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Grading and trade

Board foot and cubic metre

How to convert between the North American board foot and the metric cubic metre, and why nominal sizes mislead.

This article was drafted with AI assistance and has not yet been reviewed by an expert. Check important figures against a standard or your contract before relying on them.

Definition

One board foot is the volume of a board 1 inch thick, 12 inches wide and 1 foot long: 144 cubic inches, which is 0.002359737 m³. So one cubic metre is about 423.8 board feet.

Calculating

BF = thickness (in) × width (in) × length (ft) / 12

A board 2 in × 6 in × 12 ft is 12 BF.

Nominal and actual size

In North America, sizes such as 2×4 are nominal. The finished dry board is smaller than its name. Use the actual dimensions if you need true volume, and the nominal dimensions only if the trade rule you follow says so.

You can convert with the Board foot calculator.

Sources

Derived from definitions and the formulas used in the portal tools; no external source is cited.

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Last updated 2026-10-23