How much is 1 cubic metre of wood?

The Wood Guide · Calculating with wood

Practical

How much is 1 cubic metre of wood?

A cubic metre is a block of one by one by one metre. But how many boards is that, and what does it weigh? Just work it out below.

1 m³ = 1 × 1 × 1 metre
Weight depends on the species
Calculator on this page

m³

Stacked packs of sawn timber at a timber merchant (Insjön, Zweden) — Stacked packs of sawn timber at a timber merchantInsjön, Zweden

Instant answer

Work out your cubic metre

Enter the dimensions of one board, choose the quantity and the wood species. The result updates instantly.

Length (cm)

Width (cm)

Thickness (cm)

Number of pieces

Wood species (for the weight)

0.020m³ per board

1.00m³ total

450kg, estimated

The basics

What a cubic metre is

A cubic metre (m³) is a volume with a length, width and height of one metre each.

How to calculate it

Multiply length × width × thickness, all in metres. A board 2 m long, 0.25 m wide and 0.05 m thick has a volume of 2 × 0.25 × 0.05 = 0.025 m³.

Adding up a batch

For several boards, calculate the volume of one board and multiply by the number. Fifty boards of 0.02 m³ make exactly one cubic metre.

Mind the units

The most common mistake: mixing up centimetres and metres. Convert everything to metres first — or use the calculator above, which does it for you.

Heavier than you think

What does a cubic metre weigh?

That varies greatly with species and moisture content. A cubic metre of oak weighs almost twice as much as a cubic metre of spruce.

Wood species	Weight per m³	Category
Spruce (Picea abies)	±450 kg	Softwood
Pine (Pinus sylvestris)	±500 kg	Softwood
Douglas fir	±500–550 kg	Softwood
Teak (Tectona grandis)	±650–700 kg	Hardwood
Mahogany (Swietenia spp.)	±650 kg	Hardwood
Oak (Quercus spp.)	±700–800 kg	Hardwood
Acacia (Robinia)	±730–800 kg	Hardwood

Green wood weighs much more

The values above apply to air-dried wood. Freshly sawn wood can be half water by weight — so a cubic metre of green spruce can come in at over 700 kg. Bear that in mind for transport and for the load-bearing capacity of a floor.

Where you'll come across it

Cubic metres in practice

Timber trade

Larger batches of timber are traded by the cubic metre, especially for industrial and construction use.

Construction

In building projects, timber is calculated in cubic metres to estimate and order quantities.

Firewood

Here people talk about a stère: a stacked cubic metre, including the air between the logs. Dry firewood weighs considerably less than freshly split wood.

DIY

Handy for knowing how many boards you'll get from a batch — or how much you're lifting.

With us, you don't count in cubic metres

Our picnic tables and garden benches are sold per piece, with the dimensions listed. This page is in The Wood Guide because the question often comes up when you build something yourself — and because calculating with wood is simply useful knowledge.