Hardwood vs Plywood: Which to Use?
Solid hardwood and plywood compared: wood movement, sizes, edges, strength and the furniture parts each one suits.
DIY Woodworking & Workshop Project Tools Measure twice, cut once
Free woodworking calculators and charts: board feet, lumber cost, plywood sheets, stain coverage, nominal vs actual lumber sizes and wood screw sizes.
- Exact board feetper board and in total
- Reference chartslumber sizes, screws, species
- Project-ready cut listssheets and boards to buy
Popular calculators
View all calculators-
Board Foot Calculator
Calculate board feet for one board or a stack, from thickness in quarters, width and length, with the cost at your price per board foot.
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Lumber Cost Calculator
Work out how many pieces of dimensional lumber to buy with extra for defects, what they cost and the price per board foot.
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Plywood Sheet Calculator
Find out how many sheets of plywood a set of identical parts needs, how many parts fit on a sheet and how much of the sheet is used.
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Stain Coverage Calculator
Calculate how much stain or clear finish a project needs in quarts and ounces from its size, coats and the coverage on the label.
Board Foot Calculator
Board feet for one board: thickness × width × length
Categories
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Lumber Calculators
Board feet, lumber cost and plywood sheets — how much wood to buy.
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Finishing
Stain and finish coverage — how much to buy for a project.
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Wood Reference
Lumber sizes, screw sizes and wood species data in one place.
Latest projects & guides
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Lumber Calculators How to Calculate Board Feet
What a board foot is, how to measure rough hardwood and dimensional lumber, and how to total a stack of random-width boards.
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Wood Reference Lumber Dimensions Chart
Nominal vs actual sizes of dimensional lumber from 1x2 to 6x6 in inches and millimeters, plus hardwood thickness in quarters.
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Finishing How Much Stain Do I Need?
How to estimate stain and clear finish for a woodworking project: surface area, coverage on the label, coats and extra.
Comparisons
Oil-Based vs Water-Based Stain
Oil-based and water-based wood stain compared: working time, drying, grain raising, cleanup and the projects each suits.
How we calculate
- Exact board feet, per board and in total
- Any price we show carries its date and basis
- Wood data from the USDA Wood Handbook and published US standards
New on the site
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CalculatorBoard Foot Calculator
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CalculatorLumber Cost Calculator
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CalculatorPlywood Sheet Calculator
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CalculatorStain Coverage Calculator
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- Free, no sign-upevery calculator and chart
- US units: in, ft, bffractions you can read
- Sourced wood dataUSDA Wood Handbook and US standards
- Open formulasevery result explained
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate board feet?
Multiply thickness in inches by width in inches by length in feet and divide by 12. A 4/4 board 6 in wide and 8 ft long is 1 × 6 × 8 ÷ 12 = 4 board feet. The board foot calculator does it for any number of boards.
What is the difference between nominal and actual lumber size?
The nominal size is the name, the actual size is what you get after drying and planing. A 2x4 measures 1-1/2 × 3-1/2 in and a 1x6 measures 3/4 × 5-1/2 in under the American Softwood Lumber Standard.
What do 4/4 and 8/4 mean?
Hardwood thickness in quarters of an inch, measured rough: 4/4 is 1 in, 5/4 is 1-1/4 in, 6/4 is 1-1/2 in and 8/4 is 2 in. Board feet are counted on that rough thickness, even after the board is surfaced.
Where do the lumber prices come from?
From you: the calculators use the price per board foot or per piece you enter from your lumberyard. Any price shown on a species page is labeled as an example or carries its source and date.
How much extra lumber should I buy?
It depends on the stock and the project. Straight dimensional lumber for a simple frame needs little extra; rough hardwood for furniture loses more to defects, planing and grain matching — set your own allowance in the lumber cost calculator.
Is the result accurate enough for a cut list?
The math is exact for the sizes you enter. A real cut list also depends on knots, checks, grain direction and saw kerf, so lay out the parts on the actual boards before you cut.