Reference specs, board-foot math, and router starting points for 3/4″ walnut and hard maple — cutting boards, signs, inlays, and furniture parts. Punch in your board price below for an instant per-part quote.
Hardwood is bought by the board foot, priced on the rough 4/4 thickness, so a 3/4″ × 6″ × 36″ board bills as 1.5 board feet. The calculator below takes the board’s price and size, so enter what you actually paid for the board.
The catch is burn and fuzz. Hard maple scorches if the bit rubs: keep the feed up and don’t dwell in corners. A downcut or compression bit keeps the top face crisp.
The same math the calculator above runs — worked out longhand, so you can sanity-check it against your own numbers.
The board here is 3/4″ × 6″ × 36″ of walnut: 1 × 6 × 36 ÷ 144 = 1.5 board feet at $12 = $18. A 25% allowance covers knots, checks, snipe and the bit’s 0.25″ kerf; it is an estimate, so use your own once you know your supplier.
This is the material line only. KraftyQuote’s router rows add the machine time with depth passes counted.
Published starting points, not settings to run blind. Hobby machines aren’t as stiff as the industrial machines tool makers chart for, so start at the hobby row and work up. Stepover for pocketing about 0.11″. Feed = RPM × flutes × chipload. Too small a chipload rubs instead of cutting, which is how maple burns and bits dull (ShopBot).
Board feet are counted on the rough thickness the board was sawn at. 4/4 is about 1" rough, sold surfaced to 13/16", and flattens to about 3/4".
They are hardwood grades. Select & Better is at least 83% clear on one face; FAS is the top grade, with long clear cuttings on both faces.
The bit is rubbing instead of cutting: feed too slow for the spindle speed, a dwell in a corner, or a dull bit. Raise the feed or lower the RPM to bring the chipload up.
Downcut or compression keeps the top face crisp; upcut clears chips better in deep slots. Many makers rough with an upcut and finish with a downcut.
KraftyQuote's full cost engine handles materials, machine time, labor, and margin in one quote — free to build, no card required.