Quick answers / 2×2×8

How Many Board Feet in a 2×2×8?

2.67 board feet
2″ × 2″ × 8′ ÷ 12 = 2.67 — figured on nominal size
Nominal vs actual: a surfaced 2×2 really measures 1½″ × 1½″, but board footage and pricing always use the nominal 2″ × 2″ — that's the yard convention, explained in what is a board foot.
Board foot formula illustrated — used to figure the 2.67 board feet in a 2×2×8

2×2 board feet by length

SizeBoard feetPieces per 100 bf
2×2×62.0050
2×2×82.6738
2×2×103.3331
2×2×124.0025
2×2×144.6722
2×2×165.3319

The 2×2×8 is typical stock for furring, blocking, small cleats. Ordering for a whole plan? It takes 38 pieces of 2×2×8 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 2×2 isn't really 2″ × 2″

Every 2×2×8 starts life rough-sawn at (close to) its nominal size, then loses material to drying and surfacing — which is how a 2×2 arrives at the store measuring 1½″ × 1½″. 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 2.67 bf. Measure a 2×2×8 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 2×2×8 weigh?

Handy when you're loading the truck: at 2.67 board feet, a kiln-dried SPF (spruce-pine-fir) 2×2×8 runs about 6.2 lb, and a denser southern yellow pine version about 8 lb. Fresh, still-wet stock is heavier — roughly 7.6 lb (SPF green) to 12.2 lb (SYP green). A 50-piece framing lift of 2×2×8s is therefore on the order of 310–400 lb dry, which is real payload. Species-by-species figures live in the lumber weight calculator.

Other 8-footers