Sawn Timber Board [SWB]

Sawn timber boards, made to order in the wood and the sizes you specify. Nothing on this page is off-the-shelf stock. You build a cutting list below, we show you an instant estimate, then that same list goes to our approved UK timber supplier network so one enquiry brings back multiple quotes to compare.

Every board is cut for your job in kiln dried sawn hardwood or softwood. Joiners, cabinetmakers, furniture makers, shopfitters, builders and manufacturers use the sawn timber pricing tool to price a whole cutting list at once, instead of emailing timber merchants one at a time and waiting.

Sawn board sizes you can specify

Work in metric or imperial and switch between them at any time. For each line of your cutting list you set:

• Length - 600 mm to 4800 mm (2 ft to 14 ft in imperial mode)
• Width - 50 mm to 250 mm (imperial widths are picked in 1/16 in steps)
• Thickness - 18, 25, 32, 38, 50, 65, 75 or 100 mm nominal (3/4 in to 4 in)
• Quantity - 1 to 300 per line, and you can add as many lines as the job needs

Give each line a reference such as CILL, DOOR LINING or RAIL 3. That label follows the item all the way through pricing, quoting and delivery paperwork, so a mixed order can be checked off board by board when it lands on site.

Sawn hardwood and softwood species we quote

Boards are cut to order in any of these woods, so a species-specific job is priced properly rather than substituted:

• Oak - European Oak Prime S/E, European Oak Joinery Grade S/E and American White Oak
• Durable tropical hardwoods - Iroko, Sapele, Utile, Dark Red Meranti and Ayan
• Furniture and cabinet hardwoods - American Black Walnut, American White Ash, American Cherry, American Maple, European Beech, Steamed Beech and Tulipwood (Poplar)
• Softwoods and modified timber - Scandinavian Redwood, Douglas Fir, European Larch, Western Red Cedar, Southern Yellow Pine and Accoya

All of it is solid timber. We do not quote MDF, plywood, veneered board, laminate or plastic. If you are unsure which species suits the job, our sister site AnyoneWood is the wood database (opens in a new tab), covering durability, movement, workability and typical uses for each of 650+ species. If you need the shipping weight of a parcel, the cubic metre weight calculator (opens in a new tab) works it out from species and volume.

How to specify sawn timber and get the size right

Sawn sizes are nominal - the dimension as the board leaves the saw, before any planing. This is where most sawn timber orders go wrong, so work backwards:

• Start from the finished size you actually need in the job, not the size you think you should order.
• Add a machining allowance. As a rule of thumb allow around 3 mm to 6 mm off the thickness and off the width to reach clean, flat, square faces. Wider or longer boards, and any timber with movement in it, need the upper end of that.
• Round up to the next nominal thickness on the list above. A 20 mm finished component comes from a 25 mm nominal board, not an 18 mm one.
• Allow length for docking. Add at least 25 mm to 50 mm per component so you can trim the ends square and cut out any splits or checks.
• Let it acclimatise. Kiln dried timber for interior joinery is normally supplied at roughly 8 to 12 per cent moisture content. Sticker the boards in the room where they will be used for a week or so before machining.

If you would rather send the finished sizes and let the supplier add the allowance, say so when you request your quotes and the network will price it that way.

Sawn timber for renovation, period property and heritage restoration

Made-to-order sawn boards are the practical starting point for repair and replica work, where nothing standard fits and the original species matters. We regularly quote sawn timber for listed buildings, conservation areas and period properties - Georgian, Regency, Victorian, Edwardian and Arts and Crafts.

• Georgian and Victorian joinery - Scandinavian Redwood is the closest modern equivalent to the Baltic redwood and yellow deal used for sash boxes, window cills, door linings, shutters and panelling.
• Pitch pine repairs - Southern Yellow Pine is the usual substitute where original pitch pine cannot be sourced, for church joinery, floors and staircases.
• External and structural repair - European Oak for frames, cills, gates and pegged work, Douglas Fir for larger sections and roof timbers.
• Durable external joinery - Iroko, Sapele, Utile or Accoya where a long paint life and stability outdoors matter more than matching an original species.

Order the boards oversize, machine them to the profile or section taken off the original, and you have a like-for-like repair rather than an approximation. If you need the moulded or machined item rather than the raw board, our planed timber and made-to-match moulding products cover that instead.

Rough sawn, square sawn, and what actually arrives

These boards are supplied from nominal thickness and square sawn unless described otherwise. They are rough sawn - not prepared, planed or machined. They arrive with a sawn finish, bare and unfinished, ready for you to plane, thickness, mould or coat as you wish. Plenty of customers use them in sawn form for cladding, framing, agricultural and rustic work.

If you want the timber prepared before it reaches you, use planed timber (PSE or PAR) instead. There is a fuller explanation in our guide to choosing sawn boards.

One cutting list, multiple timber suppliers, one enquiry

We are not a timber merchant and we hold no stock. We connect you with UK timber suppliers and sawmills who compete for your cutting list, which is how you get a real price comparison rather than a single quote you cannot benchmark.

• 1. Build the list - add a line per component with your reference, species, quantity and sizes. Duplicate a line to repeat it.
• 2. Show prices - get an instant estimate for the whole list, so you can sanity-check a job before committing to it.
• 3. Request quotes - one click sends your list to the supplier network. Ten or more suppliers can quote for sawn boards.
• 4. Compare and choose - weigh up price, lead time and delivery, then order from the supplier you prefer. Estimated timescales come with the quotes.

There is no need to send the same cutting list to five merchants and chase them. How it works sets out the full process, and you can check delivery before you order.

Supply sawn timber? Register as a supplier to quote on cutting lists like these. If your regular merchant is not on the network yet, tell them about us and they can quote through the same comparison.