Nominal nonsense
OMG! I just learned that a 4×4 isn’t really a 4×4 – it’s a 3-1/2 x 3-1/2! Well, that explains a lot of project issues I’ve had over the years….
OMG! I just learned that a 4x4 isn’t really a 4x4 – it’s a 3-1/2 x 3-1/2! Well, that explains a lot of project issues I’ve had over the years.
Thank goodness for the attorneys at the McGuire Law firm of Chicago, who are currently representing class action lawsuits against both Home Depot and Menards. Without their diligence, I would have had no idea that lumber companies have been cheating me all these years by intentionally misrepresenting the size of their lumber.
And it gets worse! Thanks to the lawsuits, I’ve also learned that a 1x6 is only a 3/4 x 5-1/2. (Which kind of also explains the odd finished dimensions of a bookcase I built that came out smaller than I thought it would.)
I think they need to take this a bit further. The last time I bought some 6-penny nails, they sure as heck weren’t priced at six cents. And that 3/4 inch copper pipe I got wasn’t 3/4 inch. How long has this fraudulent and premeditated deception been going on? This madness must stop!
I have a good mind to grab a sheet of 20-lb. paper and write a formal complaint to those deceiving crooks.
A.J.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.
