Cut list and log math.
Board feet and piece counts for a cut list, scales and the biggest timber for a log. Anything the mill or kiln can't do, or that needs Justin on the mill, gets flagged.
Mill: 8 to 32 ft long, 35" max width of cut. Kiln: 25 ft max. Anything bigger than a 6x6x16, get Justin on the mill. Big pieces go first so the rest fills downstream.
Doyle
The old standard, and the scale we use when we buy logs. It runs low on small logs and catches up on big ones.
Scribner
Common on timber sales and government scaling. On most logs it lands between the other two.
International ¼"
The closest of the three to what a modern mill actually saws out of a log, so it's the best guess at your lumber.
Small end, inside the bark. Biggest timber uses the rule of thumb from the wood brain: the log needs about 1.5 times the timber size (an 8x8 needs about a 12" log). Rot, sweep, shake and metal change everything, so look at the log.
A board foot is 12 by 12 by 1.
Thickness in inches, times width in inches, times length in feet, divided by 12. A 2x12 that's 12 feet long is 24 board feet. An 8x8 that's 10 feet long is about 53.
Big box lumber is sold by nominal size, so their 2x6 is really 1-1/2 by 5-1/2. Ours is cut true dimension, which means you get every bit of the wood you're counting.
| Size | Board feet per foot | 8 ft | 12 ft | 16 ft |
|---|