Pirates! - Why the US doesn't use the metric system.

Bought 3/8" plywood ,size was .200, bought 1/4" plywood size was 3/16". Some cheapness going on here.
 
We hate the new "way of doing things"

Before you order 3/4 inch plywood and by golly it was 3/4 inch thick.

Now it is close to 3/4 but to some 32 of an inch.

Same brand?

Forget that!

When we built the shop it has second floor with 16 centers on the joists and we wanted more heavy duty and after much homework selected 1 1/8 plytanium subfloor as it was APA rated 48 span meaning it on 48 inch joists were same as normal on 16 so given we had 16 span good to go.

Ordered 2 pallets of them and there were noticeable differences in thickness and there was no way to reasonably sort and size them.

We just used a 20 inch floor polisher with sanding disks to level it out and called it a day.

When we looked into it the responses were that size varied due to international standards and metric along w the many other excuses for lack of quality control.

Next time you are at the big box store look at the sheet stock and everything is just a bit thinner than standard and it is same as the 1.75 quart ice cream instead of 1/2 gallon or smaller cans of product that cause cooks grief and metric gets blamed sometimes but we know it is about profit....

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Bought 3/8" plywood ,size was .200, bought 1/4" plywood size was 3/16". Some cheapness going on here.

You actually found 3/8" plywood?? Wow. I haven't been able to find it around here for a while now, at least not at the big box stores. Time to start doing business at the local lumber yard again!
 
I got it the other way round yesterday.
Bought a one metre length of 150mm steel tube but when I measured it back home it was 152.
Where does this come from?
neither 150 nor 152 is 6" so it wasnt just a straight swap.
 
the metric system was introduced in australia before i was born and i grew up on a farm where we had a sawmill as well so i ended up learning both from a young age. to be honest both systems have their positives and negatives. for some things i prefer metric and for others imperial.
 
I'm British, grew up with feet and inches. Living in USA I had to do some research. USA has used feet and inches based on Meter and Kilogram since 1864 Act of Congress which means USA HAS used kilo's and meters for over 150 years without even knowing it. Prior to 1864 act, the only standardised measurement was for gold and silver (Troy ounce)
Australia went metric 14th Feb 1966 if I remember the annoying jingle they used correctly? :eagerness:
Also had various rhyme's, 'liter of water a pint and three quarter' (UK pint, 20 fl. oz.)
'Two and quarter pots of jam, weigh about a kilogram' This was on British TV in the early 70's, almost 50 yrs later, it's still stuck in my head
Judging by the amount of students I had while teaching, US Military has used metric system for years
 
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Judging by the amount of students I had while teaching, US Military has used metric system for years

Only the ground pounders use metric, and that's only for some things. Aviators and the boat people still use inch/foot/mile/gallons and pounds.
 
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