Not being familiar with milling best practices, often hardwood I buy locally measures 57/64" in thickness. Is this just a coincidence or fairly common?
Jack
DE USA
Wood is first cut to rough dimension, say 2 x 4 inches, then if one wants S4S (surfaced four sides), is planed down on each surface removing material resulting in the smaller stock typically available.
57/64" results from typical planing settings removing 7/128" from each side of a 1" thick piece. EDIT: Further note it’s usually marked in quarters, so 1" thick stock will be marked/referred to as 4/4.
See:
Understanding Wood: A Craftman’s Guide To Wood Technology by R. Bruce Hoadley
The U.S. Forestry Service also covers this sort of thing in some of their publications.
As @WillAdams replied there are standards from lumber suppliers. However the people running the planners are not always good operators. Basically you get what you get from suppliers. For me I typically buy rough lumber and make my own dimensional lumber. That is not for everyone but because I can plane up to 20 Inches and cut up to 16 inches on my bandsaw it works for me. Most woodworkers have to buy whatever is available locally. Retailers like Woodcraft and Rockler carry good selections of 2S and 4S lumber but at a premium. See if you have any local saw mills close by and you will get better prices. Sawmills usually produce green lumber meaning it is not dry enough to use right away. So ask at the saw mill if they have kiln dried the lumber or air dried it. Air dried lumber is more stable but kiln dried works. Just dont buy green wood and expect to use it right away or for your project to stay stable if you use it.
Craigslist usually shows any saw mills close buy. I have bought “used” lumber from individuals and that can be a real bargain if you know yourself what is good or bad lumber. You can also find lumber on FaceBook market place. So there are a lot of sources to get lumber both ready to use and rough.
Take your calipers with you to the lumber retailer.
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If this is rough cut, then this is probably a 3/4 cut.
It’s supposed to allow you to get to 0.75 when planed and flat.
Or metric boards
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