Board feet in a 1×10×12

There are two honest answers. The wood you actually carry out of the store is 6.94 board feet — a 1×10 really measures 0.75″ × 9.25″. But if you're pricing or trading lumber, the industry counts this board as 10.00 BF, because board feet are by convention figured on the nominal 1″ × 10″ name.

The math, both ways

Which one do you want? If you're figuring weight, volume, or "how much wood is that really," use 6.94. If you're comparing against hardwood priced per board foot, or reading a mill tally, use 10.00 — the whole trade runs on nominal, for the historical reasons on our nominal vs actual page. (Construction lumber itself is usually priced per piece, so at the store neither number appears on the shelf tag.)

What a 1×10 is for

The 1×10 is old-fashioned width in a modern store: traditional barn siding, deep country shelving, stair skirt boards, and the wide field boards in board-and-batten walls (its batten partner is the 1×3). At 9-1/4″ actual it's about as wide as flatsawn softwood gets before physics starts winning.

And physics does get a vote: a board this wide can move an eighth of an inch across its width between seasons, which is why old siding was nailed to let each board slide and why a 1×10 shelf wants its crown up. Cupping is the tax on width — check the end grain and pick boards whose rings run flattest.

Twelve feet divides evenly into 16″ and 24″ on-center layouts, which makes it the blocking-and-plate length framers reach for. It still fits in most garages and on most roof racks — the last length that's easy to haul without flags and straps.

Heft check: at its true 0.75″ × 9.25″ section, a 12′ board holds 0.58 ft³ of wood — about 20 lb kiln-dried, and closer to 32 lb dripping fresh off the pressure-treated rack.

What that volume costs at hardwood prices

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Related: 1×10×8 · all sizes