Knothole Sawmill
Turning your logs into lumber at your location
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Calculating Board Feet of Lumber
Hardwood lumber that we use 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 piece of lumber below, the measurement "A" would be the thickness in inches , measurement "B" the width in inches, and measurement "C" the length in feet .
Hardwood lumber that we use 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 piece of lumber 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 or
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' times "B" times "C" divided by 12 or
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.
Learn more about how to scale your logs with the Scribner Log Scale, the Doyle Log Scale and the
International Log Scale on our Log Scale page.
Here is a simple scale to help find the board foot content of common lumber sizes.