Board Foot Calculator
Work out the board feet in a piece of lumber — and the total for a whole order — from its thickness, width and length, with an optional price per board foot.
Board Foot Calculator
Add boards to build a shopping list with running totals.
Runs in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded or stored.
Scratchpad auto-saved
How it works — in four simple steps
No signup and nothing to install — it all runs in your browser.
Enter the board's dimensions
Type the thickness and width in inches and the length in feet.
Add a quantity
Set how many identical boards you're buying to total the order.
Add a price (optional)
Enter the price per board foot to see the total cost.
Read the board feet
See the board feet per board, the total, and the cost if you added a price.
Board feet = thickness (in) × width (in) × length (ft) ÷ 12. Hardwood is usually priced on nominal (rough) size.
Features
Board feet from any dimensions
Enter thickness, width and length and get the exact board-foot volume using the standard 1×12×12 = 144 cubic-inch definition.
Whole-order totals
Add a quantity to total up a full lumber order, not just a single board.
Optional cost
Enter a price per board foot and see the total cost — handy for comparing hardwood quotes.
Instant and private
It recalculates as you type and runs entirely in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
About the Board Foot Calculator
A board foot is the standard unit for buying and pricing hardwood lumber. It's a measure of volume: one board foot equals 144 cubic inches of wood — the amount in a piece 1 inch thick, 12 inches wide and 12 inches long. Crucially, it's about volume, not surface area, so thickness matters.
The formula this calculator uses is board feet = thickness(in) × width(in) × length(ft) ÷ 12. So a 1×6 board that's 8 feet long is 1 × 6 × 8 ÷ 12 = 4 board feet, and a 2×4 at 8 feet is 1 × 4 × 8 ÷ 12 × 2 = 5.33 board feet. Enter your dimensions, a quantity for a whole order, and an optional price per board foot to get the total cost.
For rough-sawn hardwood, use the nominal (as-sold) thickness — often quoted in quarters, like 4/4 for 1 inch or 8/4 for 2 inches. Everything is calculated in your browser.