Lumber & plywood
Board Feet, Lumber Sizes and Plywood
How much wood you are buying and what size it really is. The board foot calculator turns a stack of boards into board feet, cost and waste. The size charts give the actual dimensions behind the names on the rack, hardwood thicknesses in quarters, and plywood thicknesses, sheet sizes and grades, including Baltic birch.
These numbers come from the published standards and grading rules themselves: the American softwood lumber standard, the hardwood grading rules and the plywood standards, restated in our own words. Where two copies of a standard agree, that is enough; where they disagree, the page shows both. Lumber prices are left out on purpose, since there is no source we could cite and keep current.
Calculators
- Board foot calculatorBoard feet for a stack of lumber: several sizes at once, cost per board foot, overage, metric, and the hardwood yard’s NHLA tally rules.
- Log board feet calculatorBoard feet in a log by the Doyle, Scribner Decimal C and International 1/4-inch log rules, side by side, from the small-end diameter and length.
Reference
- Lumber sizes chartNominal vs actual lumber sizes from the US softwood standard PS 20-25: boards, 2x lumber and timbers, dry and green, in inches and mm.
- 1x2 actual sizeA 1x2 is 3/4 × 1-1/2 in dry (19 × 38 mm) and 13/16 × 1-9/16 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- 1x3 actual sizeA 1x3 is 3/4 × 2-1/2 in dry (19 × 64 mm) and 13/16 × 2-9/16 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- 1x4 actual sizeA 1x4 is 3/4 × 3-1/2 in dry (19 × 89 mm) and 13/16 × 3-9/16 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- 1x6 actual sizeA 1x6 is 3/4 × 5-1/2 in dry (19 × 140 mm) and 13/16 × 5-5/8 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- 1x8 actual sizeA 1x8 is 3/4 × 7-1/4 in dry (19 × 184 mm) and 13/16 × 7-1/2 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- 1x10 actual sizeA 1x10 is 3/4 × 9-1/4 in dry (19 × 235 mm) and 13/16 × 9-1/2 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- 1x12 actual sizeA 1x12 is 3/4 × 11-1/4 in dry (19 × 286 mm) and 13/16 × 11-1/2 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- 5/4x6 actual sizeA 5/4x6 is 1 × 5-1/2 in dry (25 × 140 mm) and 1-1/16 × 5-5/8 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- 2x2 actual sizeA 2x2 is 1-1/2 × 1-1/2 in dry (38 × 38 mm) and 1-9/16 × 1-9/16 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- 2x3 actual sizeA 2x3 is 1-1/2 × 2-1/2 in dry (38 × 64 mm) and 1-9/16 × 2-9/16 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- 2x4 actual sizeA 2x4 is 1-1/2 × 3-1/2 in dry (38 × 89 mm) and 1-9/16 × 3-9/16 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- 2x6 actual sizeA 2x6 is 1-1/2 × 5-1/2 in dry (38 × 140 mm) and 1-9/16 × 5-5/8 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- 2x8 actual sizeA 2x8 is 1-1/2 × 7-1/4 in dry (38 × 184 mm) and 1-9/16 × 7-1/2 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- 2x10 actual sizeA 2x10 is 1-1/2 × 9-1/4 in dry (38 × 235 mm) and 1-9/16 × 9-1/2 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- 2x12 actual sizeA 2x12 is 1-1/2 × 11-1/4 in dry (38 × 286 mm) and 1-9/16 × 11-1/2 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- 4x4 actual sizeA 4x4 is 3-1/2 × 3-1/2 in dry (89 × 89 mm) and 3-9/16 × 3-9/16 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- 4x6 actual sizeA 4x6 is 3-1/2 × 5-1/2 in dry (89 × 140 mm) and 3-9/16 × 5-5/8 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- 6x6 actual sizeA 6x6 is 5-1/2 × 5-1/2 in dry (140 × 140 mm) and 5-1/2 × 5-1/2 in green, per lumber standard PS 20-25. Board feet per foot too.
- Hardwood lumber thicknessHardwood thickness in quarters, 4/4 to 16/4: the rough size you pay for and the standard surfaced (S2S) size, from the NHLA grading rules.
- 4/4 lumber4/4 hardwood is 1 in thick rough and 13/16 in surfaced two sides under the NHLA grading rules, and it is billed by the board foot at 1 in.
- 5/4 lumber5/4 hardwood is 1-1/4 in thick rough and 1-1/16 in surfaced two sides under the NHLA grading rules, and it is billed by the board foot at 1-1/4 in.
- 6/4 lumber6/4 hardwood is 1-1/2 in thick rough and 1-5/16 in surfaced two sides under the NHLA grading rules, and it is billed by the board foot at 1-1/2 in.
- 8/4 lumber8/4 hardwood is 2 in thick rough and 1-3/4 in surfaced two sides under the NHLA grading rules, and it is billed by the board foot at 2 in.
- Plywood thickness chartPlywood thickness categories (23/32, 3/4 and the rest) and the range each may measure under standard PS 1-22, sanded and unsanded, in inches and mm.
- Plywood sheet sizesPlywood sheet sizes: the 4 × 8 ft panel, how far short a sheet may run under PS 1-22, “sized for spacing” panels, and 5 × 5 ft Baltic birch.
- Plywood gradesPlywood grades explained: PS 1 veneer grades N, A, B, C and D, what CDX means, and the AA to E face and 1 to 4 back grades of hardwood plywood.
- Baltic birch plywoodBaltic birch plywood: metric thicknesses and their inch sizes, ply counts, the 5 × 5 ft sheet, and what B/BB and BB/BB mean, from dealers’ listings.
Other sections
- WoodSpecies and wood types: hardness, weight, movement, color and what each is good for.
- FinishingFinishes, glues and fillers: dry and cure times, which to use, and how they compare.
- JoineryJoints and how to size them: dovetails, mortise and tenon, rabbets, dadoes and more.
- Tools & machinesSetup and choice for the table saw, miter saw, router, planer, jointer, lathe and CNC.
- Fasteners & drillingScrew sizes, pilot and clearance holes, countersinks and drill bit sizes.