# How many board ft??



## scribble79 (May 10, 2014)

I'm trying to figure how much lumber I am going to need when I make new kitchen cabinet doors and drawers. I have 5 doors 16" x 27 1-2", 2 doors 13" x 18 1/2", 2 drawer fronts 28" x 12", and 2 drawers fronts 12 1/2" x 4 1/2". 
The doors will all be a raised panel with rail and stiles and the drawer fronts will be solid. 

I appreciate all help i can get. 


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## cocobolo1 (Dec 31, 2015)

What you need to do is to make a list of each piece of wood with length, width and thickness.

I'm afraid that's only going to get you close, and not the exact number. Almost without any doubt there will be waste, and quite a bit of it.

Just looking at the square footage, and assuming a thickness of one inch, you have somewhere around 30 square feet. I just did a very quick guesstimate in my head, so that's not going to be dead on.

I would be ordering at least 40 board feet if I had 30 square feet of product.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Most of the time rails and stiles are ripped from wider boards. You want to use boards wide enough to allow for what is usually 2 pieces wide plus a saw cut plus enough to joint the edges smooth. You may also have stiles of different widths depending on your design. For example a stile that 2 doors close on may be wider than the stile that hinges go on. As Keith said you need a cut plan and you need to know or specify how wide your raw material will be and how long. A board foot is 144 square inches of 3/4" inch thick planed boards.


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

Just asking. Why do you have to buy it all at once? Also I thought there was computer programs that will figure what you need. Some of the guys that have experience with cabinets will help you I am sure.


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## scribble79 (May 10, 2014)

As far as being at once I will need to travel for this quantity of wood so want to get t all in one trip


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## boogalee (Nov 24, 2010)

You have a lot of variables.

How wide are the rails and stiles
Are you using mortise and tendon or a rail and stile bit to join the rails and stiles.
Where are you buying lumber. If it is the big box stores you will be hard pressed finding 12" wide lumber.
Are you are building the raised panels.


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## scribble79 (May 10, 2014)

I was planning on building the panels from pieces of needed but the hardwood dealer should be able to provide sizes needed but can only joint 6". Planning on rail and style construction. I have not determined the rail and style width yet. I am painting them all so I'm planning on using poplar. 


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## paduke (Mar 28, 2010)

I guarantee if I buy just enough material for a project I will screw it up and will go get some more. The method I use to calculate my purchase of S3S Hardwood is use the square footage of the cabinet face. and add 25%. i.e. base cabinet face approx 2.75' X 16' = 44 sq ft plus 25% 11 means I buy 55 bf I use 25% waste because: random length boards, random width, test cuts for set-ups, glue ups for door and drawer fronts, and culling knots and splits. For wall unit I use 2.5' x LF. I then squeeze every bit out of it So I an save the leftovers, The leftovers then became free since the cabinets paid for it. BTW this is a good time to stockpile material while momma ain't lookin This doesn't include drawer material.


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## Semipro (Mar 22, 2013)

Chris I see you sent this from a iphone there is a app for figureing board feet.
basically simple, in inches multiply the length by the width and divide by 144 this is providing The thickness is 1 inch add 10 to 15% for waste or problems.
before I build any doors or drawers fronts I plane all wood to the same thickness.
styles and rails are usually 2 to 2 1/2 inches wide. ( thickness is relative as long as it's all the same ) somewhere between three quarters and inch and 5/8 of an inch


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## mgmine (Jan 16, 2012)

First off determine how much you will need for the rail and stiles. Don't forget that if you are using European hinges that you have to take into consideration the overlay when building the doors and also how much of the cabinet frame that you want to see. Also don't forget that you can't put an edge on the doors with an ordinary bit if using European hinges. If you are using them you can get a great price on Ebay. Once you have figured out the amount (linear feet) needed for the doors determine what you will need for the panels. The panels should be glued together and not one large panel of solid wood, and unless you have a large enough planer you will have to do a lot of sanding to get the wider panels flat. MDF panels would make your life a lot simpler. When you get to the lumber yard you will most likely be faced with boards that don't meet you needs exactly. They will too long or short or wide. If the place allows you to sort then do it. Once you get the boards home you will have to cut any knots out so that will mess up your calculations. Be prepared to either over buy and save a another trip or under buy and make another trip. I did several Youtube videos on building kitchen doors using rough lumber from the mill. If you need the link let me know. Don't worry about only having a 6" jointer you can do everything with just a planer.


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## belaire445 (Oct 21, 2012)

*easy way to determine board feet*

Years ago my Dad showed me a quick way to determine board feet....Let's say you have a 2x4x8' long board and want to know how many bf...You multiply 2 x 4 x 8 than divide by 12.= 64 divided by 12= 5.33 board feet.
Now, let's say you have a 5/4 x 10 x 16. Because the first number is a fraction (5 is the numerator and 4 is the denominator) you multiply just the top number (5). The rest is pretty easy.... 5 x 10 x 16= 800....then you divide that by 4 x 12. Because you're looking for bf, you will always divide by 12 but because there's another denominator (4) you have to multiply the 4 x 12 which equals 48. So 800 divided by 48=16.66 board feet. It's much easier if you make the whole thing into a fraction but I don't know how to do that here. Hope it makes sense to you


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## Tagwatts (Apr 11, 2012)

scribble79

Just go to your Cell phone and ask for an application measure board feet. You will get the app and be on your way. I just tried this to make sure. I received a list of two apps. one was free and the other was $.99. pretty cheap and pretty accurate.


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