Help me get my head around this

[Griz64]

Ok I think I have this down but need some conformation. If I have a piece of wood that is 12 inches by 4 foot then I have a board that is 4 board feet...right? Then that means if I have a board 6 inches by 4 foot then I have a board that is 2 board feet...right? So when I go to Lowes or Home Depot and their boards are actually 11.25 inches wide does that mean they are figuring bft using the 11.25 or the full 12? Also would someone please tell me what a linear foot is? Thanks guys.

[bjbethke]

Ok I think I have this down but need some conformation. If I have a piece of wood that is 12 inches by 4 foot then I have a board that is 4 board feet...right? Then that means if I have a board 6 inches by 4 foot then I have a board that is 2 board feet...right? So when I go to Lowes or Home Depot and their boards are actually 11.25 inches wide does that mean they are figuring bft using the 11.25 or the full 12? Also would someone please tell me what a linear foot is? Thanks guys.

The board foot term is used in the rough cut stage. If the board is milled to 11.25 inches it is still one BF for each 12 inches.

The linear foot is in the length of a board, and is used to sell molding and trim.

[TIMCOSBY]

a board foot is 1" thick.

[ruggybear]

it is milled then it is .750 thick

[Jeff_Birt]

See if this helps: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_foot

[SteveEJ]

it is milled then it is .750 thick

Actually, hardwoods I buy from a distributor are 13/16" (.8125) thick milled 1" stock. I skim off 1/16" to make it 3/4" thick for f3s boards.

[Smoken D]

The way I figure it;

thickness x with x length divided by 144 gives ya amount of board feet and ya gotta do it in inches.

example;

1"x12"x12" = 144" divided by 144 gives you 1 BF

1"X10"X96" = 960" divided by 144 gives you 6.66 BF

2"X8"X72" = 1152" divided by 144 gives you 8 BF

[jab73180]

1 board foot is a piece of rouch cut lumber from the mill. 12" x 12" x 1".
12x12x1 is 144 square inches. now you take the rouch milled size of the board you have (7 1/4" means it was an 8 inch board from the mill and so on)8" x 48" x 1" = 384 square inches divided by 144 = 2.66 baord feet. its really simple once you get the hang of it. linear feet has all the calculations figured out for that particular board. if theres a 12" board 4 feet long and the price is $1.49 a linear foot, you would pay $5.96. no board feet figuring needed.

[Ike]

Ok I think I have this down but need some conformation. If I have a piece of wood that is 12 inches by 4 foot then I have a board that is 4 board feet...right? Then that means if I have a board 6 inches by 4 foot then I have a board that is 2 board feet...right? So when I go to Lowes or Home Depot and their boards are actually 11.25 inches wide does that mean they are figuring bft using the 11.25 or the full 12? Also would someone please tell me what a linear foot is? Thanks guys.

It is confusing, you know the formula for board foot. Linear foot is easy it is the price times the length not matter the width or thickness.

And yes for for years lumber companies have made dimensional lumber to get more money to get a true say 2 by 4 the board needed to be a least 2 1/2 " by 4 1/2" to get a true 2" by 4" stud. That made too much wasted lumber and at the time and now our forests are being logged out before new growth has grown. That is why old growth material is a hot item. Lumber today is harvested too early and we get more warped lumber.

So to "save" resources the lumber mills take a true 2" by 4" and mill it to S4S surfaced 4 sides and we get sometimes a 1 1/2" by 3 1/2" and the linear feet never changes if you buy a 8' board it is usually an 1/8 longer!

So linear feet is just the length of any board not matter the width or thickness.

Ike

[lawrence]

here is a good bf calculator-- (from a GREAT company I might add... I bought from them mail order before moving to AZ from Texas and now that I have one here in Tucson I use them a LOT ... this place is like WW'er heaven

http://www.woodworkerssource.com/boa...calculator.php

Lawrence