About Woodworking Calculator
Workshop math in the browser, from VARØ Industries
Woodworking Calculator, branded WoodCalc in the page header, collects the sums that come up at the bench and the lumberyard in one place: board feet, lumber cost, cut lists, miter and compound angles, circles and arcs, unit conversions, floor area and sheet goods. It is free, needs no account and runs entirely in your browser. It is written for hobbyists planning a weekend build and for small shops that want a quick check before ordering. Open the calculators.
What is included
- Board Feet. Length, width, thickness and quantity in, board feet out.
- Lumber & Cuts. A lumber cost calculator with a waste factor, and a cut list optimizer that fits your cuts into boards of a given length, allowing for saw kerf.
- Angles. Miter angles for polygons with 3 to 20 sides, and a compound angle calculator for miter and bevel settings.
- Circles. Circumference, diameter and area from a radius, plus arc length, chord length and segment height.
- Conversions. Length conversions between inches, feet, millimeters, centimeters and meters, and fraction-to-decimal conversion.
- Square Feet. Room and area totals with a waste factor, and a sheet goods calculator for 4 × 8, 4 × 10, 4 × 12 or custom sheets.
How to use it
- Choose imperial or metric and fractions or decimals in the settings panel at the top.
- Open the tab for your task and fill in the fields.
- Press Calculate to see the result with the formula or the working beside it.
- Check the answer against your drawing before you buy or cut anything.
Where the numbers come from
There is no database or outside data source. Every result comes from standard formulas applied in your browser: the board foot formula, simple percentage waste factors, plane geometry for polygons, circles and arcs, and exact unit conversion factors. You supply the prices, the waste allowance and the dimensions. See the privacy policy for what the site stores and which third-party services run on it.
Guides
- How to Calculate Board Feet: Formula, Examples, Cost
- Cut Lists, Kerf and Waste: How to Estimate Your Lumber
- Miter Angles, Circles and Arcs for Woodworkers | WoodCalc
Frequently asked questions
- Does the calculator send my measurements anywhere?
- No. All calculations run in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing you type into a calculator is sent to a server.
- What is a board foot?
- A board foot is 144 cubic inches of lumber, the volume of a board 1 inch thick, 12 inches wide and 12 inches long. The calculator uses (length in feet x width in inches x thickness in inches) / 12.
- How does the cut list optimizer decide where to cut?
- It sorts your cuts from longest to shortest and fills each board in turn with every piece that fits, allowing for saw kerf. It is a quick, practical method but it does not guarantee the absolute minimum number of boards.
- Can I use metric units?
- Yes. Use the Metric toggle in the settings panel. Length and area inputs and results switch to millimeters and square meters, and you can switch between fractions and decimals for display.
- What does the miter calculator return for a hexagon?
- It returns the 120 degree interior angle and a 60 degree miter, which is the angle between the cut and the long edge of the board. On a saw whose scale reads 0 for a square cut, set 30 degrees (90 minus 60).
- What is stored in my browser?
- If you accept the cookie notice, the site saves your unit and format preferences in your browser's local storage. If you decline, nothing is saved. You can reset the choice with Cookie Settings in the footer.