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newbie question

I've read and seen timber dimensions that is a little puzzling to me. I know what a 1x2 is or a 2x4 or a 4x4 but what is a 5/4, 4/4, 8/4 or whatever Y/X is ?

tia

Reply to
Junkyard Engineer
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Woodies use all dimensions in quarters, 1/4, 2/4, etc. 8/4 = 2"

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Primarily in rough lumber...that's the way mills process/size lumber.

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

Yes, but we try to be a little more confusing. If I buy rough 4/4 hardwood, it's about an inch thick. The same item, S2S (sanded two sides) can be from

3/4 inch to nearly 7/8 thick, depending on where you get it, but it's still called 4/4 lumber at yards, while places like Home Depot probably say 3/4 inch.

GerryG

Reply to
GerryG

To clarify/correct:

S2S = *surfaced* two sides. Sometimes it's sanded, but usually it's planed.

4/4 hardwood S2S is normally 13/16 thick. It would be unusual for it to be as thin as 3/4.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Reply to
Doug Miller

...

And to hopefully clarify even a little more for the OP, the 4/4 surfaced hardwood or graded softwood from a mill/supplier is still listed/priced as "4/4" because that's the raw material from which it came and is priced on a bd-ft basis rather than piece-wise or by the linear foot...(retailers, otoh, may price on other bases, typically much more favorable to them :) )

Construction material is sized on nominal rough mill dimensions from historical sizes although now have standardized on nominal finished dimensions. At one time a "2x" was about 1-5/8" thickness and even earliear was rough-sawn at the nominal 2" thickness...

And, just in case he's unaware of the definition a "bd-ft" is a volume measure of 1" thick by 1-ft width by 1-ft length.

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

And to muddy things up a bit... We have a lumberyard here in central Indiana that sells only rough-sawn lumber, which they price, *not* by the board foot, but by the linear foot (so much per linear foot for 4/4 x 5 maple, a bit more per foot for 4/4 x 6, a bit less for 4/4 x 4, etc). I wish they wouldn't do that. It drives me up the wall. OTOH, the prices are great and so is the wood, so I guess there are compensations.

My previous house was built in 1928; all the framing is rough-sawn *beech* two-bys. Floor joists all beech 2x10s, an honest 2" by 10", on 16" centers. Even after all those years, only a little sag and hardly any bounce in the floors. Ahh, the good old days...

The downside was in running electrical wires in the basement or the attic. The tool kit included a drill, a spade bit, and a bastard file to resharpen it every three or four holes.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Reply to
Doug Miller

Doug Miller wrote: ...

Guess it's best to take the calculator along :) ...unless, as you say, you have enough past history to know it's where you're going no matter the grief...

While in VA many years ago the local school board took down a ca 1880-90 school building. Went to look at some of the material they were selling thinking primarily of getting the kids a slate blackboard. Looked at the timbers and started to get sorta' excited... :) Surrepetitious check w/ the knife confirmed my suspicions--went home, got buddy, truck and checkbook(s) and we bought about 4000 bd-ft of walnut beams and studs from 2xX to 5x10-20-ft lumber for $1500!

Been going through renovation/restoration of the old barn (1918) here built of virgin growth southern yellow pine--hard stuff, indeedy! :)

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

Keep in mind that these measurements are nominal, not actual. Just like a 2x4 isn't actually 2 inches thick or 4 inches wide, 8/4 lumber is not really 2" thick if it has been dressed to a semi-usable state. You typically lose 1/4 inch in thickness to the planer. Thus 4/4 lumber that has been surfaced is really 3/4" thick (just like your typical 1x construction lumber).

Reply to
Dave Hall

Hello Doug,

I'm in Bloomington. Whereabouts would that lumberyard be? I have seen one off of 67 south of Indy.

-Kevin

Reply to
Kevin

Wow, interesting !

Then on a historic note, why the "1/4" inch has been chosen to name lumber ? My first guess would be the thickness of the saw blade used ?

"Dave Hall" a écrit dans le message de news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Reply to
Junkyard Engineer

Thanks, Doug and Suane. True on the planing; don't think I've ever seen it really sanded, but that's what they call it. As for size, I agree that many yards give you a nominal 13/16. However, a few stores call it 4/4 and have dressed it down to 3/4 (stores, not yards). Finally, I just got 100 BF of 4/4 S2S ash, and it measures 15/16.

So what can I say? I live in the desert, and it's now raining yet again:-)

Hopefully, with your additions, he'll have some idea what he might find. Oh yeah, we forgot S3S which has one straight and square edge, and (though the term isn't often used) S4S which is what Home Depot sells..

GerryG Kanab, Utah

Reply to
GerryG

There's a difference between surfaced and dimensioned. Home Depot sells dimensioned lumber. Some hardwood dealers surface their stock, usually for a fee. Some skip plane the boards to allow for the person buying the stock to determine what the grain will look like.

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

Reply to
Nova

...

More that rough sawn at mill in quarter-inch increments is sufficiently fine to allow for whatever final thickness an end-user may wish -- of course, w/ modern computer-controlled and band mills one could make anything one desired, but most mills (except for veneer, of course) are still pretty coarse...

How thick the blade is isn't really particularly important to how thick a board is sawed off the slab other than it has to be stiff enough to not flex.

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

Wood is cut green at the mill and it shrinks when it dries. The sawyers have to make an educated guess when they saw the log for the required yield. I imagine

1/4" is as close as they care to shoot for.

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

Reply to
Nova

That'd be Hollingsworth Lumber in Russiaville (pronounced roosh-uh-vill, BTW), about 5 miles or so SW of Kokomo. The board-foot prices for any given species all work out to be the same within a few pennies, regardless of width, so it's not like they're trying to cheat anybody. It's just awkward.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Reply to
Doug Miller

hmm... a 16/4 x 8/4 two by four..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Reply to
mac davis

Nah.. they call it 1 by... if you buy S2S 1 x 4 it's like 3/4" x 3 3/4"...

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Reply to
mac davis

Reply to
GerryG

volume

Though, does YOUR hardwood supplier, when calc'ing how much to charge you for 4/4, multiply length x width by 13/16 or 7/8 !?!?! I mean, the couple hardwood suppliers I deal with will all tell you what the bd.ft. price is, but if it's 4/4 (i.e. real thickness of 13/16 or 7/8), they just calc length by width.

-Chris

Reply to
TheNewGuy

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