Print this chart out, and hang it up in your shop and you’ll be surprised at how many times you take a look at it!

chart-thumbnail View the printable/PDF version

Otherwise, the online version of the chart is listed below. You may have noticed that nearly all measurements and values listed in the Wood Database are in both imperial and metric format. This isn’t because I’m a huge fan of the metric system, but because I know how irritating it can be to look at something that should make sense to me, but I can’t fully understand what I’m looking at because the distances are listed in metric units. So, in the spirit of cooperation and understanding, I whipped up a quick little metric conversion chart to be used around the shop. It’s useful for drilling holes and other small measurements in millimeters.

Metric to Imperial Conversions

Fractional Equivalents:

Millimeters

Inches

Decimal

MM

1

.039

1/16″

.0625

1.59

2

.079

3

.118

1/8″

.125

3.18

4

.157

5

.197

3/16″

.1875

4.76

6

.236

1/4″

.250

6.35

7

.276

8

.315

5/16″

.3125

7.94

9

.354

10

.394

3/8″

.375

9.53

11

.433

7/16″

.4375

11.11

12

.472

13

.512

1/2″

.500

12.70

14

.551

9/16″

.5625

14.29

15

.591

16

.630

5/8″

.625

15.88

17

.669

11/16″

.6875

17.46

18

.709

19

.748

3/4″

.750

19.05

20

.787

21

.827

13/16″

.8125

20.64

22

.866

7/8″

.875

22.23

23

.906

24

.945

15/16″

.9375

23.81

25

.984

1″

1.00

25.40

26

1.024

27

1.063

28

1.102

1 1/8″

1.13

28.70

29

1.142

30

1.181

1 1/4″

1.25

31.75

35

1.378

1 3/8″

1.375

34.93

40

1.575

1 1/2″

1.50

38.10

45

1.772

1 3/4″

1.75

44.45

50

1.969

2″

2.00

50.80

55

2.165

60

2.362

65

2.559

2 1/2″

2.50

63.50

70

2.756

75

2.953

80

3.150

3″

3.00

76.20

85

3.346

90

3.543

3 1/2″

3.50

88.90

95

3.740

100

3.937

4″

4.00

101.60

Are you an aspiring wood nerd?

The poster, Worldwide Woods, Ranked by Hardness, should be required reading for anyone enrolled in the school of wood nerdery. I have amassed over 500 wood species on a single poster, arranged into eight major geographic regions, with each wood sorted and ranked according to its Janka hardness. Each wood has been meticulously documented and photographed, listed with its Janka hardness value (in lbf) and geographic and global hardness rankings. Consider this: the venerable Red Oak (Quercus rubra) sits at only #33 in North America and #278 worldwide for hardness! Aspiring wood nerds be advised: your syllabus may be calling for Worldwide Woods as part of your next assignment!