Woodworking Calculators
Board Foot Calculator
Calculate board feet per board and total board feet for an order from thickness, width, length, and quantity.
Dado Blade Shim Calculator
Calculate how many shims are needed with a stacked dado blade set to achieve a target dado width.
Dovetail Spacing Calculator
Calculate even baseline spacing for dovetail joint pins and tails based on board width and number of pins.
Lumber Cost Calculator
Calculate total lumber cost from known board feet, or from raw thickness, width, length, and quantity dimensions.
Miter Angle Calculator
Calculate the miter saw angle setting and full corner angle for any regular polygon frame from its number of sides.
Plywood Sheet Calculator
Calculate how many standard 4x8 or 1.22x2.44m plywood sheets a project needs from its area and a waste allowance.
Router Bit Speed Calculator
Calculate recommended router speed in RPM based on bit diameter and target surface cutting speed.
Sanding Grit Progression Calculator
Get the recommended step-by-step sandpaper grit progression between a starting and ending grit for smooth results.
Staircase Stringer Calculator
Calculate the number of risers and exact even riser height needed for a staircase based on total rise.
Table Leg Angle Calculator
Calculate the splay angle and actual slanted leg length for angled table or chair legs from offset and leg length.
Table Saw Crosscut Capacity Calculator
Calculate a table saw blade's realistic maximum cutting depth based on blade diameter and arbor diameter.
Veneer Yield Calculator
Estimate how many veneer sheets can be sliced from a log based on log diameter, veneer thickness, and saw kerf loss.
Wood Cutting Calculator
Calculate how many pieces a board yields at a target cut length, accounting for saw blade kerf width and leftover material.
Wood Finish Coverage Calculator
Calculate how many gallons of finish are needed to cover a surface area at a given number of coats.
Wood Finish Drying Time Calculator
Calculate adjusted wood finish drying time accounting for shop temperature and humidity relative to standard label conditions.
Wood Joint Strength Calculator
Compare relative strength estimates for wood joint types like mortise and tenon, dovetail, and biscuit across different wood species.
Wood Moisture Content Calculator
Calculate wood moisture content percentage from a sample's wet weight and oven-dry weight using the standard formula.
Wood Movement Gap Calculator
Calculate the recommended expansion gap for a solid wood panel based on width, wood movement rate, and expected humidity swing.
Wood Screw Pilot Hole Calculator
Look up the correct pilot hole drill bit size for a given wood screw gauge and wood hardness (softwood or hardwood).
Wood Shrinkage Calculator
Calculate dimensional shrinkage and final size for common wood species using published tangential and radial shrinkage percentages.
Lumber Is Sold by a Unit Most People Have Never Heard Of
Lumber pricing and project estimating run on the board foot — a volume-based unit that accounts for thickness, not just length — which trips up a lot of first-time buyers used to thinking in linear feet. These ten calculators cover lumber, joinery, and wood movement math.
Calculating Board Feet, Step by Step
- Measure thickness and width in inches, and length in feet. For example, a board 1 inch thick, 6 inches wide, and 8 feet long.
- Multiply thickness × width × length. 1 × 6 × 8 = 48.
- Divide by 12. 48 ÷ 12 = 4 board feet.
- Multiply by the per-board-foot price to get that board's cost, and sum across every board needed for the full material cost.
This is exactly why a thicker board costs more than a thinner one of the same length and width — board feet captures volume, not just linear length. Run this directly with the Board Foot Calculator, then estimate total project cost with the Lumber Cost Calculator.
Popular Woodworking Calculators
- Wood Shrinkage Calculator — estimates dimensional change as wood dries, which varies significantly by species and grain direction.
- Miter Angle Calculator — calculates the correct miter and bevel angles for multi-sided frames and boxes.
- Wood Joint Strength Calculator — compares relative strength between common joinery methods.
Related: Construction Calculators, Metalworking Calculators.