Woodworking plans that resize, and the cut lists to go with them
Pick a project, type your dimensions, and get the parts, a drawing, the boards and sheets to buy and the steps. Or go straight to the optimizers and calculators. Free, no sign-up, and nothing leaves your browser.
Project plans
All 6 plansBookshelf
Butt-jointed case from 1x boards or plywood, with fixed shelves, toe kick and a thin back.2x4 workbench
Two 2x4 frames on four legs, a plywood top and a lower shelf. Sized to your wall and your height.Raised garden bed
Stacked 2x boards on corner posts, sized to your space, with the soil volume to fill it.Base cabinet
Frameless plywood box with toe kick, stretchers and shelves, at standard kitchen dimensions.Floating shelf
A plywood sleeve over a 2x ladder frame screwed to the studs. No brackets show.Sawhorse pair
T-beam sawhorses with splayed legs, one cut angle throughout. Two from a few 2x4s.Optimizers and calculators
Cut optimizers
- Cut list optimizer for boards Enter the lengths you need and the board you are buying; get the fewest boards, a cutting diagram for each, and the waste, with saw kerf included.
- Plywood sheet cut optimizer Lay out rectangular parts on 4×8 plywood, MDF or any sheet size, with kerf, edge trim and a grain lock, as a diagram you can cut from.
Lumber
- Board foot calculator Tally board feet for a whole lumber list, including hardwood thickness in quarters, with a waste allowance and cubic volume.
- Lumber cost calculator Convert prices between per board foot, per linear foot and per piece, and compare what each board length really costs for your job.
Building
Sewing and quilting
- Fabric yardage calculator Yardage for a list of pattern pieces on any fabric width, allowing for pattern repeats, one-way prints and shrinkage, with a cutting layout.
- Quilt backing, binding and batting calculator Backing yardage with the seam direction that uses least fabric, binding strips and yardage, and the batting size to buy.
What the plans do that a PDF cannot
A printed plan is drawn for one size. If your alcove is 27" wide instead of 30", every shelf, the top and the back change, and so does the lumber you need. The plans here are written as rules (the shelves fit between the sides, so they are the width minus two board thicknesses) and recalculate the whole plan from your dimensions: the cut list, a to-scale drawing with every part lettered, the hardware and the build steps.
The shopping list is not guessed. Every part is run through the same cut list optimizer and sheet cut optimizer that are on this site, with saw kerf included, and each list can be opened in the optimizer to rearrange or add parts.
How the tools work
- Runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere; a plan's dimensions live in the page address, so a link reproduces it.
- Shows its working. Every page names its method, works an example with real numbers and says where the answer stops being reliable.
- Honest about optimizing. Fitting parts onto boards and sheets is a hard problem. The optimizers use proven heuristics and print a lower bound, so you can see when a count is the true minimum.
- Actual sizes. A 2x4 is 1 1/2" × 3 1/2". Plans are drawn with actual sizes and name the nominal board to buy.
Methods and sources for every tool are on the about page.