Tell us something we don’t know.

[Jstpssng]

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It looks like a mold of some sort, for forming molten lead or iron.

 

[Rockbadchild]

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nuts holder

 

[CalG]

I worked on the Super Guppy back in the mid 80's. It was in for some cargo track redo at TRACOR aviation at the field in Santa Barbara.

Lots of room inside ;-)

Thanks for the memory!

 

[CalG]

If you combine synthetic oil and regular oil you get a synthetic blend
Amazing stuff

Isn't "synthetic oil" made out of "regular oil"? Stitching molecules ........

 

[CalG]

It seems to me that one good teacher is the beginning of many eventual careers. I can certainly say that of math and physics, where I had an exceptional teacher in each, leading me toward my career. I never had an English teacher worth much of anything, and I suppose that shows, as well.

I can name the Chem teacher that was all that to me.

Mr Brynn.

 

[Dftodd]

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I can make a guess

 

[WinterDeere]

My experience in older lumber is that dimensions are all over the place. Pre-1900 lumber is usually measure both ends and the middle, and perhaps more. I think sometimes somebody eyeballed it and went from there.

So, this is something I've done a good bit of reading on in the past, as I have also found all crazy combinations of dimensional lumber in this house and the many other old houses in which I've lived and worked.

Of course, lumber was originally made and/or sold in full dimensions. Until the early 20th century, in most cases, a 2x4 was 2 inches x 4 inches, and rough. But they'd twist and check and cup during drying, which probably caused builders to reject a lot of what was coming from the mills or lumber yards. So, the mills got into the habit of jointing and planing the lumber after milling and some drying, to provide more uniform product and improve their yields (= profit). This would have been late 19th into early 20th century, which is also (not coincidentally) about the age of the earliest large mechanized jointer/planers you will find.

But each of the mills chose the finished size that gave them best yield, based on the species they were working and the products they were producing, without any standardization between mills or regions. This worked well enough, when all of your lumber was coming from the same yard, as the components were still designed to work well enough together. The 2x4's and 4x4's you were buying might be 3-1/2", 3-3/4" or even 3-7/8", but at least they were all the same and milled to work together... as long as they came from the same mill, or at least mills in the same town or region, who'd agreed on a local standard.

As we got more into the 20th century, and it became more affordable to ship lumber all over the country by rail, people started running into problems. They'd get a mix of "two-by" lumber that was a random mix of 1-1/2" and 1-3/4" thick, or 2x4's that don't jibe with their 4x4's. It was a real mess for a few years, and if you own a house from the 1930's or early 1940's, you might have seen this. I know some of the 1770's windows in my house must have been rebuilt during this time, as I've seen evidence of these odd size mismatches in the replacement frames.

This created some serious headaches for the military and industry during WW2, when the shipment of material all over the country went into overdrive, and because of this new standards for "dimensional lumber" sizing were passed. This is how we came to all know that all "two-by" lumber is 1/2" under nominal in both dimensions, up to 8" where it jumps to 3/4" below nominal. Thank the war!

 

[LouNY]

I seem to recall a lot of 2x4s that measured out at 1 3/4 x 3 3/4 when I was young. I'm thinking that much of the lumber that got used in a new barn in the early 60's that the 2x material was all 1 3/4". Now that was in all likelihood "rough cut" and it did all come from the same mill and was delivered and we stacked it all up to season out the summer before the barn was built. Some of it was 18' 2x12's dang they were heavy.

 

[masscity]

I seem to recall a lot of 2x4s that measured out at 1 3/4 x 3 3/4 when I was young. I'm thinking that much of the lumber that got used in a new barn in the early 60's that the 2x material was all 1 3/4". Now that was in all likelihood "rough cut" and it did all come from the same mill and was delivered and we stacked it all up to season out the summer before the barn was built. Some of it was 18' 2x12's dang they were heavy.

You're right, when I started working in the poured basement walls company the 2 x 4 were 1 3/4 x 3 3/4. They changed I think in the 70's to what they are now.

The old house I live in has rough real 2 x 6 for studs.

 

[Rockbadchild]

I would still take a processed and tested 1 3/4 by 3 3/4 (modern 2x4) over a roughs cut ''real'' 2x4