The first table is one board of common lumber at four lengths. The second is an 8 ft board of hardwood, by thickness in quarters and by width.
Lumber by the board
| Board | 8 ft | 10 ft | 12 ft | 16 ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 × 4 | 2.67 | 3.33 | 4.00 | 5.33 |
| 1 × 6 | 4.00 | 5.00 | 6.00 | 8.00 |
| 1 × 8 | 5.33 | 6.67 | 8.00 | 10.67 |
| 1 × 10 | 6.67 | 8.33 | 10.00 | 13.33 |
| 1 × 12 | 8.00 | 10.00 | 12.00 | 16.00 |
| 2 × 4 | 5.33 | 6.67 | 8.00 | 10.67 |
| 2 × 6 | 8.00 | 10.00 | 12.00 | 16.00 |
| 2 × 8 | 10.67 | 13.33 | 16.00 | 21.33 |
| 2 × 10 | 13.33 | 16.67 | 20.00 | 26.67 |
| 2 × 12 | 16.00 | 20.00 | 24.00 | 32.00 |
| 4 × 4 | 10.67 | 13.33 | 16.00 | 21.33 |
| 6 × 6 | 24.00 | 30.00 | 36.00 | 48.00 |
Hardwood, 8 ft boards
| Thickness | 4" wide | 6" wide | 8" wide | 10" wide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/4 | 2.67 | 4.00 | 5.33 | 6.67 |
| 5/4 | 3.33 | 5.00 | 6.67 | 8.33 |
| 6/4 | 4.00 | 6.00 | 8.00 | 10.00 |
| 8/4 | 5.33 | 8.00 | 10.67 | 13.33 |
| 12/4 | 8.00 | 12.00 | 16.00 | 20.00 |
How this is worked out
Thickness in inches times width in inches times length in inches, divided by 144. A board 1 inch thick, 12 wide and 12 long is one board foot.
It's figured on the nominal size. A 4/4 board planes down to about 13/16, but you paid for a full inch, so that's what gets counted. Handyman Calc only takes the nominal thickness for that reason.
Hardwood is sold in quarters of an inch. 4/4 is 1 inch, 5/4 is 1 1/4 and 8/4 is 2. For a random width board, measure the actual width and use the closest column, or put the real width into the app.
The answers are rounded to two places. A yard prices the fraction, not the whole number.
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Got a stack of mixed boards and a price per board foot? Handyman Calc totals the board feet and the cost. Try Handyman Calc free in your browser. There's nothing to install and no account.
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The chart is on one page in the printable PDF, US Letter size.
More charts: how many bags of concrete a slab takes, how many sheets of drywall a room takes, a fraction to decimal chart for inches, how much paint a room takes, how much mulch a bed takes, a roof pitch chart, how many steps a rise takes and the diagonal that squares a frame.
To work out your own sizes, there's a material estimator spreadsheet, and more on the Handyman Calc page.