Board Feet Calculator

A volume of timber one foot square by one inch thick. Calculate it as thickness in inches times width in inches times length in feet, divided by twelve.

Because timber is priced on the size before dressing. A nominal 2×4 measures about 38 × 89 mm once planed, and using the actual size undercounts by around 25% — which is not how it is sold.

One board foot is about 0.00236 cubic metres. Multiply the board feet by that figure, or divide by roughly 424.

Rarely — most of the world buys timber by the linear metre or by cubic metre for bulk. Board feet persist in North American hardwood trading in particular.

By its actual dimensions, since it has not been dressed. That is why rough sawn stock at a nominal size is genuinely larger than the planed equivalent and priced accordingly.

Thickness in quarters of an inch, so 4/4 is one inch and 8/4 is two. It is the standard notation in hardwood trading and it refers to the rough thickness before surfacing.

Because it is planed down from the rough sawn nominal size, losing about 12 mm on each dimension. It is still sold as a 2×4 because that is the size it was cut at.

Linear feet is simply the total length regardless of section, used for trim and anything bought by the length. Board feet is a volume and is used where the section varies.

A stacked volume of 128 cubic feet, conventionally 4 by 4 by 8 feet. A face cord or rick is one stack of that width and much less wood, which is a common way firewood is oversold.

Yes — timber shrinks across the grain as it dries, typically several percent from green to kiln dried. That is why timber is sold at a stated moisture content and why it moves after installation.

Cut with the growth rings roughly perpendicular to the face, which makes it far more dimensionally stable across its width. It yields less from a log and costs correspondingly more.

It varies enormously by species, grade and market, and hardwood prices move considerably year to year. Check a current supplier rather than a remembered figure.