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Hands to Thou (hh to thou) Converter

1 hh = 4,000 thou

1 Hand equals 4,000 Thou (1 hh = 4,000 thou). Convert Hands to Thou with formula, table, and examples.

One hand equals exactly 4,000 thou (mils). Since 1 hand = 4 inches and 1 inch = 1,000 thou, multiply 4 by 1,000. The hand measures horse height; the thou measures coatings, wire gauges, and PCB traces. They never overlap in practice.

How to Convert Hands to Thou

thou = hh × 4,000
Multiply the value in Hands by 4,000
  1. Take your value in Hands
  2. Multiply by 4,000
  3. Read the result in Thou

Common Hands to Thou Conversions

Hands (hh) Thou (thou) Status
0.01 hh 40 thou
0.05 hh 200 thou
0.1 hh 400 thou
0.25 hh 1,000 thou
0.5 hh 2,000 thou
1 hh 4,000 thou
2 hh 8,000 thou
5 hh 20,000 thou
10 hh 40,000 thou
14 hh 56,000 thou
17 hh 68,000 thou
50 hh 200,000 thou
100 hh 400,000 thou

Good to Know About Hands to Thou Conversion

A farrier works at the intersection of hands and thou: the horse is 16 hands, the horseshoe nail is 50 thou in diameter. Both measurements matter for the same job but at wildly different scales.

Hands to Thou: What You Need to Know

A hand is 4,000 thou. A human hair at 3 thou is 0.00075 hands. Horseshoe coating thickness might be 10-20 thou, while the horse wearing the shoe is measured in hands. The scales coexist in farrier work but are never directly compared.

What is a Hand? hh

Exactly 4 inches (10.16 cm). The standard unit for measuring the height of horses, measured from the ground to the withers.

Imperial horse height measurement equestrian
Learn more about Hand →

What is a Thou? thou

One thousandth of an inch (0.0254 mm). Also called a mil in the US. Used in engineering, manufacturing, and for measuring thin materials like plastic film.

Imperial engineering plastic film thickness wire gauges
Learn more about Thou →

Going the other way? Use our Thou to Hands converter.

Hands to Thou FAQ

  • One hand contains exactly 4,000 thou (mils). Since 1 hand = 4 inches and 1 inch = 1,000 thou.

  • Multiply the hand value by 4,000. For example, 16 hands = 64,000 thou.

  • Not directly. Farriers might specify horseshoe coating in thou and horse height in hands, but nobody converts between them.

Non-Frequently Asked Questions About Hands to Thou

Questions nobody should ask - but someone did.

  • Horseshoe steel is about 8 mm = 315 thou thick. In hands, that is 0.0031 hands. The steel between a horse's hoof and the ground is about 3 thousandths of a hand thick. It protects 16 hands of horse using 0.003 hands of metal. Engineering efficiency at its finest.

  • A horsehair is about 75 micrometers = 2.95 thou in diameter. So a horsehair is about 3 thou, or 0.003 inches. In hands, a horsehair is 0.00074 hands across. The material used in violin bows is less than 1/1,000 of the unit used to measure the animal it came from.

  • Farriers think in both. The horse is 16 hands. The horseshoe nail is 50 thou in diameter. The nail bed depth is about 20 thou. The shoe thickness is 315 thou. A farrier works at thou precision on a hands-scale animal. It is precision engineering on a living platform.

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Need the reverse? Use our Thou to Hands converter. See all Length & Distance converters.