On 11/01/2019 08:52, PeterC wrote:
On Thu, 10 Jan 2019 23:33:35 +0000, Steve Walker wrote:

On 10/01/2019 22:55, alan_m wrote:
On 10/01/2019 21:54, soup wrote:

My favourite is 4 X 2 wood (nominally 4 inches by 2 inches) yet sold
in metre lengths so you get things like :-


Was it ever 2" x 4"?

No. It was 4" x 2"

SteveW

Had a problem when re-roofing a brick-built shed (timbers going/gone and
sheets cracked a bit). The timbers were ~70 years old and 2x3, so
unobtainable nowadays. Combined with the hard mortar that had been shovelled
in to fill all the gaps, I spent ages with a an SDS chisel getting it even
enough for a full timber frame and to fit the 'generous' 46x72 mm.
Even as a smallish child I was upset that 2" wood wasn't 2" - what part of
lying is acceptable in trade descriptions?


As a child I was told it's best to think of it as the _name_ of the
timber. When it's sawn it measures 4x2 so it's called 4x2. By the time
it's sold it's very possibly drier and smaller. If it's planed it's
smaller still. But it's name stays the same.

--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid