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Board Feet and Dimensional Calculators

Here is an assortment of board feet calculators to help you figure out how much lumber to buy for your woodworking projects. Most of these are online utilities although there a couple standalone programs that run on PC's and Macs, and even a Palm device. This page also includes several programs for computing moisture-related shrinkage and expansion of wood (including our very own Shrinkulator), plus a couple programs for converting between inch/metric and such.

Board Calc
A Palm OS/ Windows PC calculator specifically for woodworkers. It does conversions between metric and imperial units, decimal and fractions, board feet and areas/volumes, and many others. Also includes a log weight/yield estimator and a shrinkage calculator. By Joseph Diederichs.

Board Foot Calculator Free
Excel spreadsheet which calculates board feet given width and length. By David Lykins.

BoardFoot Calculator
Mac software that computes board feet and cost of lumber for a project. Also creates exportable lumber shopping list and has integrated database for defining frequently used woods. MacWoodworking. Macintosh.

Board Foot Calculator
Calculates board feet, cubic meters, area covered in square feet/meters by laying out the lumber on its wide face (as in a deck with no gaps or siding with no overlap), and cubic meters per thousand board feet. Canadian Wood Council. Online utility.

Board Foot Calculator
A simple calculator to help customers figure out how much lumber to buy. The Hardwood Store of North Carolina. Online utility.

Board Foot Calculator
Given thickness, width, and length, it computes board feet, cubic inches, and cubic centimeters. Hobbywoods.com. Online utility.

Board Foot Calculator
Just enter quantity, board width, length, and thickness and get back board feet. Old Woodworking Machines. Online utility.

Board Foot Calculator
Your basic board foot calculator. Enter length, width, thickness and get back board feet. Sawdust and Shavings. Online utility.

Board Foot Calculator
Enter nominal thickness, nominal width, length, number of boards, and price per board, and get back board feet and cost. University of Missouri. Online utility.

Board Foot Calculator
Bare bones page containing a simple board foot calculator. Inputs are board length, width, and thickness. West Wind Hardwoods. Online utility.

Board Feet Chart
An easy-to-read chart that lists board feet given wood thickness and width. (assumes length is 1 ft). Logan Lumber. Online.

Kayak Wood Strip Calculator
Calculates the number of strips, total strip length, and estimated cost for building a wooden kayak from bead and cove cedar strips. The calculations are valid only for 1/4" thickness, 1/8" radius bead & cove strips. One Ocean Kayaks. Online utility.

MasterCarpenter
A tool for carpenters and woodworkers. It computes board feet, general spacing, stair layout, window trim angles, and general triangle solutions. Renaissance Software. Windows.

Palm Pilot Board Foot Calculator
Computes board feet for single boards or entire projects. When you go to buy materials, you can input the size boards available, and it tells you how many to buy! George Ziegler. Palm Pilot.

The Tabulator
A board foot calculator and lumber material list generator all in one. Computes board feet by species, total board feet, cost by species, and total cost; provides options for resawing, a waste factor, and customization of output results. WoodBin. Online utility.

Conversion Calculators

Inch2Metric
Downloadable calculator to convert from inches to millimeters. Courtesy of Peter Havel.

WoodCalc Free
A handy utility designed specifically with the woodworker in mind. Performs simple operations on fractional and/or decimal data and converts between data formats. Mike Hankey. Windows.

Wood Dimensional Change Calculators

Shrinkulator
Helps you estimate dimensional changes in wood, either shrinkage or expansion, based on changes in the wood's moisture content. It is applicable to wood whose moisture content is at or below the fiber saturation point (about 28%). WoodBin. Online utility.

Board Calc
Computes wood shrinkage according to relative humidty and wood species, either radial or tangential change. Also does many other calculations including board feet and log yields. By Joseph Diederichs. Palm OS/ Windows.

DimensionCalc
A wood detailing tool to help professional designers estimate and account for dimensional change in new building construction. Canadian Wood Council. Online utility.

Wood Movement Calculator "Donation-ware"
Computes lumber dimensions at specified moisture contents so you can better allow for wood movement in your furniture designs. E.C. Aumiller. Windows.

Wood Movement Calculator Free
Performs four different types of calculations with respect to wood shrinkage. And the download page contains lots of meaty technical info about wood shrinkage/expansion. By Larry Marker. Windows.

Wood Shrinkage Calculator
Computes shrinkage across the width of a board given species, initial width, initial and final moisture content and type of lumber - flatsawn or radial cut. WoodWeb. Online utility.

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