Cedar weight calculator
Cedar runs about 1.9 lb per board foot kiln dried. Enter your sizes below, and switch to green or air dried if that is what you are carrying.
- Density
- 23 lb/ft³
- Per board foot
- 1.9 lb
- Green
- 32 lb/ft³
6–8% moisture. What a hardwood dealer sells for indoor furniture.
= 0.75"
4 × Cedar
24lb
Each piece
6.0 lb
In kilograms
11 kg
Per sq ft of face
1.4 lb
Cedar at 22.9 lb/ft³, 7% moisture content. Each piece is 60" × 10" × 3/4", so 0.26 ft³ of material.
Before you pick it up
The whole load. All 24 lb of it. Worth checking against what the car is rated to carry before you drive to the yard, and worth knowing before a freight quote.
Before you drill. The shelf itself is 6 lb before anything goes on it. Size the hardware for the shelf plus its load, fix into framing rather than drywall anchors wherever the two disagree, and remember that a floating shelf loads its bracket as a lever — the further out the weight sits, the harder it pulls at the wall.
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.
Cedar questions
- How much does western red cedar weigh?
- About 23 lb per cubic foot kiln dried, which is roughly 1.9 lb per board foot. Green off the mill it is far heavier — around 32 lb per cubic foot at 58% moisture content, because most of that extra weight is water.
- Does western red cedar get much lighter as it dries?
- Yes. At 58% moisture content it runs about 32 lb/ft³; air dried to 12% that falls to 24, and kiln dried to 7% to 23. If you are hauling freshly sawn lumber, work from the green figure — the difference is real weight in the back of the truck.
- 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.
- How much weight can a floating shelf hold?
- That depends entirely on the bracket and what it is fixed into, not on the shelf. What this calculator tells you is the part people forget: what the shelf weighs before anything goes on it. A 48" × 10" × 2" solid oak shelf is around 23 lb empty. Size the hardware for the shelf plus its load, fix into framing rather than drywall anchors, and remember that a floating shelf loads its bracket as a lever — weight at the front edge pulls far harder than weight at the wall.
- What's the difference between board feet and weight?
- Board feet measure volume and are what you are charged for; weight is what you have to carry and ship. They are related by the density of the species, which varies by more than two to one across common woods — a board foot of white pine is about 2 lb and a board foot of hickory is about 4. Two orders of identical board footage can differ by a hundred pounds.
- How do I estimate freight for furniture?
- Start with the weight of the wood, then add the joinery hardware, the finish, and the crate — a plywood crate with bracing often adds 30% to 50% to the shipping weight of a table. Freight is usually billed on the greater of actual weight and dimensional weight, so a large light piece can be charged as though it were much heavier. Get the number here, then ask the carrier what they will actually bill.