Nominal or rough-sawn hardwood · species weight · multi-board cut list
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Standard S4S dry dimensional lumber sizing (actual size is smaller than the nominal call-out).
Rough-sawn hardwood is priced & milled from the sawn thickness (quarters) — width is usually random/as-sawn, so enter it directly.
Air-dried density at ~12% moisture content, used to estimate order weight for shipping/handling.
Prefilled with an average mixed-species market rate — edit to match your supplier’s quote.
Enter a valid length and dimensions before adding this board.
Cut List / Bill of Materials (0 items)
Total Board Feet Needed (with waste allowance)
0.0board ft
0.0 bf raw cut · add boards to your list to see totals
Real-World Delivery Equivalents
Cut List / Take-Off Sheet
| Board | Size | Qty | Board Ft | Cost |
|---|
Estimates are approximate and based on standard board-foot formulas and average species densities. Always confirm quantities, grade, and moisture content with your lumber supplier before ordering.
QuickTonnage's board foot calculator turns lumber dimensions into board feet, weight, and total cost whether you're pricing framing lumber or building a hardwood cut list.
A "2x4" isn't actually 2 inches by 4 inches. That's the nominal size, the name the piece is sold under. Once it's dried and planed smooth (S4S), the actual size comes out smaller, usually 1.5″ by 3.5″. This gap between nominal and actual size is the single biggest source of board foot errors, because which one you use changes the answer.
Framing and construction lumber is billed by its nominal size. A 2x4x8, for example, is priced as 5.33 board feet (2 × 4 × 8 ÷ 12), even though the wood itself only measures 3.5 board feet. Hardwood and rough-sawn lumber work the other way: it's priced by its actual sawn thickness, using the quarter system (4/4 = 1″, 8/4 = 2″), because there's no standard "nominal" size to round to.
| Nominal Size | Actual Size | Board Feet (8 ft length) |
|---|---|---|
| 2x4 | 1.5″ × 3.5″ | 5.33 bf (nominal) / 3.50 bf (actual) |
| 2x6 | 1.5″ × 5.5″ | 8.00 bf (nominal) / 5.50 bf (actual) |
| 2x8 | 1.5″ × 7.25″ | 10.67 bf (nominal) / 7.25 bf (actual) |
| 4x4 | 3.5″ × 3.5″ | 10.67 bf (nominal) / 8.17 bf (actual) |
QuickTonnage's calculator applies this automatically: pick Nominal mode and it bills board footage the way your lumberyard actually invoices it, while still using the real dressed size to calculate weight. Switch to Rough-Sawn mode for hardwood, and it uses actual thickness throughout, the way hardwood is genuinely priced.
A board foot is a unit of lumber volume equal to a piece of wood 12 inches long, 12 inches wide, and 1 inch thick 144 cubic inches. It's the standard unit lumberyards use to price and sell wood.
Multiply thickness (inches) × width (inches) × length (feet), then divide by 12. For nominal dimension lumber, use the nominal size; for hardwood, use the actual sawn thickness.
5.33 board feet, using the nominal 2″ × 4″ size that lumberyards bill against. Using the actual dressed size (1.5″ × 3.5″) instead gives 3.5 board feet the real physical volume, but not what you'll be charged for.
It depends on what you're doing. Checking a supplier's quote or invoice: use nominal. Estimating real material weight or rough-sawn hardwood: use actual sawn thickness.
MBF stands for "thousand board feet" a bulk pricing unit used for large lumber orders, like a full truckload or a sawmill run.
No. A square foot measures area with no thickness accounted for. A board foot measures volume, factoring in thickness so a thicker board covers fewer board feet per square foot of surface than a thin one.