How Many Board Feet in a 1x6x8?
Total board feet
4 bf
One nominal 1x6, eight feet long.
How that number is worked out
These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.
- Thickness, nominal1 in
- Width, nominal6 in
- Length8 ft
- How many pieces1
- Price per board foot, 0 to skip0 $
Total board feet4 bf
| Board feet per piece | 4 |
|---|---|
| Pieces | 1 |
| Total board feet | 4 |
| Total linear feet | 8 lf |
Length compared
The same stick in every length the yard normally stocks.
| Length | Total board feet |
|---|---|
| 8 ft | 4 bf |
| 10 ft | 5 bf |
| 12 ft | 6 bf |
| 14 ft | 7 bf |
| 16 ft | 8 bf |
What else matters here
A 1x6x8 is exactly 4 board feet. One by stock is where nominal and actual part company most visibly: a 1x6 measures three quarters by five and a half inches, so the piece in your hand holds about 3 board feet of actual wood while it is bought and priced as 4.
That is not a swindle, it is the convention, and every supplier quotes the same way. It only becomes a problem when somebody mixes nominal and actual in the same estimate.
What this calculator assumes
- A board foot is nominal thickness times nominal width times length in feet, divided by 12. Use the nominal size, the 2 and the 6 in a 2x6, not the real 1.5 by 5.5.
- Hardwood is sold by the board foot. Softwood framing is usually sold by the piece, so this is for pricing and for comparing two quotes written differently.
Questions people ask
How many board feet in a 1x6x8?
Exactly 4 board feet, counted nominally.
Should I use nominal or actual size?
Nominal. Lumber has been sold and priced on its nominal size for a century, so a 2x4 counts as two by four even though it measures 1.5 by 3.5 inches. Use actual dimensions only for rough sawn stock that was never planed.
What is a board foot?
The volume of a piece one inch thick, twelve inches wide and twelve inches long, which is 144 cubic inches. Board feet are a volume measure, so a 1x12 and a 2x6 of the same length hold the same number of them.
The board foot calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.