Tools / Cabinetry
Cut list, every sheet standard
Nest your parts onto plywood with a real blade kerf, then see what the same list costs on American, British, European, Australian and Baltic birch stock. Guillotine cuts only, so every nest here is one a track saw can actually make.
The same list, every market
A parts list is not portable. The European sheet is 60 mm longer than the British one, Australian stock is 40 mm shorter than a nominal 4 × 8, and Baltic birch is square. Here is what your list costs on each, so you know before you publish a plan or order a pack.
| Sheet | Imperial | Stocked in | Sheets needed | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1220 × 2440 ← | 4 ft × 8 ft | US, CA, UK | 2 | 79.8 % |
| 1250 × 2500 | metric only | EU | 2 | 76.0 % |
| 1200 × 2400 | metric only | AU, NZ | 2 | 82.5 % |
| 1525 × 1525 | 5 ft × 5 ft | US, CA, UK, EU, AU | 3 | 68.1 % |
Why guillotine only
A guillotine cut runs edge to edge across whatever piece is on the saw. That is what a track saw does on a sheet laid over foam, and what a panel saw does in a timber yard. It is the constraint most people are actually working under.
Optimisers that ignore it produce tighter nests full of pieces you cannot reach without a CNC, because freeing one part would mean cutting around a corner. A nest that reads as five percent better and cannot be cut is worse than an honest one, so this tool refuses to produce them. If you do have CNC time booked, a nesting package inside your CAM software will beat this and it should.
Where yield looks poor, the usual fix is splitting one oversized part into two. A 1180 mm shelf across a 1220 mm sheet leaves a 37 mm ribbon that can never be used again.
Kerf is not a rounding error
A 3.2 mm blade removes 3.2 mm of plywood on every pass. Two parts that each measure exactly half a sheet do not come off one sheet, they come off two, and no amount of careful measuring changes that. It is the single most common reason a cut list that looked fine on paper needs an extra sheet at the yard.
Set the kerf to match your blade rather than leaving a default. Thin-kerf track saw blades run around 2.2 to 2.6 mm, general purpose circular saw blades around 3.2 mm, and a yard's panel saw can be 4 mm or more.
Sheet standards
| Metric | Imperial | Stocked in | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1220 × 2440 mm | 4 ft × 8 ft | US, CA, UK | The most widely stocked sheet. Nominally 4×8 ft, milled to 1220 × 2440 mm. |
| 1250 × 2500 mm | metric only | EU | Continental European metric format. 60 mm longer and 30 mm wider than the UK sheet, and not interchangeable with it. |
| 1200 × 2400 mm | metric only | AU, NZ | Common Australian and New Zealand format. Note that 1220 × 2440 mm is also stocked in some AU suppliers, so confirm before cutting. |
| 1525 × 1525 mm | 5 ft × 5 ft | US, CA, UK, EU, AU | Baltic birch is square. A nesting diagram drawn for a 4×8 sheet does not apply to it at all. |
Thickness matters as much as footprint, and it is the other place the two unit systems part company. See the reference tables for nominal against actual, and why 18 mm and three quarters of an inch are not substitutes.