question about linear feet

[landdweller]

I am looking into buying some used lumber or sawmill lumber but I dont quite understand the linear foot thing. Does a 2x4 cost the same as a 2x8? I find it confusing. I have no idea if I would be getting took. What is the going rate per linear foot? I usually go to Lowes and buy a 2x4 if I need it, but Thats because I have never had to purchase more than a few at a time. Any help in explaining this to be in non carpentry term and in beginners terms wuld be greatly appreciated....

[Sawmill Jim]

Where is Just Sawing when you need him Ok most sawmills sell by board foot not linear foot . Lumber yards like lows just has their wood pre converted for the home owner . A true 2''x4''x 8' has 5.33 bf So if a 8'2''x4'' cost $2.50 it would be 46.90cents per bf or 0.3125 cents per linear foot .

To find bf you would multiply 2x4x96=768 divided by 144=5.33 there is 144 cubit in in a bf any way you nail it .thus a 8' 2x8 would be 10.66 bf

Hope this helps .

[tinknal]

Linear feet is running length. Forget about it. Except for trim, most lumber is sold by the board foot. One board foot is 12 inches, by 12 inches, by 1 inch thick. A 1 foot 2x4 would be 2/3 BF. 1 foot of 2x12 would be 2 board feet.

[landdweller]

I think Ill just go to lowes...lol I keep gettng even more confused. Never been that great at math.... It reminds me of the story problems about train travel they used to give us in school.lol

[Sawmill Jim]

Unless you are after a certain look i would say good idea

[rambler]

They sell wood by the volume, not just the length of it.

A board foot is a piece of wood 1 foot long, one foot wide, and one inch thick.

So a 2x4x 8 feet long is how ever many board feet, and a 2x8 by 8 feet long is however many board feet (it would be twice as many because the wood is twice as big).

If a place is selling by the linear foot, then each type of wood (2x4, 2x6, 1x8, etc) would have it's own different price.

Whatever, it's all based on a board foot - the volume of the wood.

Things that affect wood cost:

Type of wood. (Common or rare)

How far it had to be hauled. (Southern yellow pine costs a lot more here in MN than down in the southern pine forests)

How much sawing it took to make that piece of wood. (Takes more sawing to make (5) 2x2 pieces of wood than it takes to make (1) 2x10 so the small wood can cost more; tho it takes a nice log to find a good 2x10, while some 2x2 pieces can be cut from a poor log so this is a 'it all depends' sort of thing)

Also depends if you are hiring someone to saw up your wood, or if you are buying wood all cut to size.

--->Paul

[davel745]

What they will tell you is a different lineal foot price for each lumber size you want. Example a 2x4x8’ will cost (a make up number) 25 cents a foot so a 2x4x8’ will cost .25 x 8 = $2.00 each.

A 2x6 by 8 foot long will cost 50 cents per linear foot. So a 2x6x8’ will cost .50 x 8’ = $4.00 each.

And so on for all the lumber sizes.

Hope this helps

Dave

[countryboy84]

When I saw lumber for some one I always sell by the board foot. It is in most cases way cheaper then lowes or the big box stores could ever get. Now 2x4x8s are almost the smae price but at the store you get a 1.5x3.5x8 not a full 2x4 but to figure get it all inches like this. 2x8x10 10x12inch=120inches long times that by the width equals 960 then devide that by 144 which is the number of inches in a board foot gives you 6.6 then times that by the thickness and you get 13.2 that is how many bdft is in a 2x8x10 which at my price for providing the log and all would be 5.94 per 2x8x10. I have not seen them that cheap at the big box stores. If some one brings me a log and I saw it would only be 3.30. So you can save a lot of money buy going with saw mill lumber. Some of the big mills a even cheaper by a couple of cents. Nothing wrong with sawmill lumber just use the formula length times width divided by 144 times the thickness (all) in inches and that gives you the number of bdft.

[just_sawing]

When you buy liner foot you are normally buying trim, molding ect.
On the mill I sell Poplar for 50 cent per board foot up to 2X10 and they are 60 cents.
That means a 2X4 will cost .66X50 cents per running foot. If you split the 2X4 into 1 inch it will be 8 inches width which is .666 of a foot.
By this a 2X6 has 1 board foot per foot and a 2X8 has 1.333 feet per running foot.
Woodmizer gives me scales which has board foot , Dolye and Schribner (Those are Log footage scales. If anyone would like one email me and I will return the email with my address and then send me a return envelope with two stamps on it and I will send you one.
You may be able to contact Woodmizer and they might send you one also