Cedar board foot calculator
Enter the finished size of your parts and this works back to the rough western red cedar you need to buy. Price and weight are already filled in — change the price to whatever your yard charges.
- Ballpark price
- $6.00/bf
- Weight
- 23 lb/ft³
- Janka hardness
- 350 lbf
= 0.75"
Straight off the mill. You pay for the saw marks, the cup and the wane, and you mill it all away.
Ballpark — use your yard's price
Buy this much
7.80board feet
Estimated cost
$46.80
Approx. weight
15 lb
Finished volume
4.50 bf
Your parts contain 4.50 bf of wood. Milling 3/4" parts needs 1" rough stock, which takes that to 6.00 bf, and the Rough allowance of 30% for cutoffs and defect brings it to 7.80 bf.
Ask for
1 4/4 cedar, 12 ft long and about 8″ wide
8.00 bf — 3% over what you need, and each board yields 4 of your pieces. Hardwood is sold random-width, so expect the yard to hand you something close rather than exact.
Working western red cedar
Rot-resistant without treatment and light enough to handle full sheets of it alone, which is why it covers decks, fences and outdoor furniture. Very soft, splits easily at the ends, and the dust irritates a lot of people — wear a mask. Sold by the lineal foot as often as by the board foot.
23 lb/ft³ · Janka 350 lbf · prices reviewed 2026-09-01
Buying western red cedar
Rot-resistant without treatment and light enough to handle full sheets of it alone, which is why it covers decks, fences and outdoor furniture. Very soft, splits easily at the ends, and the dust irritates a lot of people — wear a mask. Sold by the lineal foot as often as by the board foot.
The price above is a national ballpark for reasonable-grade 4/4 stock, last reviewed 2026-09-01. Hardwood prices move with region, grade, width and supplier — treat this as a starting point and ring your yard before you commit to a budget.
Cedar questions
- How much does western red cedar cost per board foot?
- Roughly $6.00 per board foot for 4/4 stock, as a national ballpark last reviewed 2026-09-01. Regional supply, grade, width and whether you are buying from a hardwood dealer or a big-box store move this a long way — the calculator lets you type in your own price.
- How much does western red cedar weigh?
- About 23 lb per cubic foot at furniture moisture content, which works out to roughly 1.9 lb per board foot. The calculator estimates the weight of your order so you know whether it fits in the car.
- How hard is western red cedar?
- 350 lbf on the Janka scale. For reference, red oak is 1290 and is the usual benchmark for a hardwood floor; anything much under 1000 will show dents in a tabletop that gets used.
- How much does western red cedar move with the seasons?
- A 12" wide plain sawn board moves about 0.20" across its width over a typical seasonal swing, and roughly 47% of that if it is quartersawn. Design any solid panel wider than about six inches to float rather than be fastened at both edges.
- What should I know about working western red cedar?
- Rot-resistant without treatment and light enough to handle full sheets of it alone, which is why it covers decks, fences and outdoor furniture. Very soft, splits easily at the ends, and the dust irritates a lot of people — wear a mask. Sold by the lineal foot as often as by the board foot.