How Many Board Feet in a 4x4x8?
Total board feet
10.67 bf
One nominal 4x4 post, 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, nominal4 in
- Width, nominal4 in
- Length8 ft
- How many pieces1
- Price per board foot, 0 to skip0 $
Total board feet10.67 bf
| Board feet per piece | 10.667 |
|---|---|
| Pieces | 1 |
| Total board feet | 10.67 |
| Total linear feet | 8 lf |
Length compared
The same stick in every length the yard normally stocks.
| Length | Total board feet |
|---|---|
| 8 ft | 10.67 bf |
| 10 ft | 13.33 bf |
| 12 ft | 16 bf |
| 14 ft | 18.67 bf |
| 16 ft | 21.33 bf |
What else matters here
A 4x4x8 is 10.67 board feet, exactly the same as a 2x4x16. Posts and timbers are where the board foot really earns its keep, because timber is often sold by the board foot rather than by the piece.
Check what you are buying. A nominal 4x4 measures 3.5 by 3.5 inches if it has been surfaced, and a rough sawn 4x4 from a small mill is a full four by four, which is a genuinely different post for a genuinely different price.
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 4x4x8?
10.67 board feet.
Is a 4x4 really four inches?
Only if it is rough sawn. A surfaced 4x4 from a yard measures 3.5 by 3.5 inches, the same way a 2x4 measures 1.5 by 3.5.
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.