Thread: US vs British (and Australian?) woodworking terminologies

I'm suspect we would have some official system, but the true Aussie way would be to use whatever terms we want as long as the other person understands what we mean

Americans do tend to use words which either sound weird or are just wrong. Like calling solder “sodder”, a car’s bonnet “the hood”; and near-frozen gnat urine “beer”.

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

I'm suspect we would have some official system, but the true Aussie way would be to use whatever terms we want as long as the other person understands what we mean

Best. Reply. EVER!

Well if you have never walked into a US timber (lumber) store try and work out their sizing system. I grew up with imperial measurements so I can do both, if only I had kept an inches tape measure, but their, 2/4, 4/4, 6/4 boards did my head in.
Rgds,
Crocy.

Originally Posted by Old Croc

Well if you have never walked into a US timber (lumber) store try and work out their sizing system. I grew up with imperial measurements so I can do both, if only I had kept an inches tape measure, but their, 2/4, 4/4, 6/4 boards did my head in.
Rgds,
Crocy.

Crocy,
While 2/4 is rarely used and 4/4 seems to be replaced with "by 1" the anything/4 warps what is left of my mind. I mean why the xxxx don't we just use two inches or three inches? But it gets worse.

There is the infamous . . . .

I was reading the installation manual for a European machine. The instructions said . . . . use a one meter 2 by 4 . . . .
At that point I realized us Yanks have destroyed the sane world.

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A 2 by 4 is not 2 by 4 but rather 1½ by 3½ unless you are dealing with 120 year or so old construction. There a 2 x 4 is really a 2 x 4. And back then a wall was framed with 8 foot (96 inches) studs. Today walls are framed with "studs" that are 93 inches long and assuming a 2 x 4 top and bottom plate yield an eight foot wall. Sheet materials are 48 by 96 inches. When remodeling an older home, all the sheet goods are 3 inches short.

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I go to a real lumber yard (not a home center like Bunnings) and order California Redwood 6 inches wide (expecting 5½ wide) by 4/4. What I got was 5 plus barely 1/16 over and 5/8 thick. I ordered pieces about 8 feet because that is what fits into the bed of the pick up truck. I got 16 footers and was told that I should have brought my own saw. Needless to say, I haven't been back.

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I needed some Melamine over ¾ particle board in 4 x 8 sheets. As I am cutting the sheets, I find the off fall is big enough to provide more parts. They gave me "Industrial" sheets at about 10% in cost more that were 49 by 97 inches.

The world would be a lot simpler if we all used Metric. All of us here in the US would probably be a lot slimmer too.

The world would be a lot simpler if we all used Metric. All of us here in the US would probably be a lot slimmer too.

Yep, it would be a dozen times easier.

Australia has been using metricated imperial for years...

You can't by an 8 X 4 sheet of 3/4" ply; you have to have a 1220 x 2440 x 19mm sheet instead.

Lumber is still sized by nominal imperial (eg 42mm, 75mm, 100mm, 120mm, 150mm wide) and priced by the meter. But it is only sold in feet; you can't buy a plank one or two meters long; it's only available in 900mm (3'), 1500mm (5'), 1800mm (6') or 2.4m (8').

And plumbing "Can I get a 3/4" BSPT nipple please?"

"I'm sorry sir, all our fittings are metric. Can I offer you a 15mm nipple instead sir?"

"Ok; what thread size is on that please"?

(consults OEM documentation) "That would be 0.75" 14tpi BSPT thread sir"

"I guess it'll just have to do..."


When I left the UK they had gone fully metric in their weights and measures but were blatantly still selling food Imperially. Here we buy milk in 500l bottles; in the UK it was sold in 570ml because people wanted pints. Pre-packaged foods were sold in 454g packs, because they liked pounds.

Originally Posted by rrich

I go to a real lumber yard (not a home center like Bunnings) and order California Redwood 6 inches wide (expecting 5½ wide) by 4/4. What I got was 5 plus barely 1/16 over and 5/8 thick. I ordered pieces about 8 feet because that is what fits into the bed of the pick up truck. I got 16 footers and was told that I should have brought my own saw. Needless to say, I haven't been back.

I must say, at my old work our US timber (mainly White Oak, Walnut and Cherry) was nearly always at or over nominal dimensions; width/thickness was often up to 1/4" over and length was usually 4" over. All the local stuff was nearly always at or under nominal. Must be down to the mill

Originally Posted by Chief Tiff

Australia has been using metricated imperial for years...

You can't by an 8 X 4 sheet of 3/4" ply; you have to have a 1220 x 2440 x 19mm sheet instead.

What's really weird is that ply is often metricated to 2400 x 1200, but MDF and chipboard are still truly imperial at 2440 x 1220. Thicknesses are also not consistently metricated; ply will be 17mm and 19mm (usually), while MDF and chipboard are 16mm and 18mm.

I have been thinking for some time now how American information is used on these forums. 2"X 4" to me is like fingers nails on a black board. I think we should use our jargon to preserve it and not use a "foreign" name.
I grew up with imperial measurements and can use either imperial/metric, it doesn't worry me. When I was at Tech learning the carpentry trade we were schooled in the "Australian" names and measurements of building products.
Tradition certainly has a lot to do with what we refer to....rough sawn timber (for framing) was always 4" X 2" if you wanted it dressed (as it is now with Rated Radiata) it would be supplied at 3 3/4" X 1 3/4". (with metric now its 90 X 45) with sheet goods, good old Masonite was 8' X 4' or 2440 X 1220. When Pyneboard hit the market in volume it appeared at 2400 X 1200. This was not received well by the market because you had no "waste" to trim off so you had to cut into another sheet. Now these sheets are 2420 X 1210. With plywood sheets (pine ply from say Bunnings) they are "hard metric" at 2400 X 1200 so you have to be aware of what you are using

Thinking about the American sizing of 4/4 I think it would have com from the sawmill jargon where to set a fence they would have had a set of holes drill 1/4" apart so you didn't have to measure it you just moved the fence to the appropriate hole and went from there.

Originally Posted by CaptainCaveman

They call a slot that runs with the grain a groove = Groove

one that runs across the grain is a dado = Housing

and a notch that is cut out of the edge of a board is called a rabbet = Rebate (Why people would cut a rabbit using a table saw is beyond my level of comprehension!)

My Dad taught me much about what I know. When speaking roughly, we would use 4" posts, 20' lengths of top/bottom plates, 8x4' sheets etc. But when cutting, we would call out the measurements in millimetres. The new kids at work are quickly schooled in the fact that there is no such thing as a "centimetre" unless you are a dressmaker!

We are universally known as woodworkers end called that in the US but Woodworkers there use lumber, how does that work?

To add to the "fingers on black board" feeling, I don't like reading on these Forums "lumber" rather than timber. To go further to read "wood" instead of timber. My analogy wood goes in the fire and timber is what we make things out of.
Yeh I know its splitting hairs but I would like to preserve our "Australianess" over changing to some thing else.

Another one I just recalled.....Norm Abrams was making a multilight window sash and he called this member (of the window) a Muntin. I would have called it a Mullion

At least we had the good sense to ditch the board/super foot. That just does my head in.

Originally Posted by rrich

.....The world would be a lot simpler if we all used Metric. All of us here in the US would probably be a lot slimmer too.

Very select company - apparently there are only three non-metric countries left in the world - Burma, Liberia, and the USA.

Perhaps, if you have a couple of hours to spare, Rich, you could convince your President and Congress of the merits of leaving the companionship of Burma and Liberia.