Wood Weight Calculator
Enter dimensions and pick a species to get finished weight — useful for shipping, wall-hung pieces, and knowing what you're lifting, from real species density at 12% moisture content rather than a nominal-size guess. The state lives in the URL, so you can copy the link back to the same result.
How this works
One board foot is 1/12 of a cubic foot, so the calculator first converts your thickness, width and length into board feet (the same math the board foot calculator uses), then multiplies by the species' density: weight = (board feet / 12) x density in lb/ft³. Density comes straight from this site's species data at 12% moisture content — the standard basis published figures use — rather than a single generic "wood weighs about this much" constant that ignores which species you're actually building with.
Why the species picker matters more than it looks like it should
Wood density varies enormously by species — a piece of basswood and an identically-sized piece of ipe can differ in weight by a factor of three or more. A weight estimate that doesn't account for species is really just a volume estimate wearing a weight label. Picking the actual species you're using (or the closest match if you're working with something not yet in this site's data) is the single input that most changes the answer, which is also why the species reference lists density for every wood this calculator can compute against.
12% moisture content — what that basis means in practice
Density figures are conventionally measured at 12% moisture content, a standard reference point close to interior equilibrium in much of North America, not oven-dry and not green (freshly cut) wood. Green lumber weighs meaningfully more — the water it's still holding has real mass — so a weight estimate for green stock straight off the mill will run higher than what this calculator returns. If you're weighing green lumber for handling or shipping purposes, treat this calculator's result as a lower bound rather than the final number.
What this is useful for
Finished-piece weight matters for more than curiosity: a wall-hung cabinet or shelf needs hardware rated for its actual weight, not a guess; shipping a finished piece needs an accurate box-and-material weight for a shipping quote; and moving a large glue-up (a slab table, a large casework piece) safely means knowing roughly what you're about to lift before you're mid-lift. This calculator gives the weight of the wood itself — it doesn't add hardware, finish, glue, or any secondary material, all of which are usually small relative to the wood but can matter on a piece built from a dense exotic species where every board foot already carries real weight.
What it doesn't account for
This is a solid-wood calculator — it assumes a single, solid piece at the dimensions you enter. For sheet goods (plywood, MDF), density and actual thickness differ from a solid board of the same nominal size; see /reference/ for standard sheet-goods dimensions and the how much does plywood weigh explainer for that specific case. It also doesn't account for voids, laminations, or composite construction — for a glued-up panel of mixed species, weigh each piece separately and add the results rather than averaging a single density across the whole panel.