>
> Date:    Mon, 7 Dec 2009 08:44:42 +1100
> From:    John Pitman <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: OT - Lumber size
>
> Please tell me this isn't so.....
>
> But some of the sizes make me blink....    5/4  ??? What is that?
> The last time I saw a fraction like this was in primary school,
> being taught to write it as either 1.25 or 1-1/4  . Eventually
> by a process of elimination , it turns out that anything actually
> 1" thick is called  5/4, because it was originally 1.25"
> .. I think?
>
> Is this common in US please?
>

For hardwood lumber over one inch in a given dimension, it is common
North American practice to state the size to the nearest quarter of
an inch (a dimension less than one  inch is is sized to the nearest
sixteenth of an inch).  5/4" is just a quick convenient way of
writing 1-1/4".  A form of Lumberman's l33t I guess. I do not know
why, but softwood lumber is always dimensioned to the nearest inch
instead.  Perhaps hardwoods were so much more expensive than
softwoods that the additional precision made economic sense?

> The other odd part, for a printed manual,  is that all the metric
> equivalents have the decimal point off by one place....3/4 is
> given as 1.9mm.
>

Changlish translation?  The item comes to you from the USA. Whence
did it come to the USA?

Regards,

-- 
***          E-Mail is NOT a SECURE channel          ***
James B. Byrne                mailto:[log in to unmask]
Harte & Lyne Limited          http://www.harte-lyne.ca
9 Brockley Drive              vox: +1 905 561 1241
Hamilton, Ontario             fax: +1 905 561 0757
Canada  L8E 3C3

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *