3 calculators
Lumber & Materials
Timber weights, firewood volumes and tank capacities.
Where the units are the hard part
These three tools exist because their units are genuinely confusing rather than because the arithmetic is hard. Lumber is measured in nominal sizes that no board actually is, sold by the board foot, and weighed by a density that changes with species and moisture. A 2 × 8 is 1.5 × 7.25 inches, and using the nominal figure for weight overstates it by about a third.
Firewood is worse. A full cord has a legal definition of 128 cubic feet; a face cord or rick does not have a fixed size at all, because it depends on how long the logs are cut. Two sellers can quote the same price for a face cord and be selling quantities that differ by a third.
Reading the units correctly
- Board feet use nominal sizes; weight uses actual ones.
- Green timber can weigh a fifth more than kiln dried.
- Always convert a firewood quote back to a full cord.
- Stack wood before measuring — thrown piles are a third air.
Questions
About these calculators
Other categories