I've wondered how lumber sizes came to be, but I had never encountered a history of why or how.
I came across a document produced by the U.S. Forest Service entitled History of Yard Lumber Size Standards (September 1964). While this article is 45 years old, it contains an interesting history of when and why lumber was reduced from the common nomenclature (2x4, for instance) to the actual sizes used today.
Click HERE for article
