How do you calculate board foot yield?

Divide the boards that passed grade by the total boards run, then multiply by 100. With 8 passing out of 250, that is 8 / 250 x 100 = 3.2%.

What is a good board foot yield rate?

For clear hardwood grades, well-run mills often recover 55-70% of gross board feet into upper grades; softwood dimension mills run higher. A rate of 3.2% signals a grading, drying, or sawing problem worth investigating.

Why is my yield gap so large?

In this example the gap is 91.8 points below a 95% target, which almost always points to a data or scope issue (counting only premium boards against total) rather than pure production loss.

Board foot yield vs lumber recovery factor?

Yield here is graded output over graded input as a percentage. Lumber recovery factor (LRF) is board feet produced per cubic foot of log, measuring conversion from the log itself.

Does drying degrade affect this number?

Yes. Warp, checking, and honeycomb from kiln schedules pull boards down a grade, lowering the passing count even when sawing was clean.

Should I use board count or board feet?

Count is fine for a quick check on uniform stock, but for mixed sizes use actual board feet so a few wide, long boards are not treated the same as narrow shorts.

Wood & Paper Manufacturing calculator

Board Foot Yield Calculator

Board foot yield is the share of your total sawn or graded lumber that actually makes the target grade, expressed as a percentage. Sawmill supervisors, kiln operators, and lumber graders track it to see how much of every log run converts into saleable board feet versus falling out to low-grade or cull. Because raw material is the single largest cost in a hardwood or softwood mill, a few points of yield swing translates directly into margin. This calculator returns both your realized yield rate and how far it sits from your target so you can size the improvement opportunity.

What this calculator does

Estimate board foot yield for wood and paper manufacturing using production-ready inputs so teams can track KPI performance and decide whether corrective action is needed.
Use it when board foot yield in wood and paper manufacturing needs a clean rate and gap-to-target you can put on a tier board.
It computes the percentage of your total board footage that met grade, then subtracts your target rate to show the gap in percentage points.

Formula used

Board foot yield rate = board foot yield count ÷ total board foot yield population × 100
Board foot yield gap to target = board foot yield rate - target board foot yield rate

Inputs explained

Boards passing grade:
Total boards run through the mill:
Target grade-yield rate:

How to use the result

Use it after grading a run, shift, or log lot to benchmark actual grade recovery against a mill target.
It treats every board as an equal unit; if your boards vary widely in size, weight the count by actual board feet for a truer picture.

Current U.S. benchmarks

The producer price index for lumber and wood products stands at 280.994 (BLS, May 2026), up 4.2% from a year earlier. Quotes priced off last quarter's material cost miss this move.
The producer price index for paperboard and containers stands at 276.831 (BLS, May 2026), up 8.8% from a year earlier. Quotes priced off last quarter's material cost miss this move.
The U.S. has 13,899 wood product manufacturing establishments employing about 432,255 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).

Common questions

How do you calculate board foot yield? Divide the boards that passed grade by the total boards run, then multiply by 100. With 8 passing out of 250, that is 8 / 250 x 100 = 3.2%.
What is a good board foot yield rate? For clear hardwood grades, well-run mills often recover 55-70% of gross board feet into upper grades; softwood dimension mills run higher. A rate of 3.2% signals a grading, drying, or sawing problem worth investigating.
Why is my yield gap so large? In this example the gap is 91.8 points below a 95% target, which almost always points to a data or scope issue (counting only premium boards against total) rather than pure production loss.
Board foot yield vs lumber recovery factor? Yield here is graded output over graded input as a percentage. Lumber recovery factor (LRF) is board feet produced per cubic foot of log, measuring conversion from the log itself.
Does drying degrade affect this number? Yes. Warp, checking, and honeycomb from kiln schedules pull boards down a grade, lowering the passing count even when sawing was clean.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.