Talk:3138: Dimensional Lumber Tape Measure

I was under the impression this was actually a thing that exists, somewhere. (Separate and apart from so-called "shrink rules" used by patternmakers who create patterns for metal castings). No? JohnHawkinson (talk) 00:36, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

https://www.inchcalculator.com/actual-size-of-dimensional-lumber/ for reference --- MEL

Wikipedia has a similar table. Interestingly, if the values on this table are correct, the xkcd measure fails for the 8 x 8 board. 2605:59C8:160:DB08:988B:772A:4E5:B209 02:18, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

"I was under the impression this was actually a thing that exists, somewhere" - if doesn't exist now, it soon will. 70.115.234.146 03:59, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

Thinking that there might be a typo in the comic - It says : A "1x8" IS "3/4 BY 7 1/8", yet it should be "3/4 BY 7 1/4".

I no longer want to be a lumberjack! 2A02:2455:1960:4000:748F:2291:F005:1989 06:57, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

This reminds me of when I changed my friend’s text replacements to be slightly misspelled whenever she tried to type a common word in college. She was getting a degree in linguistics and it was SO FUNNY 《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 13:29, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

She should have claimed that she was undertaking "applied linguistics" and investigating how to create a deliberate language change! 92.17.62.87 20:23, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

I was told (and maybe this is wrong), that the dimensions are intended to represent the final thickness of a wall when drywall (usually 0.5" thick) is attached to the studs. Shamino (talk) 20:58, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

I think that's just a convenient side effect. Of course, if the drywall is 1/2 thick, a wall with 2x4 studs will be 4.5 inch thick. RegularSizedGuy (talk) 22:22, 6 September 2025 (UTC)