed all round. Odd how in both PAR and DAR (dressed all round) descriptions it still comes up rectangular.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by auscab

We just have to put up with the Americans cause they THINK invented the internet .

It was actually the "pre-Brexit Europeans" who invented the internet.

Its like the yanks way of doing the date....month/day/year!!!!
Day/month/year...common sense.

4 B 2 for me
mick

I can remember being threatened with the business end of a piece of 4B2 by my father sometime in the late 50's or early 60's.

TT

Originally Posted by mick55

Its like the yanks way of doing the date....month/day/year!!!!
Day/month/year...common sense.

4 B 2 for me
mick

Actually year/month/day is the best because it is sortable by a machine.
LOL