Get in touch

Calculators

These are the shop calculators I use for solid lumber, plywood, seasonal movement, finish, and the apron blanks between the legs.

Type fractions the way you say them: 3/4, 1 1/2, 13/16, or 4/4. Coverage rates and lumber prices are starters. Swap in the figure from your yard or the can in your hand.

Board feet

Solid lumber is sold by the board foot. One board foot is 144 cubic inches: 1 inch thick, 12 inches wide, and 12 inches long. Lumber Yards bill the rough thickness, so a part that finishes at 3/4 inch comes out of 4/4 stock. The waste percent covers kerf, snipe, and the board you should have left at the yard.

Shop calculator

Board Foot Bench

Add up every part in the project. Board feet, a waste allowance, and a lumber estimate — before you go to the yard.

Starter prices are rough retail. Type the number your yard quoted. Sizes take fractions: 3/4, 1 1/2, 13/16, 8/4.

Cut list 5 parts

2.44 bd ft

2.72 bd ft 0.68 bd ft each

1.00 bd ft 0.50 bd ft each

0.67 bd ft 0.33 bd ft each

0.50 bd ft

Net

7.33 bd ft

With waste

8.80 bd ft

Order

9 bd ft

Estimated cost

$126.00

Cost uses the order quantity. 9 board feet is 9 square feet of 4/4 (1″) lumber.

How board feet are figured

Inches: thickness × width × length × qty ÷ 144

Feet: thickness × width × length × qty ÷ 12

One board foot is 144 cubic inches — a board 1″ thick, 12″ wide, and 12″ long.

Quarters are the hardwood mill’s thickness. 4/4 is 1″, 5/4 is 1¼″, 6/4 is 1½″, 8/4 is 2″, and 12/4 is 3″. Buy the rough size, not the finished size: a part that finishes at ¾″ usually comes out of 4/4, and the yard bills the 4/4.

  • The waste percent covers kerf, snipe, defects, and offcuts. 15% is lean. 20–30% is more honest when you are matching grain.
  • Dimensional softwood uses the nominal size too. A 2×4×8′ is 5.33 board feet: 2 × 4 × 8 ÷ 12. Set length to feet and enter 2, 4, and 8.
  • Plywood and other sheet goods are not sold by the board foot.
  • You can type 3/4, 1-1/2, 13/16, 8′ 6″, or 1½. A foot or inch mark overrides the length unit.

Sheet goods

Plywood and sheet goods

Nests a cut list onto the sheet and shows the optimistic area count beside it. Length stays along the sheet unless you allow rotation. Kerf is added to every part.

Order

1 sheet

By area

0.51 sheet

Across the grain

Wood movement

How much a panel grows or shrinks across the width when the moisture changes. Flat-sawn uses the tangential coefficient. Quarter-sawn uses a smaller radial estimate.

Movement

0.39 in

Nearest 16th

3/8″

Cans and coats

Finish coverage

Faces times coats, then round up to the next can. Rates are starters for bare face grain. End grain and open oak drink more.

Surface

36.00 sq ft

Buy

1 liter

Between the legs

Table apron blanks

Measure outside of leg to outside of leg, not the top. The blank is the opening plus a tenon on each end.

Long blank

20 in × 2

Short blank

14 in × 2