On 5/7/2012 8:49 PM, Ed Foote wrote: > > Actually, what you got there is a timber stretcher, or at least, > half of one. They came in pairs, and were used by > > carpenterswhen they mistakenly cut a board just a little short. > Clamping these on both ends of the board, they were butted > > up against an adjustable steel spacerbetween them, and you just > cranked the clamps against the steel and stretched that > > board out to fit. If only one end was short,then you only cranked > that end. > > Haven't seen those things in a long while, thanks for the memories, You're old too, remember when a 2X4 was 1-7/8 X 3-7/8? I do. Last I looked, they had gotten down to 1-3/8 X 3-3/8. Personal lumber stretchers went off the market when the high volume commercial models were perfected. The story of a 2X4 losing 1/8" in milling from rough to finish is true enough, but the continued reduction in cross sectional dimension is due to the universal commercial adoption of large volume, fast cycle lumber stretchers. It's called a Poisson ratio. As the length is increased, the cross section dimensions diminish. You can't make more material than is there, but you can make it longer and thinner, and therefor sell more lumber (by length) with less waste at more profit. I don't expect a 2X4 to get much smaller, because they are about at the limit of stretch before they start necking down too much in the middle. I suspect this is why the small personal models aren't sold anymore. People just didn't know when to quit, and blamed the manufacturer for the ruined scrap they tried to over stretch into usable lengths. Ron N
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC