⚖️ Bowl Blank Weight Estimator
Enter your blank's diameter and thickness and pick a wood species to estimate the blank's weight — handy for planning shipping or mounting hardware.
A cylinder, then a density lookup
The blank is treated as a solid disc. The script takes its volume in cubic inches, then converts the species density from pounds per cubic foot:
volume = π × (D/2)² × T
weight = volume × (density / 1728)
D = diameter in, T = thickness in
density in lb/ft³, 1728 in³ = 1 ft³The defaults - 10 in across, 3 in thick, maple at 40 lb/ft³ - give 235.6 in³, which is 0.136 ft³, so 5.5 lb. Swap maple for osage orange at 55 lb/ft³ and the same disc comes out at 7.5 lb.
Picking a species and reading the answer
The dropdown carries seven averages, from basswood at 25 lb/ft³ to osage orange at 55. On that 10 × 3 in blank they span:
| Species | lb/ft³ | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Basswood | 25 | 3.4 lb |
| Cherry | 34 | 4.6 lb |
| Maple | 40 | 5.5 lb |
| White oak | 47 | 6.4 lb |
| Osage orange | 55 | 7.5 lb |
Round the blank first, or accept that the figure is low: a 10 in square left square holds 300 in³ against the disc's 235.6, about 27 per cent more wood. Thickness is the whole blank, not the finished wall.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a 12 inch maple bowl blank weigh?
At 3 in thick, about 7.9 lb: π × 6² × 3 is 339 in³, and 339 / 1728 × 40 gives 7.85. Weight rises with the square of the diameter, so going from 10 in to 12 in adds nearly half again.
Why is my green blank heavier than the estimate?
The species figures are dry densities. Freshly felled wood holds water on top of that, and it leaves slowly as the blank seasons, so a wet blank weighed today will not match this number.
Can I use this for a square blank?
Not directly. The formula assumes a round disc. For a square blank multiply the result by 4/π, about 1.27. Entering the corner-to-corner diagonal instead gives you an upper bound.