Board foot calculator
A board foot is 144 cubic inches of timber; thickness × width × length in inches, divided by 144. It is a measure of volume, not of area or of length.
How to use the board foot calculator
The trap is nominal versus actual dimensions. Timber sold as a two-by-four is not two inches by four; it is milled down to about 1.5 by 3.5 after drying and planing. Board footage is conventionally billed on the nominal size, which is why a yard quotes you for more wood than you physically receive, that is the convention, not a swindle, but it means measuring your actual boards and calculating from those gives a different answer than the invoice. Rough-sawn timber is the exception: it is close to its nominal size, which is part of why it is cheaper per board foot.
Questions
Multiply thickness, width and length in inches and divide by 144. A 2×6 that is eight feet long is 8 board feet.
Nominal, if you are checking a quote, that is what yards bill on. Actual, if you want to know how much wood you really have.
No. It is a volume: 144 cubic inches, or a piece one inch thick, twelve wide and twelve long.
About 424. A board foot is roughly 0.00236 cubic metres.
Convert to inches first. Board feet are an imperial unit and metric yards sell by the cubic metre.