What do I ask for? First time buying wood

[Bingy man]

Trouble is a lot of products are still sold using metric measurements slabs , some timber and sheet goods , fencing panels. With a fence for example it’s easier to measure up in feet knowing your panels are 6 ft and your posts appropriately 4 inches. Personally I prefer metrics but often have to switch between the 2 .

 

[Katomi woodsmith]

Biggest problem we had was when working on old buildings. All set out to get and inches

Plaster board being just that bit short, doors being to big. Other mis matches that had to be sorted

 

[joshvegas]

Yes but someone new does not need at any point to use imperial when ordereing anything is my point.

I am alot longer than you old codgers and am pretty fluent in both through railway engineering projects and having an interest in film and glass plate photography. But for someone new that has expressed an uncertainty on when to use which the answer is always metric.

Especially as a 2x4 isn't even 2" by 4" by the time you get it!

 

[GeorgeCass]

I’ve spent much of my life in construction and a fair few years estimating carpentry and joinery do not worry about not understanding the jargon of sizes and standards as , trust me in this many who work behind the desks in the merchants don’t know much more . Especially when you come to start ordering joinery quality softwoods and even worst hardwoods . When I started we were still estimating in stick inches and ordering in cubic feet . Softwood joinery standards was firsts , seconds ,thirds and unsorted. Just ask the merchant and tell them what you want .

 

[Diver Fred]

I'm doing a course and the first project is to build a mobile workbench.

Before I make the first daunting call, I just want to make sure I use the correct terminology so it's clear what I'm asking for.

The project stipulates 2x "boards" which are basically two "two by fours" approx 2.5m / 8ft long. I also need one plywood sheet, approx 19 mm x 1.219 m x 2.438 m.

OK - I've snipped a bit of your original posting off.

Start by looking at the plywood sheets :- in the UK the standard size for sheet materials in nominally 8x4 ft, that translates to 2.440x1.220m. For your purposes you need to look carefully at the number of 'Ply's' in the sheet; as others have said Plywood comes in several different grades, not always reflected in the cost, you are most likely to consider 'Shuttering' plywood or 'Hardwood' faced.
Shuttering grade is likely to consist 7 ply's or 2x3 ply's (essentially 2 sheets of 9mm ply bonded together); in either case the wood is likely to be of low cost and poor durability.
Hardwood Faced will consist of 9 or 11 ply's; the base material (in UK/EU) is most likely Popular with a (pale) Sapele like facing sheets. This is the type I'd recommend - looking in the Orange barns the price is very similar to shuttering Ply.
There is also WBP (Water & Boil Proof) ply, Birch Ply (the very best for internal use) and Marine Ply all in increasing cost and inappropriate for your purposes.
18mm ply started life as 3/4inch (19mm) and nowadays is an optimistic 18mm.

Planks, boarding, 'stock' are nowadays all metrically sized and come in various forms - so 4x2 sawn was nominally 4x2inches,4x2 PAR used finish roughly 1/8inch smaller; today 2x4 sawn is nominally 50x100, 2x4 PAR finishes 47x94 or 44x94 depending on the Milling company.
Buying from a Timber yard/Merchants the length in Metric will always be shorter than the Imperial size. I suggest you go to a Timber Yard (or Timber merchants). You should ask for 'Joinery' grade. Most timber yards only hold a limited range of lengths - 8ft/2.4m is not a common one but 3m is; if you ask for 2.440m I'm sure they will supply but from a longer length and charge for the longer length. - you may as well cut it to length at your home.

Looked at the Work Bench you are considering. What is your plans to construct on it use it for?

My thoughts it does look to contain sufficient mass to be able to hammer and plane on it without movement. If it is then be careful on the choice of door you use - needs to be heavy as many doors are light with the core consisting of cardboard 'egg boxes'. An old kitchen worktop makes a good bench top. Also consider using an aftermarket MFT top (several UK suppliers on the Web - see Link for ideas) with a sheet of Ply as an alternative on or fit over work surface.

 

[Shavingsnotdust]

My father had a lovely tale around the conversion from imperial to metric back in the 60's(?) - went to buy 2 by 4, and the guy said no, it's 100 by 50mm now. OK said father - how much is it?. two shillings and tenpence a foot was the reply.

Our local farm supplies shop still uses this method today - fencing stakes are now 85mm diameter but bought in 7-foot or 8-foot lengths.

 

[Agent_zed]

Just to confuse things I used to buy PAR (planned all round?) and then they changed the terminology to PSE (planed square edge). As mentioned above, the size it's called is completely different to the actual finished size?!

 

[GeorgeCass]

My primary education was in imperial secondary was metric , when I left school and went to work in a quantity surveyors office , most drawings were in imperial ( feet and inches ) . Bills of quantities were sort of metric but specifying mostly imperial products , you took of quants of drawings in feet and inches and converted into quantities on an electric calculator ( 6ft 9 was therefore 6.75 feet ) then converted into quantities , metres for the BOQ . That was 51 years ago , now I work in civils on the rail. Industry and track is still measured in chains and the distance between rails is still the 4 ft or 6 ft . It is fun .

 

[NeiljohnUK]

There is a nice timbour yard on the meon valley road used to be known as meon valley timbour
Hope this helps

Owned by Sydenhams these days, up the A32 at Mislingford, though if your out this way Equestrian fencing and timber a mile away in Shirrel Heath maybe worth a call too, certainly the guys there are more knowledgeable and helpful than any of the 'sheds'.

 

[Ross Buchanan]

Born in 71, but every adult I knew was used to imperial. Every book I read was in imperial.
The only place I encountered metric was in school books, and I dam well hated school- so metric was like latin, and grammar, and country dancing and art- some carp that they invented to make schoolkids miserable.
It is fatuously simple, I grant you, but that is all. None of its units have any natural reason to exist though, unlike imperial units. A foot is, well, your foot, an inch is a knuckle. A pound is a handful, a stone what you can carry in one hand. 1 CWT is a "lift", and a pint is precisely the correct amount of beer.
A metre is not a pace, nor does it have any normal human scale to it. Nor does a kilogramme.
I understand metric units, but only in relation to imperial.

Most timber products sold in the UK are metric roundings of imperial sizes, and annoyingly inaccurate roundings at that. 12mm ply and mdf are usually 12.7mm- a half inch. Why not claim 12.5mm, or 13mm? 6mm is 6.35mm, but then the 1/4" router cutter might be 6mm, or 6.35.... In Italy you can buy router cutters that are exact imperial dimensions, described exactly in metric. CMT make 19mm straight cutters, and 19.05mm. Or radius cutters of 3mm rad and 3.17(5)mm
I would settle for actually using only the metric system, despite its failings- but why can't manufacturers accurately describe what they are actually selling?

CLS is specified as 1 1/2"x 2 1/2" (or 3 1/2"), planed, with 1/8" radius on the corners, 94 1/2" long.
That is 38.1mm x 63.5mm (or 88.9mm) and 2400.5mm long. But we are told its 38x63mm. If you are going to claim that millimetres are more accurate, how do you tolerate the inaccuracy of being half a millimetre out?

 

[NeiljohnUK]

Wow lots of very helpful replies, thank you very much

I'm planning on contacting a local small timber merchant, South Cost Timber.

I'll have to measure the boot with the chairs down to see what I can get away. Maybe I'll ask them to cut the bigger parts of the job just I can in the car.

Using a door is a good idea, and I'm kicking myself a bit because I took an old door to the tip just a couple of months ago.

Thanks again for replying so quickly. I'm more confident now with this additional info.

Look up https://southamptonwoodrecycling.org.uk/ they may have what you need closer and cheaper.

 

[Agent_zed]

It is fatuously simple, I grant you, but that is all. None of its units have any natural reason to exist though, unlike imperial units. A foot is, well, your foot, an inch is a knuckle. A pound is a handful, a stone what you can carry in one hand. 1 CWT is a "lift", and a pint is precisely the correct amount of beer.
A metre is not a pace, nor does it have any normal human scale to it. Nor does a kilogramme.
I understand metric units, but only in relation to imperial.

Whilst the imperial units you quote did once have a natural reason to exist, it was completely arbitrary and inaccurate at that point and none of the reasons you quote have any bearing on reality.

A foot is 12 inches, it happens to be roughly the length of my foot but you wouldn't want my other half to sell you wood by her 'foot' measurement as it will be a lot shorter than you expect. The same with her knuckle for an inch and how much she can hold vs my hand.

A yard might be a pace for some people, for others definitely not.

If i want to drill 0.5mm that is easy enough to understand, I don't even know what crazy fraction that is in imperial. Even worse when you start having 10ths of a inch!

Does 16 parts to an inch, 12 inches to the foot and 3 foot to the yard actually make more sense than metric? Metric is all base 10, very simple.

Water boils at 100c and freezes at 0c or 212F and 32F respectively which makes little to no sense.

Metric is far easier for the vast majority of measurements which is why it is the official Si units.

If i want 1 metric ton of water I just get 1m x 1m x 1m. What size for an imperial tonne?

Both have their place though and I frequently go from one to the other as at the end of the day it doesn't matter what you use as long as it's consistent.

Weirdly just watched a sketch on the subject

I