With the advent of the railroad in the 19th century, transportation options and demand for wood increased. Rivers, canals, and lakes, made Bangor, Albany, and Chicago wholesale timber capitals. Trees were floated out of their watershed, breaking the link between lumberman and carpenter. Prime forestland-determined by tree size, species type (originally and exclusively white pine), and access to transportation-was changing. Supply and demand concentrated around the major port cities of New York, Baltimore, Boston, and Philadelphia. As trees were harvested, however, human ecology transformed forestland into farmland with landscapes deforested for many generations to come.Īvailable forestland, therefore, moved toward the hinterlands as nearby areas were cut over. North American forests seemed an unlimited resource for almost everything. Sizing tolerances varied, thus leaving final measurements to site construction. Before industrialized wood production, which began around 1870, trees were felled, skidded, sized, and made to order for carpenters. To accurately reflect its dimensions, the 2x4 should be renamed the 1½ x 3½.Īn obsessive concern for material efficiency in the United States, the dominant global user of light-stick framing (also known as 2x4 stud construction), has driven the use of the 2x4 and its resultant commodity homogenization. The naming of this building material is the result of compromise between forestry technology, species’ properties, forest composition, transportation efficiency, construction speed, and price competition. The ubiquitous lumber product known as the 2x4 does not, in fact, measure two inches thick by four inches wide.

2x10 actual size