The wood or lumber you buy for your projects will usually be sold by the 'board foot', BD ft or FBM (foot, board measure). It is a measure of volume of wood which corresponds to the equivalent to a square of 1 foot by 1 foot by 1 inch thick.
The standard way of figuring out how much wood you have is to multiply the width in inches (because the width of a board is almost always less than one foot), by the length in feet, by the thickness in inches, then divide that by 12. For example you have a board that is 6" wide, 1" thick, and 5' long, this gives you 2.5 bd ft.
Some people calculate board feet by keeping all dimensions in inches. If you do this, then just divide the total by 144, instead of 12.
If you are not good at doing math in your head and you find yourself at the lumber yard without a calculator, an easy way to estimate your board feet would be to keep the idea of 1 bd ft equalling a piece of wood that is 1' x 1' x 1", or a piece of wood that is 2 feet by 6 inches wide, by 1 inch thick.
Another rough idea to help out is a one inch board 6" wide by 8' long equals 4 board feet.
Introduction to Woodworking
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