Lumber Estimater

[tody Brock]

How do you estimate how much lumber you will need for a project? Is there some good free software out there somewhere?

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, first thing is to make a cutting list showing the final size of the pieces.

Then you calculate how large of a piece of wood each piece requires.

For example, you want a final size of 40 inches long, 5 inches wide and 3/4 inches thick.

That would require a rough piece 48" X 1" X 6".

That works out to 288 cubic inches, or 2 board feet. (1 BF = 144 cubic inches).

So you need 2 board feet of 4/4 material 6 inches wide.

Note that as wood gets thicker, or wider, it becomes more expensive, so calculate your various thicknesses together to obtain a total for each thickness.

I find that I use 40% to 100% more material than is required for the final project.

Regards, Rod.

[Keith Stephens]

Try this Project Planner (http://www.woodworkerssource.com/project_planner.php). Hope this helps.

Keith