Cut List Calculator

How it works

Every cut eats a slice of timber the width of your blade. That slice is the kerf, and on a typical circular saw or miter saw it is about 1/8 inch, or a bit over 3mm. Cut five pieces from one board and you have lost most of an inch to sawdust. Plans that ignore it are the reason people get to the last part and find the board is short.

This calculator sorts your parts longest first and fits each one onto the first board with room left, adding the kerf between cuts. That is a well-known approach to the cutting stock problem and it gets very close to the best possible answer for a normal project list, in a fraction of a second. For a handful of parts it usually is the best answer.

A few practical notes. Buy one spare board if the plan is tight, because timber warps and knots land in the wrong places. Check the offcut column before you throw anything away. And if a part is longer than the board you can buy, the calculator will say so rather than quietly splitting it.

Working from a plan

If you are reading a plan and the cut list is missing a dimension, that is the plan being lazy rather than you missing something. Our guide on how to read woodworking plans covers what a complete cut list should actually contain, and how to measure and mark accurately covers getting the marks right once you know the numbers.

Working in board feet rather than lengths? Use the board foot calculator to price hardwood by volume. Cutting sheet goods instead of boards? The plywood cut calculator lays parts out on full sheets, and the full set of calculators is here.