# A brief history of the two by four

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-brief-history-of-the-two-by-four/79016>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 30, 2001, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-brief-history-of-the-two-by-four/79016 "2001-08-30T21:44:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Scarred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@Scarred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarred)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-brief-history-of-the-two-by-four/79016/1 "2001-08-30T21:44:12Z")

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Any takers? After seeing an ad in the newspaper describing the width of a piece of wood as 5/4", we got to wondering why a 2x4 is called a 2x4. It’s not actually 2 inches by 4 inches. Is this one of those deals where some Canadian logger 100 years ago set his saw blade to 2 inches, only to find that the blade removed an extra 1/4 inch, and now we live with the result?

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**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-brief-history-of-the-two-by-four/79016/2 "2001-08-30T21:59:29Z")

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There is a recent thread on the same topic; started 08-28-2001, last post just yesterday. So, I’m closing this thread.  
You can continue in that thread.

See: [2x4 lumber](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=84194)

**DrMatrix** — General Questions Moderator