Board feet for each board you measure, the tally across them all, and that tally priced at the rate you name

AThe run, at a glance

Turns the thickness, the width, the length and the piece count you type for each board into the board feet of one board, the board feet of the whole run, and what the run is priced at the rate you type.

Every dimension, every count and the price a board foot are typed by you; this page measures and tallies and it specifies nothing. It names no species, no grade, no dryness, no treatment, no finish, no brand, no mill and no supplier, and it never says a board suits a use, a room, a climate or a joint. It carries no span, no load, no spacing, no fastener and no allowable stress, and it says nothing about whether a dimension is adequate or safe. It supplies no rule, no code, no standard and no authority of any kind, and it makes no claim about what any authority requires. A board sold as two by four is not two inches by four, and this page does not say what it is: the thickness and the width are the numbers you read off the board or the quote you actually hold. Nothing you type leaves your browser; only the job reference is kept in this browser, and the figures are gone when the tab closes.

Printed from otherworldlabs.com, the lumber tally.

BThe job, the rate, and each board

Name the job in your own words. Type the price a board foot from the yard's sign or from the written quote, or leave it blank and take the board feet alone. Then type each board, and pick the unit beside every figure: this page never guesses which unit a figure is in.

Holding only a footed total - a ticket or quote reading so many board feet in all, with no thickness, width, length or count for any board in it - type nothing in the board lines: nothing on this page splits one total back into boards, a stack typed to make the lines foot to it would be boards you did not buy, and a total you already hold needs no tally; this page is for a list you can measure board by board.

CEvery board, footed

One row a board. The size column prints each figure in the unit you picked for it and says which form the thickness was read in. A board you have not finished keeps its row and says what it wants.

DWhat this page is waiting for, and what it read

Every sentence here names a state this page keeps apart. None of them is an error and none of them is advice. Each one counts in words, so a state is named here and not scored.

EEvery figure, worked

Both forms of the division for each finished board, then that board taken as many times as you need it, then the run added. The inch form, the row and the run are the unrounded figures the tally carries, printed to four decimals. The foot form is the same division taken by the other route, printed here for the comparison and footed nowhere, so where the division lands on a tie its last decimal can differ by one from the inch form beside it.

FThe four states, and how the figures are read

A board foot

A volume: 144 cubic inches of board. One board's board feet are its thickness, its width and its length multiplied together in inches and divided by 144. Written the other way, with the length in feet, they are the thickness and the width in inches multiplied by the length in feet and divided by 12. A yard quotes one way and a drawing gives the other, so section E prints both for every board, and the two can be compared rather than taken on trust: they are the same division and they agree to within a billionth of a board foot, and where the division lands on a tie the last decimal printed of the two can differ by one.

A dimension left blank or typed as nothing

A board needs a thickness, a width, a length and a count before any board foot of its own prints. While a board you have typed something on is without one of the four, that row says what it wants, no figure prints on it, and no footed figure prints for the run either. A board the count asks for with nothing typed on it holds the run back in the same way: the run is footed when every board the count asks for carries all four, so a board you do not need is left out by lowering the count and not by leaving it blank. Section A says so in the glance, where a reader meets it first.

A dimension typed in the other unit

Every typed dimension carries its own unit, picked on the line beside the figure it governs. A length typed in feet on a line whose selector reads feet is read as feet, and that figure with the selector on inches is read as inches. This page never guesses. The ranges each figure is read inside are the ranges its own control offers, and they move with the unit: a thickness in inches is read between a quarter inch and twelve, and in feet between two hundredths of a foot and one; a width in inches between a quarter inch and forty-eight, and in feet between two hundredths of a foot and four; a length in inches between one inch and two hundred and forty, and in feet between a tenth of a foot and twenty. A figure above the top of its own range is read at the top, and a figure below the bottom is read as that dimension not being typed at all, which is the state the glance withholds the run's figures for rather than a figure the page mends: the row then says it is without a thickness, a width or a length, and says it in the same words it uses for a dimension left blank.

A thickness typed as a fraction

Five-quarter stock can be typed as 1.25, as 5/4 or as 1 1/4, and all three are read as the same thickness. The tally says which form it read, because a reader who typed one and meant the other should be able to see it. The width, the length and the count are typed as decimals.

A price a board foot not yet typed

The rate is optional. With it blank a finished run's board feet are footed in full and no price prints anywhere on the page, in the tally, in the working or in the glance. With a rate typed, the run is priced at it. This page holds no typical, standard, recommended, market or regional rate of its own.

What is rounded, and what is not

Each board's board feet are carried into the run unrounded, and the price is taken on the unrounded figures. The tally prints two decimals and the working prints four, so a reader who re-adds the printed column by hand may land a hundredth of a board foot or a cent away from the footed figure. That is the rounding, and it is said here so that nobody has to guess which figure is which.

Waste, overage and cutting loss

None is supplied here. If you want an allowance, type it into a board's own piece count, and the count is then yours and is printed as the count you typed. This page adds nothing to what you type.

GThe decisions this page does not make

Each of these is yours. None of them is decided here, and no option set out here is recommended.

What a board actually measures

A board sold by one pair of numbers is dressed to another, and how far depends on the species, the dressing and the yard. This page publishes no rule for it. It asks for a figure and the unit that figure is in, and it reads what you type. If you hold a quote, type the quote's figures; if you hold the board, measure it.

Which rate to type

A yard's sign, a written quote and a delivered invoice can carry three rates for one board. This page supplies none of them and prefers none of them. Type the one your order will be written against, and the dated sheet beside this page is what the invoice can be read back against if the rate moves.

Whether to buy longer stock and cut it down

A drawing that wants ten feet and a yard that stocks eight is a decision about cutting, joining or paying for length you will not use, and it is a decision about your own work. Type the boards you will actually buy. The page tallies what you type and says nothing about what to type.

How much to allow for cutting loss

Some shops add a share to every count, some add a board, some add nothing and go back to the yard. The page carries no allowance of its own, so whichever you do, the count on the row is the count you typed.

Whether the run is one tally or several

A kitchen can be read as one run of twelve boards or as three runs of four. One run is one footed figure; three runs show which part of the work each board was bought for. The workbook beside this page is written for the second, because its record sheet carries a job column and a date.

HWhat this page will not do

• It names no species, grade, dryness, treatment, finish, brand, mill or supplier, and it never says a board suits a use, a room, a climate or a joint.
• It carries nothing structural: no span, no load, no spacing, no fastener, no allowable stress, and no statement that a dimension is adequate or safe.
• It publishes no nominal-size rule. A board sold as two by four is not two inches by four, and this page does not say what it is.
• It supplies no typical, standard, recommended, market or regional price a board foot, for any species, in any place, in any season.
• It supplies no waste allowance, no overage and no cutting-loss figure. A count typed into a row is yours and is printed as typed.
• It names no rule, code, standard, inspector or authority, and it makes no claim about what any authority requires.
• It says nothing about what a job needs, what to buy, or whether a quote is fair, and nothing it prints is a quote or binds a yard.
• It carries no tax of any kind, no delivery charge, no handling charge and no affiliate link.
• It reads nothing in from anywhere. No figure on it came from a table, a survey or a supplier, because there is no such figure in it.
• It invents no yard, carpenter, mill, reviewer or testimonial, and there is no name on it but your own job reference, which stays in this browser.