Work out timber board feet instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.
A board foot is a volume of 144 cubic inches, one inch thick by twelve inches square. Working in mixed units, board feet per piece is thickness in inches times width in inches times length in feet, divided by twelve. It is the standard unit for hardwood pricing in North America.
Board feet
bd ft = thickness in x width in x length ft / 12
Metric
m³ = board feet x 0.00236
bd ft = thickness in x width in x length ft / 12. A board foot is a volume of 144 cubic inches, one inch thick by twelve inches square.
Rough sawn size, before planing. A nominal two by six is quoted as 2 x 6 for board feet even though it dresses to about 1.5 by 5.5 inches.
This calculator takes 4 inputs: Thickness, Width, Length, Number of pieces. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic worked example — replace them with your own site or project figures.