Calculators
Turn a parts list into cutting diagrams, a sheet count and a material order. Free, runs in any browser.
A cut sheet, also called a cutting list or cut list, is the document that stands between a design and a saw. It lists every part in the job with its name, length, width, thickness, quantity and material. A good one goes further and says which parts come out of which sheet, what order the cuts happen in, and what should be left on the rack when the job is done.
That second half is the hard part. Deciding what goes where is a layout problem with an enormous number of possible answers, and the difference between a good answer and a careless one is usually a sheet or two of material on every job. A cut sheet calculator does that arithmetic for you. It takes the parts list, fits the parts to your stock, and returns a diagram for every sheet along with the number of sheets to buy.
Free to use
Each rectangle on the diagram is a part, labelled to match your list, with its exact position and dimensions shown. Offcut positions are highlighted so reusable material gets identified before it goes in the skip. The PDF export is built for the shop floor, with clear diagrams, edge banding and planing requirements marked per part.
Parts can also be printed as labels, each carrying a small diagram of the part and a QR code that opens a detailed preview on any device. On a job with sixty parts in three thicknesses, labelling as you cut is the difference between assembly and archaeology.
The dimensions are the start, not the whole record. Note which edges get banding, because banded edges change the finished size and the calculator can carry the allowance for you. Flag parts where grain direction matters, since locking orientation changes where a part can sit on the sheet. And if a part will be trimmed to final size after assembly, a face frame panel for instance, list it oversize now rather than discovering the shortfall later. A cut sheet built from complete part records survives contact with the workshop. One built from bare dimensions gets annotated by hand within the hour, and the annotations never make it back.
The classic mistake is counting sheets by area. Dividing total part area by sheet area always underestimates, because parts are rigid rectangles and the leftover space is scattered in strips too narrow to use. The second mistake is forgetting the kerf. Each cut removes a blade width, and on a sheet ripped into many strips those blade widths add up to the best part of a part. A calculator that carries kerf through every cut, and only counts space a real part fits into, gives you a number you can order against.
The underlying problem has kept researchers busy for decades. If you want to know why no spreadsheet formula does this properly, the article on the stock cutting problem is a readable place to start.
The same parts list format covers plywood and MDF sheets, lengths of timber, pipe and extrusion, and rolls of vinyl or fabric. Sheet parts have a length and a width. Linear parts have only a length, and are solved by a different algorithm suited to one-dimensional stock, described on the linear cut list calculator page. For plywood-specific concerns like grain direction and veneer, see the plywood cut calculator.
Give your stock sizes a price and the cut sheet becomes a costed material order, which is useful when a customer wants a quote before you commit to the material. Results can be shared with anyone by link, so the person buying the boards and the person cutting them can work from the same document rather than two photographs of it.
Each cut consumes the part plus the blade kerf, typically 3 mm on a table saw. So three 400 mm rips need 1209 mm of board, not 1200. Do that across forty parts and several sheets and the arithmetic stops being the hard part: the hard part is the order of cuts, because each rip constrains what the remaining panel can still yield. That ordering is what the calculator solves.
Free to use