Speaking board feet

(unplaned) lunrber. Even when hardwood lunrber is planed, it is still nreasured as if it were rough fronr the sawnrill, so a board slightly nrore than 3/4" thick is sold as l" stock. The way to think of this is that it takes 1" to net3/4" (actually 25/32" in nrany cases).

The easiest way to figure board footage is to calculate the nunrber of square feet on the surface ofa board, and then multiply that by the nunrber of rough inches thick. Here's the fornrula:

Thickness x Width (inches) x Length (feer), divided by 12 : Surface Footage

Surface Footage x thickness in Rough Inches

: Board Footage

For exanrple: l"x12"xl':Iboardfoot

2"x6"xl':lboardfoot

And further: l"x8"x6':4boardfeet

2" x 6" x 12' : 12 board feet

Using this fornrula and a tape nreasure you can calculate footage as quickly as a hardwood clerk. Your hardwood supplier will use a tally stick, a flexible yardstick of hickory, to nrake the sanre calculation, but the results should be the sanre.

If this still seents conrplicated you can take conrfort that sonre hardwood dealers also sell hardwoods by the lineal foot. This stock will be surfaced on four sides (S4S) so the price will include sonte premiunr for nrachining. Many users, including furniture plants and other nranufacturing concerns, feel it's worth the extra price.

Hardwoods less than 1" thick - l/2" and 3/8" are conrnron thicknesses - are sold by the square foot and at a price less than the cost of 1" nraterial. Occasionally exotic woods, which are often sold in billets as well as snrall chunks and unusual sizes, are sold by weight, a practice that dates back to the days when British fi rnrs donrinated inrported lunrber.

If you're still wondering about tally sticks, I can tell you fronr nry own experience that they are extrenrely accurate. When I was ntanaging a hardwood distribution yard in Los Angeles, Ca., we were visited by inspectors front the state departntent of weights and nreasures. They were suspicious of our standard hardwood tally sticks.

The inspectors had us nteasure a unit of hardwood with a tally stick, which took 30 nrinutes or so. They then spent the rest of the day renreasuring the sanre unit using tape nreasures and a pocket calculator. (We loaned thenr an experienced lunrber handler or it would have taken even longer.) They rounded their figures to the nearest quarter inch! When all their calculations were finally done, their tally was alnrost identical to ours.

Story at a Glane

Valuable primer for mastering hardwood measutements... formula for calculating board feet.. basics of getting what you pay for.

For consunrers paying retail prices a dealer nray, depending on conrpany policy, round the nreasurenrent offto the nearest half-foot. For a wholesale custonrer buying only a board or two to fill a specific order, the tally will be rounded off to the nearest foot. Wholesale customers can expect their luntber to be tallied in strict accord with the rules of the National Hardwood Lunrber Association. Your hardwood supplier can acquaint you with these rules.

In whatever fornr you buy hardwoods, you should always understand how they are tallied. As the buyer you have every right to know, and your hardwood supplier will want to nrake sure you do. McKinney is a contributing editor who has considerdble knowledge qf hardwoods -editor.