A thought on 2x4s

Recently my father and I worked at an apartment to renovate it. He brought home two pieces of 2x4. One from when the building was made in the early 1900s. The other bought recently.

They speak for themselves, however, I will say this much. My father said the size difference is because modern 2x4s are not true 2x4s, due to lack or resources and better production methods. In addition, the newer one was bio engineered to grow faster. I would like confirmation on this.

Bellow you'll find the images. Simply a reflection for you all, as a species, to what you've done in a little over a century alone.

From The Department of Agriculture, circa 1964. This should answer any questions you have with respect to the change in dimensional values of construction lumber. It seems that there are a myriad of reasons why 1.5" by 3.5" became the standard - lack of resources being only one of them. Production, shipping and warehousing costs being another. Interesting read. Careful what you ask for!

-----nice pics-i am a builder of lake homes in n-wisconsin--notice the tight grain in the 2 x 4 on left--cant tell from pic but probably not pine as the one on right is----tighter the grain the more strength--smaller size is economics only--the lumber now usd for frameing homes is crap--twisted-warped because they have to many knotts in the wood---we here in n-wisconsin only build with 2x6's now [5.25 inches]-2x4's are only used on interior walls---even they are questionable sometimes---

My guess is the pic on the left is oak. The one on the right is obviously pine. For obvious reasons, namely growth rate and cost, pine is the de facto standard for 2x4s these days.

My first home was built in 1924 and was constructed of true red oak 2x4s. That place was as solid as a bomb shelter!

it should be noted that the house we worked on was severely battered. Some places the ceiling ranged in heights from the floor by a whole half foot. The baby held up, though. Never even having much of a creaking floor.