How much does a board foot of oak weigh?
A board foot of dry red oak — 1 in thick, 12 in wide and 12 in long — weighs about 3.64 pounds (1.65 kg). White oak is a little heavier, at roughly 3.9 pounds.
How to work it out
- 1 × 12 in × 1 ft = 0.083 cu ft × 44 lb/cu ft = 3.64 lb per piece
- ≈ 3.64 lb (Red oak, dry, about 12%)
Per-board-foot weight is the quickest way to estimate a hardwood order: 100 board feet of red oak is roughly 360 lb, which matters for a trailer or a car roof rack. The table below shows how the same 12 in square changes with thickness.
Adjust for your project
- Weight per piece
- 3.64 lb
- The same wood freshly sawn (green)
- 5.16 lb
- Moisture content used
- 12% (typical dry figure)
- Density used (wood plus water)
- 44 lb/cu ft
- Weight per board foot
- 3.64 lb
- Volume
- 0.083 cu ft
- Board feet (actual)
- 1 bd ft
- Pressure-treated lumber is often sold wet and is noticeably heavier until it dries — use a meter reading if you have one.
A 12 × 12 in piece of red oak by thickness
| Thickness | Board feet (actual) | Estimated total weight |
|---|---|---|
| 0.75 in | 0.75 bd ft | 2.73 lb |
| 1 in | 1 bd ft | 3.64 lb |
| 1.25 in | 1.25 bd ft | 4.55 lb |
| 1.5 in | 1.5 bd ft | 5.46 lb |
| 2 in | 2 bd ft | 7.28 lb |
What to know about the weight of a board foot of oak
A board foot is a volume — 144 cubic inches — so its weight is simply the density per cubic foot divided by 12. Red oak at about 44 lb per cubic foot gives 3.64 lb, or 1.65 kg.
- Surfaced boards weigh less than they are billed. Hardwood is sold on its rough thickness: a 4/4 (“four-quarter”, nominally 1 in) board is counted as 1 in thick but usually planes down to about 3/4 in. Per board foot you pay for, a 3/4 in board carries about 2.73 lb of oak.
- Scaling up an order. 100 board feet of dry red oak is about 364 lb; 250 board feet comes to roughly 910 lb. Count the board feet first — How many board feet in a 4/4 hardwood board 8 in wide and 8 ft long shows the method — then multiply.
- Air-dried vs kiln-dried. The figure assumes about 12% moisture. Kiln-dried furniture stock is often drier and a touch lighter; air-dried oak from a local sawyer can sit well above 12% and weigh more. A moisture meter settles it.
- Oak is mid-pack among hardwoods. Hard maple is about the same, cherry and walnut lighter (2.91 and 3.17 lb), hickory heavier.
Softwood framing is much lighter: the SPF stud on How much does a 2x4x8 weigh works out to 2.24 lb per board foot. And if the project mixes solid oak with sheet goods, How much does a sheet of 3/4 plywood weigh gives the panel side of the total.
Different size? Use the full Wood Weight Calculator.
What you’ll need
- Wood moisture meterMid-range price
Tells you whether lumber is dry enough to build with and firewood dry enough to burn. Readings vary by species — check the meter’s correction settings.
See options on Amazon (opens in a new tab) - Benchtop thickness planerPremium price
Planes rough or cupped boards to an even thickness, so you can buy rough lumber and mill it to size yourself. Pair it with a way to flatten one face first.
See options on Amazon (opens in a new tab) - Ratchet tie-down strapsBudget price
Holds a load of lumber on a roof rack, trailer or truck bed. Strap long loads at two points and flag the overhang.
See options on Amazon (opens in a new tab)
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Links to products are affiliate links — they cost you nothing extra and help keep these calculators free.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a board foot of white oak weigh?
About 3.93 lb at 12% moisture, from a typical density of 47 lb/cu ft.
How much does 100 board feet of red oak weigh?
Roughly 364 lb dry — worth knowing before it goes on a roof rack or a small trailer.
How much does a board foot of black walnut weigh?
About 3.17 lb dry, based on a typical 38 lb/cu ft — lighter than either oak.
How much does a board foot of green (freshly sawn) red oak weigh?
About 5.16 lb — roughly 40% more than dry, at the Wood Handbook’s average green moisture content for northern red oak (74.5%). Air-dried oak from a sawyer sits somewhere between the two.
Other common sizes
- How much does a 2x4x8 weigh — 7.83 lb
- Weight of 45 × 95 mm × 2.4 m timber — 5.64 kg
- How much does a sheet of 3/4 plywood weigh — 73.7 lb
Sources
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory — Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282), Chapter 4: Moisture relations and physical properties of wood (opens in a new tab) — Density at any moisture content from basic specific gravity (eqs. 4-13 and 4-14, fiber saturation taken as 30%), and table 4-1, the average moisture content of green heartwood and sapwood by species.
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory — Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282), Chapter 5: Mechanical properties of wood (opens in a new tab) — Specific gravity of common species at 12% moisture.
- The Wood Database (Eric Meier) (opens in a new tab) — Average dried weights by species.
- APA – The Engineered Wood Association — Panel Design Specification (Form D510) (opens in a new tab) — Approximate panel weights: plywood about 2.3 lb/sq ft at 3/4 in, 2.2 at 23/32 in, 1.5 at 1/2 in; OSB about 10% heavier.