Here, we should start by pointing out that there is a difference between how to calculate the pricing for Lumber vs Live Edge Wood Slabs.  While your typical lumber (at a Lumber or Home Supply Store) is usually sold in one of three ways: by the piece, by the lineal inch, or by the square foot dimensions, a Live Edge Hardwood Slab is calculated using a unit of board foot, which is a measure of the volume of wood and not just the surface area.

A single board foot measures one square foot (1ft length x 1ft width) x 1″ thick (rough-cut thickness, not the finish-planed thickness).  This calculation method would be simple and easy to determine if all wood pieces measure 12″ x 12″ x 1″ inch; however, that is not the case.  Live Edge Wood Slabs are often ripped or cut in random widths and random lengths, which calls for the adaptation of some math and better grasp of the calculations. Following are three different ways to calculate the board foot amount of a piece of wood slab:

• Length (in) x Width (in) x Thickness (in) ÷ 144
• Length (ft) x Width (in) x Thickness (in) ÷ 12
• Length (ft) x Width (ft) x Thickness (in)

For example, let’s say that we have a Live Edge Slab measuring: Length 10 ft (120 in) x Width 1.5 ft (18 in) x Thickness (2 in).  According to the above formulas, the calculations would look something like this:

• (120 in) x (18 in) x (2 in) = 4320 in ÷ 144 = 30 bf
• (10 ft) x (18 in) x (2 in) = 360 ÷ 12 = 30 bf
• (10 ft) x (1.5 ft) x (2 in)  = 30 bf

Now that you have the number of board feet in the wood slab, you can use the price per board foot to calculate your cost; meaning that if the wood seller offers the wood at $20/bf, based on the above calculations, your cost would be: 30 bf x $20/bf = $600 for the wood slab.

For your convenience, you can use this calculator below which uses the first formula to figure out the cost of Live Edge Wood Slabs for your project.  We sell most of our unfinished Live Edge Wood Slabs at an average price of $20 per board foot, which is considered to be wholesale price by market standards.  Our mission is to encourage people to get interested in woodworking and use their creativity to built masterpieces of art from our inventory of reclaimed urban wood ready to be re-purposed and enjoyed for years to come.

(Board Foot Calculator using all the dimensions in inches (Length x Width x Thickness) ÷ 144