Board feet in a 1×10×8

There are two honest answers. The wood you actually carry out of the store is 4.63 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 6.67 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 4.63. If you're comparing against hardwood priced per board foot, or reading a mill tally, use 6.67 — 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.

Eight feet is the default length — it matches the ceiling, fits inside a pickup bed with the tailgate down, and wastes the least when cut for typical walls. It's usually the cheapest per foot, too, because it's the volume seller.

Heft check: at its true 0.75″ × 9.25″ section, a 8′ board holds 0.39 ft³ of wood — about 13 lb kiln-dried, and closer to 21 lb dripping fresh off the pressure-treated rack.

What that volume costs at hardwood prices

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Related: 1×10×12 · all sizes