Board Foot Cheat Sheet

How do I actually use this cheat sheet at the yard?

I've carried a dog-eared version of this list in my back pocket since my first year on the buying desk, and it does exactly one job: it lets me total a stack of lumber out loud while the yard hand is still pulling boards. Every nominal size has a fixed board-feet-per-foot figure, so once it's memorized, the only live number left is length. The full reasoning behind each figure lives in how to calculate board feet, but for raw speed at the counter, the table below is all I touch.

Here's how a real tally sounds out loud. A customer wants framing for a small deck — twelve 2x6s at 12 ft and six 2x8s at 10 ft. I read 1.0 BF/ft for the 2x6 (12 boards × 12 ft = 144 BF) and 1.333 for the 2x8 (6 × 10 ft × 1.333 ≈ 80 BF). That's roughly 224 board feet (estimate) in my head before anyone has written a ticket. I say "estimate" out loud on purpose, because a few sticks always run long or short until they're measured.

Why do I trust the memorized per-foot number over re-deriving the formula each time? Speed kills errors. When I'm juggling a phone, a clipboard, and a forklift beeping behind me, a fixed 2.0 for a 2x12 is far safer than mentally running 2 × 12 ÷ 12 on the spot. I round the mental total to the nearest whole board foot, flag it as an estimate, then confirm it against the calculator once I'm back at the desk and writing the real purchase order.

What are the board feet per linear foot for each size?

Find your size, read the BF/ft, then multiply by length in feet. Example: a 14-ft 2x10 = 1.667 × 14 = 23.3 BF.

How does the per-foot multiplier work?

BF per foot is just (thickness × width) ÷ 12 using nominal inches. A 2x6 is 12 ÷ 12 = 1.0; a 2x12 is 24 ÷ 12 = 2.0. That's the whole trick — once you know the per-foot figure, length does the rest. The reasoning is in the formula explained.

Should you use nominal or actual size here?

These figures use nominal sizes because that's how softwood is priced. The actual board is smaller, but you pay for the nominal call — see nominal vs actual. For exact totals on a full project, drop your boards into the cut list calculator.