Douglas Fir price per board foot
Plan on about $3.60 a board foot for 4/4 stock at U.S. retail (our 2026-08 estimate — your yard gets the final word). A typical board, 6″ wide and 8′ long, will run you around $14.40.
Douglas-fir has an identity crisis right in its name — it's not a true fir, and its genus name, Pseudotsuga, literally means 'false hemlock.' Even the botanists gave up gracefully. No matter: this tree framed the American West, planked the WWII shipyards, launched the entire plywood industry, and its tight vertical-grain boards defined every Craftsman doorway you've ever admired. Few trees have done more while being named less accurately.
Stiff, straight, and available in long clear lengths — timber frames and doors. Splintery; vertical-grain boards are the furniture pick.
Douglas Fir at a glance
| Price per board foot | $3.60 (2026-08) |
| Weight, dry | 32 lb/ft³ · 2.7 lb per BF |
| Janka hardness | 620 lbf |
| Shrinkage, green → oven-dry | 7.3% tangential · 4.5% radial |
| Cost of 10 BF | $36.00 |
| Cost of 25 BF | $90.00 |
What common thicknesses cost
Same 6″ × 8′ board, priced by rough thickness (thicker stock often carries a small premium on top of this — figured on volume alone):
| Thickness | Board feet | Cost | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4/4 | 4.0 | $14.40 | 11 lb |
| 6/4 | 6.0 | $21.60 | 16 lb |
| 8/4 | 8.0 | $28.80 | 21 lb |
| 12/4 | 12.0 | $43.20 | 32 lb |
Will it stay flat?
Pound for pound one of the stiffest, straightest, most predictable woods anywhere — that's why engineers love it. Vertical-grain stock barely acknowledges the seasons.
The measured numbers: drying from green, douglas fir shrinks about 7.3% across a flatsawn board's width (tangential) and 4.5% across quartersawn (radial) — that ratio is why the two cuts behave so differently in your house.
Buying douglas fir without regrets
The framing rack and the millwork shelf are different worlds: construction fir is knotty and coarse, while 'CVG' (clear vertical grain) fir is furniture-grade and priced like it. For anything you'll see and touch, CVG is worth every dollar.
At the finishing bench
It splinters, and it tears out — sharp tools and light passes, always. Then the reward: fir's pinkish heart ambers dramatically under oil, and a CVG door in afternoon light glows like a jar of honey.
Sources & further reading
Prices vary with region, grade, width, and figure. Cheaper neighbor: Eastern White Pine ($3.40). A step up: Sycamore ($3.95).