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How to find the volume of a log (in cubic metres)

1. Measure the diameter of one face (side to side) of the log.
2. Divide diameter by 2 to find the radius.
3. Use formula pi r2 to find area of the face
4. Repeat this for other end of the log
5. Add the two areas together, then divide by 2 to get an average area
6. Mulitply average area of the face by length of the log to get total area.

Example step by step:

1. Diameter of the nearest end is 800mm or 0.80m wide

2. 0.80 / 2 = 0.40

3. Find area of the face = pi r2
A = 3.14 x (0.40×0.40)
A = 3.14 x (0.16)
A = 0/5024

4. Repeat this for the other end of the log (700mm or 0.70m)
A= 0.75 / 2 = 0.375
A= 3.14 x (0.375 x 0.375)
A= 3.14 x (0.140625)
A= 0.4416

5. Add the two areas together, then divide by 2 to get an average area
A= (0.5024 + 0.4416) / 2
A= 0.944 / 2
A= 0.472

6. Multiply average area of the face by length of the log to get total area
A= 0.472 x 4.5
A= 2.124 cubic metres.

How to find the cubic meterage of sawn timber

Raw log to estimated sawn:
To find estimated sawn timber from raw log form, you must decide on a possible percentage recoverable, depending on:
– Log size (small logs, lower recovery)
– Log shape (odd shape, lower recovery)
– Log quality (rot, internal knots etc, lower recovery)
– Size of boards (small boards = more sawdust = lower recovery)

Recovery rates can float between 30% for extremely small, knotty, irregular logs, to around 85% for perfect medium to large logs.

Using an average of 65% for this exercise, multiply the area of the log by 65%.

Using the previous example with a log areaof 2.124 cubic metres, x 65% = 1.3806.

So from an average log of over 2 cubic metres, you get just under 1.5 cubic metres of sawn timber.

Measuring Sawn Timber:

1. Obtain the end dimensions of the boards being cut (eg. 2″x4″)
2. Multiply the end dimensions by the length of the board
3. Multiply the total by the number of boards this size
4. Keep tallying all piles of similar boards, add them together for the total meterage of sawn timber

Example step by step:

1. End dimensions = 0.10 x 0.05 = 0.005m
2. 0.005 x 4m (length) = 0.02m
3. 0.02m x 100 (eg number of boards) = 2 cubic metres in total.

Wood Area Cheat Sheet (Sawn Timber)

This cheat sheet is designed to help you quickly calculate how much standard dimensional sawn timber you need at a glance, to make one cubic metre or one thousand board feet.

Metric/Imperial Conversion:
There are 423 board feet (bf) in 1 cubic metre (m3) and 0.00023597372 cubic metres (m3) in 1 board foot (bf)

One cubic metre (m3) is a block of timber 1m wide x 1m high x 1m long.
Key: LM = Linear Metre, m3 = Cubic Metre
Width		Height	Portion of m3 in 1 LM	No. of LM to make 1m3
0.025	x	0.025	0.000625	1600
0.025	x	0.05	0.00125	800
0.025	x	0.075	0.001875	533
0.025	x	0.1	0.0025	400
0.025	x	0.125	0.003125	320
0.025	x	0.15	0.00375	267
0.025	x	0.175	0.004375	229
0.025	x	0.2	0.005	200
0.025	x	0.225	0.005625	178
0.025	x	0.25	0.00625	160
0.05	x	0.05	0.0025	400
0.05	x	0.075	0.00375	267
0.05	x	0.1	0.005	200
0.05	x	0.125	0.00625	160
0.05	x	0.15	0.0075	133
0.05	x	0.175	0.00875	114
0.05	x	0.2	0.01	100
0.05	x	0.225	0.01125	89
0.05	x	0.25	0.0125	80
0.075	x	0.075	0.005625	178
0.075	x	0.1	0.0075	133
0.075	x	0.125	0.009375	107
0.075	x	0.15	0.01125	89
0.075	x	0.175	0.013125	76
0.075	x	0.2	0.015	67
0.075	x	0.225	0.016875	59
0.075	x	0.25	0.01875	53
0.1	x	0.1	0.01	100
0.1	x	0.125	0.0125	80
0.1	x	0.15	0.015	67
0.1	x	0.175	0.0175	57
0.1	x	0.2	0.02	50
0.1	x	0.225	0.0225	44
0.1	x	0.25	0.025	40
0.125	x	0.125	0.015625	64
0.125	x	0.15	0.01875	53
0.125	x	0.175	0.021875	46
0.125	x	0.2	0.025	40
0.125	x	0.225	0.028125	36
0.125	x	0.25	0.03125	32
0.15	x	0.15	0.0225	44
0.15	x	0.175	0.02625	38
0.15	x	0.2	0.03	33
0.15	x	0.225	0.03375	30
0.15	x	0.25	0.0375	27
0.175	x	0.175	0.030625	33
0.175	x	0.2	0.035	29
0.175	x	0.225	0.039375	25
0.175	x	0.25	0.04375	23
0.2	x	0.2	0.04	25
0.2	x	0.225	0.045	22
0.2	x	0.25	0.05	20
0.225	x	0.225	0.050625	20
0.225	x	0.25	0.05625	18
0.25	x	0.25	0.0625	16

One board foot (BF) is a board that is 1" thick by 12" wide by 12" long.
Key: LF = Linear Feet, BF = Board Foot
Width		Height	No. of LF to make 1 BF	No. of LF to make 1000 BF
1	x	1	12	12000
1	x	2	6	6000
1	x	3	4	4000
1	x	4	3	3000
1	x	5	2.4	2400
1	x	6	2	2000
1	x	7	1.7	1714
1	x	8	1.5	1500
1	x	9	1.3	1333
1	x	10	1.2	1200
2	x	2	3	3000
2	x	3	2	2000
2	x	4	1.5	1500
2	x	5	1.2	1200
2	x	6	1	1000
2	x	7	0.9	857
2	x	8	0.8	750
2	x	9	0.7	667
2	x	10	0.6	600
3	x	3	1.3	1333
3	x	4	1	1000
3	x	5	0.8	800
3	x	6	0.7	667
3	x	7	0.6	571
3	x	8	0.5	500
3	x	9	0.4	444
3	x	10	0.4	400
4	x	4	0.8	750
4	x	5	0.6	600
4	x	6	0.5	500
4	x	7	0.4	429
4	x	8	0.4	375
4	x	9	0.3	333
4	x	10	0.3	300
5	x	5	0.5	480
5	x	6	0.4	400
5	x	7	0.3	343
5	x	8	0.3	300
5	x	9	0.3	267
5	x	10	0.2	240
6	x	6	0.3	333
6	x	7	0.3	286
6	x	8	0.3	250
6	x	9	0.2	222
6	x	10	0.2	200
7	x	7	0.2	245
7	x	8	0.2	214
7	x	9	0.2	190
7	x	10	0.2	171
8	x	8	0.2	188
8	x	9	0.2	167
8	x	10	0.2	150
9	x	9	0.1	148
9	x	10	0.1	133
10	x	10	0.1	120

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Free Online Tools for Sawmillers

Log Calculators

How to find the volume of a log (in cubic metres)

Example step by step:

How to find the cubic meterage of sawn timber

Measuring Sawn Timber:

Example step by step:

Wood Area Cheat Sheet (Sawn Timber)

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