Panel glue-up calculator
Enter the width you want the finished panel and the width of the boards you're gluing it from. This works out how many boards it takes, and how much wider to glue up so the final rip lands on your target.
in
in
= 5.5"
in
= 0.063"
You need
5boards
Glue up at
27 3/16"
Then rip off
3 3/16"
Where to buy this
- 5 boards at 5 1/2" wideHome DepotLowe's
A count, not a species: which wood and how thick is yours to pick, and a hardwood dealer sells the wide stock that makes this a shorter glue-up.
Plain search links, nothing sponsored. Prices and stock are the shop's, and a local lumberyard will usually beat both on solid stock.
About gluing up a wide panel
- How many boards do I need to glue up a wide panel?
- Divide the target width by what each board actually contributes after its edges are jointed, and round up. A 24" panel out of nominal 6" boards with clean edges takes exactly four; the same panel out of boards that lose 1/16" apiece to jointing takes five, because the last one only just crosses the line.
- Why does the glue-up come out wider than my target?
- Standard practice is to glue up slightly over width and rip the panel down to its final size afterward, rather than trying to land on the exact width with the raw boards' edges as the finished edges. The overage shown here is what that final rip removes.
- What should I use for edge loss?
- Whatever a single pass over your jointer and a clean glue line actually take off — often around 1/16" to 1/8" combined, more if a board needs two passes to true up a bowed edge. It's editable because it depends on your jointer, your boards, and how straight they came off the rack.