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Joe Fisher
04-27-2006, 12:30 PM
Good morning, all. In addition to woodworking, I do quite a bit of computer programming. I wanted to share with you a program I recently wrote.

I originally wrote it while surfing the 'Bay for turning blanks, and was curious about how much I was paying per board foot. This little program calculates that and more.

It's donation-ware, so you're free to use it as you please for as long as you want. I will periodically post new versions, so feel free to PM me if you want to get notified of them. I'll also post up here.

Here's the feature list:


Calculate board feet from inches or feet dimensions.
Maintain a database of your favorite woods and per bdFt prices.
Total price calculation from cost per board foot.
Reverse price calculation: total cost to cost per board foot
Stay-on-top pushpin to make it easier to use while surfing.
The reverse calc is scary. Let's say you pay $10 for that 1x1x8" pen blank. That works out to only $180.00 per board foot :)

My programs website (http://www.shiny-technologies.com/programs.php)

Enjoy!

-Joe

Brett Baldwin
04-27-2006, 1:44 PM
$180 /bf...yikes! That does sound like a handy program. It may be better not knowing though if you get results like that. I wonder what the price/bf would be if you calculated the actual yield from the boards you buy.

Bob Noles
04-27-2006, 2:16 PM
John,

Thanks for the reverse upgrade and again thanks for the program a 2nd time.

btw..... welcome to the Creek

Joe Fisher
04-27-2006, 2:33 PM
Thanks for the welcome :) Looks like a very diverse crowd here. I'm looking forward to some good interaction.

-Joe

Larry Fox
04-27-2006, 4:50 PM
Joe, great idea and thanks for making it available. I do the same type of thing with an Excel spreadsheet that I wrote. One additional feature that I might suggest (and that I find helpful in my sheet) is a calculation that takes into consideration recomended wastage. For example, the lumber yard that I use recommends something like 30% waste for cherry. When the sheet I use does calcualtions it shows actual and "grossed up" to include the waste.