Wood Weight Calculator
Estimate board, slab, and log weight by species, size, and moisture content before you lift, ship, or dry the stock.
🪵Preset Loads
⚙Calculator Inputs
📊Results
Calculation breakdown
🧪Material and Spec Grid
📚Reference Tables
| Species | Dry lb/ft3 | 12% lb/ft3 | Janka |
|---|---|---|---|
| White Pine | 23 | 26 | 380 |
| Cedar | 20 | 23 | 350 |
| Poplar | 28 | 31 | 540 |
| Red Oak | 40 | 45 | 1290 |
| Board | Actual size | 8 ft wt | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2x4 SPF | 1.5 x 3.5 | 10 lb | Easy carry |
| 2x6 Oak | 1.5 x 5.5 | 22 lb | Heavy cut |
| 1x12 Pine | 0.75 x 11.25 | 18 lb | Wide face |
| Slab 2 in | 2 x 20 | 70 lb | Use help |
| MC | Factor | 100 lb OD | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6% | 1.06 | 106 lb | Cabinet |
| 8% | 1.08 | 108 lb | Indoor |
| 12% | 1.12 | 112 lb | Shop |
| 18% | 1.18 | 118 lb | Fresh |
| Diameter | Length | Volume | 12% wt |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 in | 8 ft | 2.8 cu ft | 95 lb |
| 12 in | 8 ft | 6.3 cu ft | 215 lb |
| 16 in | 8 ft | 11.2 cu ft | 380 lb |
| 20 in | 10 ft | 21.8 cu ft | 740 lb |
💡Practical Tips
⚠Safety Note
The weight of wood matters a lot for work with wood, build shelves, plan desks and haul lumber. Knowing its weight helps with shipping, structural load and installation. Some simple tools and methods make the task much more simple
For estimating weight of lumber, measure its width, length and thickness. Later multiply those values to get the volume. When it is in cubic inches, divide by 1,728 to convert to cubic feet.
How to Calculate the Weight of Wood
Finally, multiply the density by the volume to get the whole weight of that piece of wood.
Density of wood changes a lot, even between members of same species. Trees that grow slowly usually have higher density than fast growing ones. For rating you can weigh a small sample, estimate its volume and scale the reslut.
Average dry weight values are present in databases about wood online.
Online calculators are useful here too. WooduWeigh is a website that counts weight of some amount of wood according to size, thickness and length, using an algorithm for density of many species. Timber Build‘s lumber weight calculator estimates weight according to species, dimensions and moisture.
For several pieces of same size, enter the number and it gives the total weight.
Most of oak for furniture lumber weighs around 3.6 pounds for a board foot. A board foot is wood one inch thick, one foot wide and one foot long. The heaviest commonly mentioned wood, lignum vitae, has a specific gravity of 1.05 when green, so around 85 pounds for a green cubic foot.
Balsa wood is on the other end with only around 4 pounds for a cubic foot.
Charts of weights are available for various lumber species and structures like plywood, MDF, particleboard and melamine. They show pounds per square foot for fast look.
For shelves in a garage, pine in right thickness, that bears the weight and is well set, works well. For tools that serve on a long-term basis, more lightweight wood answers for handles. Red oak has strength, but weighs a lot, so more lightweight alternatives deserve consideration for things like terrariums.
With a desktop that extends all along a twin bed, any wood will start sagging under its own weight if it is not at least three inches thick. Add an apron to stop that.
Add weight to a project occasionally helps. Holes in wooden legs and filling them with lead sinkers with epoxy give stability. Softwood seasoned cords weigh around half a ton to three-quarters of a ton, while hardwood seasoned cords weigh around one ton to one and a half tons.
