Wood Weight Calculator (Lumber Weight by Species and Moisture)

Q: How much does a 2x4 weigh?

An 8 ft 2x4 (1-1/2 × 3-1/2 in actual) weighs about 9.8 lb in coast Douglas-fir and 10.4 lb in loblolly pine at 12% moisture content. Construction lumber at 15 to 19% weighs a little more, and pressure-treated lumber more still.

How much does a board, a beam or a stack of lumber weigh? Pick the species, enter the actual size, the number of pieces and the moisture content, and this calculator works out the weight from the specific gravity and shrinkage data in the USDA Wood Handbook. It covers 190 domestic and imported species, from balsa to lignumvitae, and works from oven-dry wood to freshly sawn green logs. For hardness, strength and shrinkage of each species, see the wood species database.

Wood weight calculator

How it works

Wood’s weight depends on two things: how dense the wood substance is (its specific gravity) and how much water it holds (its moisture content). The calculator uses the Wood Handbook’s own equations:

Shrinkage at moisture content x (Eq. 4-7): S_x = S₀ × (30 − x) / 30, where S₀ is the species’ volumetric shrinkage from green to oven-dry and 30% is taken as the fibre saturation point
Specific gravity at x (Eq. 4-8): G_x = G₁₂ × (1 − S₁₂/100) / (1 − S_x/100); above 30% the volume no longer changes
Density (Eq. 4-12): G_x × 62.43 lb/ft³ × (1 + x/100)
Weight = density × volume. Volume uses the actual size you enter.

G₁₂ is the Handbook’s tabulated specific gravity at 12% moisture content for US species. For imported species the tables give only the green-volume value, so G₁₂ is estimated with Eq. 4-9, or taken from the density stated in the Handbook’s species description where there is one.

Worked example

One 8 ft white oak 1×6 (actual 3/4 × 5-1/2 in) at 12% moisture content:

Units: Inches and feet
Species: White oak
Thickness: 0.75 in
Width: 5.5 in
Length: 8 ft
Number of pieces: 1
Moisture content: 12%

The calculator gives:

Total weight: 10.9 lb (4.9 kg)
Density at 12% moisture: 47.5 lb/ft3 (762 kg/m3)
Volume: 0.229 cu ft (2.75 board feet at actual size)
Weight per board foot: 3.96 lb
Specific gravity used: 0.68 (volume at this moisture content)

The board holds 0.229 cubic feet of wood. White oak’s specific gravity at 12% is 0.68, so it weighs 0.68 × 62.43 × 1.12 = 47.5 lb per cubic foot, and the board about 10.9 lb. Kiln-dried to 6% it would weigh about 10.7 lb; freshly sawn at 70% moisture content, about 14.9 lb.

Weight of common woods at 12% moisture content

Species	lb/ft³	lb per board foot	kg/m³	8 ft 2×4 (lb)
Eastern white pine	24.5	2.04	392	7.1
Western redcedar	22.4	1.86	358	6.5
Douglas-fir (Coast)	33.6	2.8	538	9.8
Loblolly pine	35.7	2.97	571	10.4
Yellow-poplar	29.4	2.45	470	8.6
Red maple	37.8	3.15	605	11
Black cherry	35	2.91	560	10.2
Black walnut	38.5	3.2	616	11.2
White ash	42	3.5	672	12.2
Northern red oak	44.1	3.67	706	12.8
White oak	47.5	3.96	762	13.9
Sugar maple	44.1	3.67	706	12.8
Shagbark hickory	50.3	4.2	806	14.7
Teak	40.1	3.34	643	11.7
Ipe	64	5.33	1,025	18.7

From Wood Handbook specific gravity at 12% moisture content (estimated for teak; ipe uses the density in the Handbook text). An 8 ft 2×4 is 1-1/2 x 3-1/2 in actual.

Notes and limits

Pounds per foot of common lumber sizes in 12 woods are in the lumber weight chart.
What a cord of firewood weighs green and seasoned, and the heat it holds, for 29 woods: firewood BTU chart.
Use actual dimensions. A nominal 2×4 is 1-1/2 × 3-1/2 in, a 1×6 is 3/4 × 5-1/2 in; rough-sawn lumber is close to its nominal size.
Moisture content changes weight more than anything else. Kiln-dried furniture lumber is 6 to 8%, construction lumber is usually dried to 19% or less, and green wood can hold its own dry weight in water or more.
Above 30% moisture content (green wood), the result depends on a moisture content you will rarely know exactly. For loads near a vehicle or lifting limit, weigh a sample piece.
These are averages. Individual boards of the same species commonly vary by 10% or more in density.
Pressure-treated lumber is usually much wetter than kiln-dried lumber when sold, so it weighs more than the species figure at 12%.
Epoxy for a river table or slab, with its weight: epoxy resin calculator.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a 2×4 weigh?

An 8 ft 2×4 (1-1/2 × 3-1/2 in actual) weighs about 9.8 lb in coast Douglas-fir and 10.4 lb in loblolly pine at 12% moisture content. Construction lumber at 15 to 19% weighs a little more, and pressure-treated lumber more still.

How much does a board foot of oak weigh?

About 3.96 lb for white oak and 3.68 lb for northern red oak at 12% moisture content.

Why is green wood so much heavier?

Freshly cut wood is full of water. A white oak board at 70% moisture content weighs about 1.4 times as much as the same board at 12%, and green wood of many species holds even more water than that.

What is the heaviest wood?

Of the species in the calculator, lignumvitae, at an estimated 88 lb/ft³ at 12% moisture content. Several tropical woods, including ipe, sink in water.

Sources

Last reviewed: 22 October 2026. The calculation is covered by automated tests with known answers taken from the sources above. Found an error? Please let us know.