How Many Board Feet in a 2×10×12?
2×10 board feet by length
| Size | Board feet | Pieces per 100 bf |
|---|---|---|
| 2×10×6 | 10.00 | 10 |
| 2×10×8 | 13.33 | 8 |
| 2×10×10 | 16.67 | 6 |
| 2×10×12 | 20.00 | 5 |
| 2×10×14 | 23.33 | 5 |
| 2×10×16 | 26.67 | 4 |
The 2×10×12 is typical stock for floor joists over longer spans. Ordering for a whole plan? It takes 5 pieces of 2×10×12 to reach 100 board feet — tally the real cut list, mixed sizes and all, in the board foot calculator and print it as a slip for the yard.
Worth remembering: dimensional softwood like this usually sells by the piece, not by the board foot — but the BF figure still matters for comparing costs across sizes, estimating framing packages, and talking to mills. Hardwood in random widths is where per-BF pricing rules; see the price table for what species run per board foot.
Why a 2×10 isn't really 2″ × 10″
Every 2×10×12 starts life rough-sawn at (close to) its nominal size, then loses material to drying and surfacing — which is how a 2×10 arrives at the store measuring 1½″ × 9¼″. The nominal-size convention is written into the American Softwood Lumber Standard (NIST PS 20), and it governs everything downstream: the label on the rack, the invoice, span tables and this page's board-foot figure of 20 bf. Measure a 2×10×12 with calipers and punch the actual size into a calculator, and you'll come up about a quarter short of what the yard will charge you for — always figure nominal.
What does a 2×10×12 weigh?
Handy when you're loading the truck: at 20 board feet, a kiln-dried SPF (spruce-pine-fir) 2×10×12 runs about 46.7 lb, and a denser southern yellow pine version about 60 lb. Fresh, still-wet stock is heavier — roughly 56.7 lb (SPF green) to 91.7 lb (SYP green). A 50-piece framing lift of 2×10×12s is therefore on the order of 2335–3000 lb dry, which is real payload. Species-by-species figures live in the lumber weight calculator.