Volume (Lumber) converter
Timber trade volumes: board feet, cords and cunits alongside the metric cubic meter used in international lumber contracts.
Converter
Quick pairs
tap to loadOne board foot in every volume (lumber) unit
9 rows| Unit | Symbol | 1 fbm equals |
|---|---|---|
| Cubic meter | m³ | 0.002359737216 |
| Cubic foot | ft³ | 0.08333333333 |
| Cubic inch | in³ | 144 |
| Cord | cord | 0.0006510416667 |
| Cord foot | cd-ft | 0.005208333333 |
| Cunit | cunit | 0.0008333333333 |
| Thousand board feet | MBF | 0.001 |
| Cubic yard | yd³ | 0.003086419753 |
| Pallet (48×40×48 in) | pallet | 0.0015625 |
How the board foot to cubic meter conversion works
The cubic meter is this converter's reference unit. A board foot, the standard unit of the North American lumber trade, equals 0.002359737216 m³, a cubic foot equals 0.02831684659 m³, and a cord of firewood equals 3.624556364 m³.
The featured pair is board foot to cubic meter: m³ = fbm × 0.002359737216. Reversing it means multiplying by 423.7760007, or dividing by 0.002359737216.
A 10,000 board foot shipment of lumber converts to 10,000 × 0.002359737216 ≈ 23.60 m³. The same shipment quoted as 10 thousand board feet (MBF) converts just as cleanly, since 1 MBF is defined as exactly 1,000 board feet: 10 × 2.359737216 ≈ 23.60 m³, the same answer either way.
North American sawmills, lumberyards and building codes price and specify lumber in board feet — a board foot is the volume of a board one foot square and one inch thick (144 cubic inches), which maps conveniently onto how dimensional lumber is actually cut. International lumber contracts, especially with European and Asian buyers, use the cubic meter instead, so exporters constantly convert between the two. Pulpwood and wood chips are traded in cunits (100 cubic feet) rather than board feet, since a cunit measures loose or chipped volume rather than finished, sawn boards. Cords and cord feet remain the standard for firewood, where a cord is defined as a stack 4 feet high, 4 feet wide and 8 feet long, 128 cubic feet of stacked wood.
Firewood sellers sometimes advertise a "face cord" or "rick," which is not the same as a full cord and has no single standardized size — it's typically a stack 4 feet high and 8 feet long but only as deep as the firewood pieces are cut (often 16 inches rather than the full 4 feet), making it roughly a third of a true cord. Always confirm whether a firewood quote means a full cord before converting or comparing prices.
The pallet entry (1.510 m³, based on a standard 48×40×48-inch stacked load) is included as a practical shipping and freight reference rather than a lumber-specific unit, useful for estimating how many cubic meters of cargo space a palletized load of any goods, lumber included, will actually occupy.
Questions
How many cubic meters are in one board foot?
One board foot equals 0.002359737216 cubic meter, about 2.36 liters.
Which lumber volume units does this converter cover?
10 units anchored to the cubic meter: board foot, thousand board feet (MBF), cubic foot, cubic inch, cubic yard, cord, cord foot, cunit and a standard shipping pallet volume.
How precise should a board-foot-to-cubic-meter conversion be for a lumber order?
Two to three decimal places is standard for commercial lumber quotes. Sawmills already round individual board measurements to the nearest board foot before totaling an order, so additional precision in the metric conversion rarely changes the practical result.
When would I use MBF instead of board feet?
MBF (thousand board feet) is the standard unit for large orders, timber sales and sawmill production reports, where quoting a six- or seven-digit board-foot figure would be unwieldy. Individual boards, small retail purchases and cut lists stick with plain board feet.
Does a board foot match the size lumber is actually sold as, like a '2x4'?
Not exactly. A board foot is based on nominal dimensions (a board that's supposedly 1 inch thick and 12 inches wide), but surfaced lumber is planed down smaller than its nominal size. A "2×4," for instance, actually measures about 1.5 by 3.5 inches once finished, so board-foot totals for dimensional lumber are based on the nominal rough-cut size, not the smaller board you actually receive.
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