Calculating Board Feet of Lumber
A board foot is defined as being 1 inch thick by 12 inches wide by 12 inches long. This equates to 144 cubic inches.
A board that is 2 inch thick by 6 inches wide by 12 inches long would be 1 board foot.
A board that is 2 inch thick by 12 inches wide by 12 inches long would be 2 board feet.
Since my sawmill uses a thin kerf blade the actual lumber yield will be higher than with a commercial or circular sawmill blade. The result is more useable lumber from your logs.
Lumber that is commonly used for framing, fencing, cabinetry and furniture is sold by the board foot. This is a measurement that is constant through all
thicknesses of lumber, rather than applying to "one-by", "two-by", etc.
In the example below, the measurement "A" would be the thickness in inches , measurement "B" the width in inches, and measurement "C" the length in
feet.
Thus, the formula for calculating the board feet of lumber in our example would be..................
“A” times "B" times "C" divided by 12
(Note: “A” and "B" dimensions are in inches and
"C" is in feet in this calculation)
For example if the piece if lumber was
3 inches thick (A)
8 inches wide (B)
10 feet long (C), we would have
3 x 8 x 10 divided by 12 = 20 board feet.
A simple table to find the board feet of common lumber sizes is listed below
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