Board foot
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The board-foot is a specialized unit of volume for measuring lumber in the United States and Canada. It is the volume of a one foot length of a board one foot wide and one inch of nominal thickness.
One board-foot equals:
- 1 ft × 1 ft × 1 in
- 12 in × 12 in × 1 in
- 144 in³
- 1⁄12 ft³
- 2.360 liters or millisteres
- 0.002360 cubic meters or steres
Board-feet are used for rough lumber (before drying and planing) with no adjustments.
For planed lumber, board-feet refer to the nominal thickness and width of lumber, calculated in principle on its size before drying and planing. Actual length is used.
See dimensional lumber for a full discussion of the relationship of actual and nominal dimensions. Briefly, for softwoods, to convert nominal to actual, subtract ¼ inch for dimensions under 2 inches; subtract ½ inch for dimensions under 8 inches; and subtract ¾ inch for larger measurements. The system is more complicated for hardwoods.
Categories
Units of volume | Customary units in the United States | Construction | Wood