xkcd #3138: Dimensional Lumber Tape Measure
Title text:
A person with two watches is never sure what time it is, especially if I got them one of the watches.
Transcript:
Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com
Source: https://xkcd.com/3138/
There is, now, a separate problem where 2x4s specifically are made of very inferior lumber. most will have either pith or wane, and I’ve seen them have both, which means the tree they harvested is maybe 5 inches in diameter and they might have gotten 3 2x4s out of one log. Even compared to when I was in carpentry class in high school the quality of construction lumber has decreased. Larger boards like 2x8s or 2x12s don’t similarly suffer because it’s impossible to make them out of saplings. But still.
I own a house built in 1942 and it’s insane how good-quality the 2x4s are – perfectly straight and true and no knots on them anywhere. They’re so good that I’ve reused them for railings on my stairs. And this house was built as very cheap temporary worker housing during the war! I find it hilarious how much better the construction quality is on my house than on these million-dollar cardboard mcmansions they’re building these days.