Wood Blank Dimensions Guide 2024

Wood Blanks Defined

Wood blanks are segments of wood that are milled, machined and/or sliced to nominal dimensions for the purpose of manufacturing wood products at a smaller net dimension.

More specifically, wood turning blanks are wood parts that are prepped &  dimensioned for use on a wood turning lathe.

Wood blanks are used by furniture manufacturers, wood makers, woodworkers and instrument builders. Blanks are popular with small to medium size wood product manufacturers because blanks are fixed cost wood components.  

Typically, the hardwood lumber industry markets wood blanks at a 100% yield.  Any waste or defects associated with making a quality wood blank is factored into the price, or should be. A woodworker buying 10 wood dowels wants 10 useable hardwood dowels.  

Whereas, the net material cost of using grade hardwood lumber varies depending on the quality of the lumber & efficiency of the manufacturer.

Woodworking Example: Maple Pool Cues

Pool cue makers often purchase cue blanks in the form of either maple dowels or maple squares.  However, other cue makers prefer to cut their own cue stock from either lumber or logs.

Let’s assume kiln dried White Maple cue blanks measuring 1 1/8″ thick x 1 1/8″ wide x 30″ long sell for $25 each. Additionally, 5/4 FAS kiln-dried White Hard Maple lumber sells for $5/Board Foot wholesale and $9/Board Foot retail.

Accordingly, cue manufacturers have 3 options for buying wood to make billiard cues:

1. Buy the wood blank at a fixed cost of $25/
2. Purchase a wholesale lot of 5/4 FAS grade White Hard Maple lumber. For example, 500 Board Feet at $5/BF. This is a $2500 investment in wood.
3. Purchase a smaller retail lot of 5/4 FAS grade White Maple wood. For example 25 board feet at $9/BF. This is a $225 investment in wood.

Buying a wood cue blank removes many variables out of the manufacturer’s cost equation. 

However, some wood turners try to save money by cutting their own blanks from lumber instead of buying hardwood blanks. In the above example, a 5/4 x 5/4 x 30″ cue blank only measures .33 Board Feet.

After realizing the maple cue blank cost converts to $75/BF, many woodworkers opt to buy a wholesale lot of 5/4 lumber at $5/BF and cut their own blanks. 

At first, the wood savings seem substantial & undeniable.  However, if only 1 of 10 lumber boards are of pool cue quality, the effective cost of the lumber just jumped from $5/BF to $50/BF.  In an effort to recapture that cost, the turner may claim 90% of the lumber boards are off-grade.  However, while they may not be good enough for custom pool cue production they may be well-within NHLA FAS hardwood grading standards.

Perhaps the turner really needs to buy retail lumber. This way they can hand-select each lumber board. Sure, they’re paying a higher price than wholesale lumber. However, presumably, the turner will only pick out cue-quality lumber boards. 

Unfortunately, this only addresses one variable – lumber quality.  What if the wood turner runs a full tank of gas visiting 3 lumber stores to find high quality 5/4 Maple available for sale?  In July 2022, Southern California gas prices are $6/gallon. This adds $150 to the cost. Additionally, what about the opportunity cost of not working during this shopping excursion?  Shop time to mill your own blanks on a table saw, etc. 

Woodworkers notoriously under-estimate true labor costs. This is especially true when woodworkers really enjoy the woodworking process.  Large scale shops rarely underestimate their opportunity cost.

Should Woodworkers Buy Blanks or Make Blanks From Lumber?

There no single right answer. It depends on all of the variables discussed above.  

In fact, as the owner of a wholesale hardwood lumber company, I periodically buy retail lumber for projects when it makes sense.   Typically, this is when I need a small amount and I’m looking for specifications above and beyond basic NHLA hardwood grading standards.

Let’s revisit the wholesale purchase example above. If the cue makers re-sells their unwanted lumber to a cabinet manufacturer at cost, the cue cost once again makes sense. If it resells at a profit, even better. If the lumber actually yields 30% cue stock, better again.