How Much Does A Board Foot Cost
$3.00 to $250.00+, depending on species
- Range computed across all 106 species in this site's reference data, by cost tier
Methodbudget domestic species (poplar, pine) sit at the low end; exotic hardwoods (ebony, rosewood) sit at the high end — see the species reference for a specific figure.
These are 2026 US retail estimates for rough 4/4 stock in hobbyist quantities — actual pricing varies by region, grade and supplier.
A board foot runs anywhere from about $3.00 to $250.00 or more, depending almost entirely on species — a wider spread than almost any other single variable in woodworking pricing, computed here across the full range of species this site's reference data tracks.
Why this one specifically
That range isn't a rounding exercise between "cheap" and "expensive" — it's the difference between construction-grade softwood at the low end (spruce-pine-fir framing stock, priced by the truckload for a market that doesn't care about figure or colour) and the rarest imported exotics at the high end (species like Brazilian rosewood, restricted by international trade rules and sold in small quantities to buyers who specifically want that one look). Most furniture-grade domestic hardwoods — oak, maple, cherry, walnut — sit well inside that range rather than near either extreme, typically in the $5 to $15 per board foot territory depending on grade and region.
What moves the number
Species is the dominant lever, but grade, width, figure (curl, burl, spalting) and regional supply all shift the real price within a species' typical band — a wide, clear, unfigured board of a common species can cost less per board foot than a narrow or figured board of the exact same species.