# FREE UKWorkshop wood price calculator



## Anonymous (4 Mar 2005)

Hi all

Well, today I was planning some wood purchases for tomorrow and got fed up with working in metric and finding all the prices quoted in cubic feet!!

So, I quickly programmed a little calculator to make my life easier. It simply calculates the price for metric sized wood when one has the price given to you in cubic feet (always is!!!).

I thought it might be useful for others and so I added some error trapping to make it reliable and then added a conversion tab to allow you to convert between metric and imperial sizes and volumes quickly.

Finally, I thought I'd add a copy and paste facility using the Windows Clipboard to allow transfer of data between tabs and other programmes  

Hope you find it useful :wink: 

_If anyone likes it and thinks of other useful functionality, then let me know and I'll add it when I get a free moment_

Down load it here (44KB download (small)) - simply right click and select "Save Target As...":

http://www.btinternet.com/~my.webs/Wood_Calculator/Wood_Calculator.exe

If it does not run on your PC, then you need to download and run the following file to install the runtime libraries (1MB download) - simply right click and select "Save Target As...":

http://www.btinternet.com/~my.webs/Wood_Calculator/vbrun60-setup.exe



Screen shot of calculator in action








Screenshot of conversion in action


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## Noel (4 Mar 2005)

Fingers crossed, I'll risk it....


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## Anonymous (4 Mar 2005)

Noel":2ffd8s1g said:


> Fingers crossed, I'll risk it....



All bug reports gratefully received :lol: :wink:




I have checked it before posting it for you to play with :roll:


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## Noel (4 Mar 2005)

Didn't cross enough fingers:

"TABCT232.OCX or one of it's dependencies not correctly registered: or file is missing or incorrect"

What gives?


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## CHJ (5 Mar 2005)

Works OK here.

No bugs so far. (running XP)


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## Chris Knight (5 Mar 2005)

Tony,

Works here - thanks.

A big HOWEVER. I much prefer the imperial measurements for wood pricing and when confronted with metric stuff always want tog o the other way. I usually end up making an Excel spreadsheet for this. Also to convert British Hardwoods price lists to something I understand. They give the costs for a metre run of variously sized stock.

Can you make your program also work backwards please?


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## Waka (5 Mar 2005)

Tony

Works well for me. Thanks for taking the time.


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## tibbs (5 Mar 2005)

Hey Tony, thats neat.

For some strange reason it suddenly made me wonder if you could do something like that with Google - I know you can put in, say, 
_7 metres per minute in feet per second_
& it performs the conversion for you (instead of searching the web for the words as search terms) giving 
_7 (meters per minute) = 0.382764654 feet per second_

I was somewhat staggered to see that you could enter :-
_1000mm x 125mm x 25.4mm in cubic feet_ & get back
_(1 000 mm) x (125 mm) x (25.4 mm) = 0.112124067 cubic feet_

& even, following your example further, with the pricing :-
_25 x 1000mm x 125mm x 25.4mm in cubic feet_ & get back
_25 x (1 000 mm) x (125 mm) x (25.4 mm) = 2.80310167 cubic feet_

Not quite as intuitive or handy as your app, but pretty useful for the odd quick conversion if you can get online quickly.

Hope this might be of use to some of you.

Richard


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## Gill (5 Mar 2005)

That's really nifty, Tony. Thanks for making it available to all of us.

Gill


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## llangatwgnedd (5 Mar 2005)

Sorry Tony but I get the same error as Noel 
Running XP


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## Noel (5 Mar 2005)

The help desk is useless, can I have my money back....?


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## Drew (5 Mar 2005)

Hi Tony
downloaded your wood price calculator and the vbrun60.exe. still getting the error the others are getting
"TABCT232.OCX or one of it's dependencies not correctly registered: or file is missing or incorrect" 
I am running windows 2000.

Seems like a good idea I'm just sorry it wouldn't work for me.

Cheers
Drew


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## RogerS (5 Mar 2005)

Tony

Nice idea.

I'm running XP pro and have the same TABCTL32.OCX problem. Curiously, a Google search for this OCX reveals nothing.

Wonder what version of Vb are you using? Building the runtime asks me to instal grpconv.exe as a startup item. This was used a long time ago as part of the conversion from Windows 3.1 to 95 ! I did execute it but it did not instal any program. Sorry.

Perhaps it's time to upgrade from Windows 3.1 maybe :wink: 

Roger


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## Chris Knight (5 Mar 2005)

Roger, you may have mis-typed in Google - there is quite a bit http://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF ... BCTL32.OCX


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## RogerS (5 Mar 2005)

Spot on, Chris

For anyone with XP this is the best link 

http://www.ascentive.com/support/new/su ... BCTL32.OCX

There is a link to download the OCX if you haven't got it. I didn't and so downloaded it and put it in the Windows/System32/ folder. 

I had to add c: before the /windows in the XP command line that the above site gave before it would work.

usual caveats - if you're not sure what you're doing, don't!

Cheers Roger


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## llangatwgnedd (5 Mar 2005)

> if you're not sure what you're doing, don't!



Thats me knackered

Tony,

From the screenshots it looks a very nice programme Any chance of getting rid of that bug

Cheers


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## Bean (5 Mar 2005)

Tony 
works fine on XP here. Nice one.

Which flavor or version of VB are you running ?

Bean


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## RogerS (5 Mar 2005)

Hi Sawdust...PM me and I'll help you through it.

Cheers

Roger


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## Anonymous (6 Mar 2005)

Thanks all

The problem is due to the TAB custom control I used to allow switching between calculator and conversion format. As I did not create a setup file and all the associated stuff but gave you the .exe, you might need to add the TABCTL32.OCX file to your Windows/system32 folder. 

You can download the file from my website here and copy to your system32 folder

http://www.btinternet.com/~my.webs/Wood_Calculator/TABCTL32.OCX 


To register it, do the following. Using your mouse, click on the "Start" button and then click on "Run". 


According to your Operating System, type the following command to register this library file:

Windows 95, 98, or Me:
regsvr32 \windows\system\TABCTL32.OCX

Windows NT or 2000:
regsvr32 \WINNT\system32\TABCTL32.OCX

Windows XP:
regsvr32 \windows\system32\TABCTL32.OCX


You should see a message saying "DllRegisterServer ... succeeded" 

For those that asked, I wrote it in VB6 as the PC I use at work does not have VB.NET on it at present 

Chris, I'll add the imperial option over the weekend if time permits.

Can you tell me a bit more about 


> Also to convert British Hardwoods price lists to something I understand. They give the costs for a metre run of variously sized stock.


and I may be able to incorporate something for that too

cheers

The support team :wink:


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## trevtheturner (6 Mar 2005)

Jeepers! :shock: :shock: 
My tape and li'l ol' calculator work every time - specially when I'm looking through stock down at the woodyard! :wink: 

Cheers,

Trev.


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## Chris Knight (6 Mar 2005)

Tony,

It's the tabulations on this page that I was referring to http://www.britishhardwoods.co.uk/kiln.html


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## Anonymous (6 Mar 2005)

trevtheturner":3fq4waqo said:


> Jeepers! :shock: :shock:
> My tape and li'l ol' calculator work every time - specially when I'm looking through stock down at the woodyard! :wink:
> 
> Cheers,
> ...



Trev

I have written a version for my Pocket PC too which I can take along to the woodyard :lol: 

Overkill, I know, but I love programming as relaxation (certainly beats the TV) :wink:


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## llangatwgnedd (6 Mar 2005)

> Hi Sawdust...PM me and I'll help you through it.



Thanks Roger I will take you up on that


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## Alf (6 Mar 2005)

Tony":g2101c9b said:


> Windows 95, 98, or Me:
> regsvr32 \windows\system\TABCTL32.OCX


You need a "32" after the "system" there. Guess how I found that out... Anyway, I got the wotsit succeeded message, but then when I went to open the program I got:


> Class not registered.
> You need the following file to be installed on your machine. MSSTDFMT.DLL.


Sigh. So I went and found that and installed it. Then went to find how to get the computer to know it was there ("regsvr32.exe msstdfmt.dll" in Run, fwiw) and guess what?

IT WORKS!!!!!  

Never mind calculating wood prices; it's introduced me to dark regions of my computer that a Galoot should not wot of. :wink:

Cheers, Alf


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## llangatwgnedd (6 Mar 2005)

Can someone tell me, or try to explain to me why it will run on some machines and not others running the same brand?

I get auto XP updates and all that but cannot run Tonys programme, and

Alf what is fwiw ? :shock:


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## Alf (6 Mar 2005)

Sawdust Producer":2euvbqea said:


> Alf what is fwiw ? :shock:


For What It's Worth. http://www.acronymfinder.com/

Cheers, Alf


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## Anonymous (6 Mar 2005)

Sawdust

The problem is that I cannot send you an iinstall program at teh minute as my PC won't create them for some reason. If you have downloaded and run the second file (VB Runtime libraries) you should be OK as long as you add the TABCTL32.OCX to your windows/system32 folder

fwiw means for what it's worth


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## llangatwgnedd (6 Mar 2005)

Thank you Tony 

I did download the second file and could not get it to run but I will be asking Roger to guide me through the intestines of my machine as i don't like dabbling in there

Cheers


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## Anonymous (6 Mar 2005)

VERSION 2 available here with Chris's suggestions added :wink: 


http://www.btinternet.com/~my.webs/Wood_Calculator/Wood_Calculator_2.exe

The changes are as follows:

I added the facility to enter imperial or metric dimension which you select from the drop down menu as you can see here:




_click on image for larger view_




_click on image for larger view_




_click on image for larger view_


I added the British Hardwoods price conversion on the CONVERT tab. 
http://www.britishhardwoods.co.uk/kiln.html
I used two drop-down lists to select their sizes, the upper drop-down is to select the vertical sizes from the BH table as you can see here




_click on image for larger view_

The lower drop-down is to select the horizontal sizes from the BH table (and so contains more entries) as you can see here




_click on image for larger view_

To use this convertor, you must first enter the price provided on the BH website in the left hand textbox and then use the two drop-down lists to enter the dimensions*. The price per cu ft will be automatically calculated as soon as all 3 pieces of info are entered.
The long blue button underneath the entry boxes will send the price to the calculator on the other tab as shown below:




_click on image for larger view_




_click on image for larger view_


As before, any suggestions for improvements or additions are welcome :wink: 

* I used the rounded values in the calcs as this is what BH show on their site. e.g. 19mm rather than 19.05. If this is a problem, then let me know and I will change it.


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## Alf (6 Mar 2005)

Kewl. 8) Thanks, Tony. Now if the next version would just do the initial stock prep too... :wink: 

Cheers, Alf


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## DaveL (6 Mar 2005)

Sawdust Producer":2mn17abs said:


> Can someone tell me, or try to explain to me why it will run on some machines and not others running the same brand?



I will try.  

Tony wrote his program using a version of Micro$oft Visual Basic (VB), most VB programs require a number of the precompiled support files to run. These are all on Tony’s machine and if he could get the install generator to work it would produce a package that contains all of the required files. Lots of software is written in VB, and comes with different mixes of the support files, depends what bits the programmer used as to what is needed. So if you happen to of installed software that needed all of the support files that Tony’s program needs you don't get the error. 8) However if this is not the case up pops the message complaining about something not being there. 

There now clear as mud. :roll:


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## Midnight (6 Mar 2005)

> There now clear as mud.



so yer sayin it's half azz'd Microsquirt software..??

that's not like them at all...

Ahem....


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## Chris Knight (7 Mar 2005)

Well done Tony!

Which modules come next? Moisture calculator or kilning schedules? :lol:


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## CHJ (7 Mar 2005)

waterhead37":3usjn1va said:


> Well done Tony!



Second the well done *Tony*, My VB coding takes more like days/weeks not minutes or hours.

*Edit*: Snip

Even more embarrassment to find that what I asked for it is already there if I had only looked closer.    

Don't smile quite so loudly Tony I'm embarrassed enough. Must read the exam paper! must read the exam paper!! must read the exam paper!!!


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## gidon (30 Mar 2005)

Tony - superb effort! One of the many posts I've missed! I have something similiar done on Excel but this is far more slick!
One minor request - on the British Hardwoods conversion, could a price also be worked out for £ per cubic foot based on the rough dimensions - not just the final dimensions? Makes it's easier to compare rough sawn to PAR prices.

As an aside I note that their prices for rough sawn timber have reduced dramatically - more in line with what I pay from Atkins and Cripps. Seems to be a huge surcharge for PAR timber? Eg £45 vs £19! (for 1x6 am wh oak). I think I'll have to continue to plane my own .

Cheers

Gidon


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## dedee (30 Mar 2005)

Thanks Tony - great tool. I seemed to have missed this first time round.

For info if anyone is still having problems I had to rename my TABCTL32.OCX file before I could load Tony's new one.

Running on Win2000Pro


Andy


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## Charley (30 Mar 2005)

Just noticed BH have redesigned their site - about time too =D> 

http://www.britishhardwoods.co.uk


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## Anonymous (15 May 2005)

Hi Tony - I just wanted to say thank you for making the calculator available. I have a little trouble converting my little blanks into price per cu.ft and had just been quoted (by a well established timber merchant in the Midlands) £70 for a piece of 65mm kd brown oak, 380mm wide and 1100mm long. I was told that the cu ft price for this would be £37.69.

With the help of your program I have found that I am being ripped off let alone the bark. I have checked it manually and confirmed the figures on your program - the price quoted being almost double what it should be. It just goes to show how people take advantage of the gullible.

Many thanks again

Paul


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## Anonymous (15 May 2005)

Paul, my pleasure, glad to help :wink:


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## dennyk (2 Nov 2005)

I.ve just joined this forum this evening and it looks a good layout

This calculator is one brilliant piece of work, it will save me a headache when I go to buy timber,

Thanks

BTW it works on my PC with XP


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## Newbie_Neil (2 Nov 2005)

Hi Denny

Welcome aboard.

Cheers
Neil


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## Nick W (28 Feb 2006)

First off, apologies to Tony for shamelessly nicking his ideas. :shock: 

For those of you who don't subscribe to the Bill Gates school of thought (at least not in your mobile lives), I have implemented the functionality of Tony's app in my Palm collection of goodies. You can download it from Here. Follow the links to the software page and look for Woody.

Woody also does simple and compound angle calculations (with cool graphics (well cool-ish (slightly tepid?(Ok, with graphics)))), and for those of you who own a 'Rat, it will work out the button position for _any _combination of dovetail and straight cutters.

Bug reports #-o , suggestions etc gratefully received O


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## Anonymous (1 Mar 2006)

Hi Nick

Converter for a Palm? I like that  Doh!! I should have thought of doing that as I have a compiler for the PocketPC. Now on the Tuit list

So much more useful than dragging my desktop computer around wood yards :lol:


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## Neomorph (2 Mar 2006)

For those who cant understand why this tool won't work on some machines and not others here is a little non-techy explanation.

Imagine that the car you have got is your PC and your engine is your operating system. Now imagine 3 people have the same car with 14" wheels but some have made modifications to them. 

Driver 1 has left it alone and it's a bog standard car. (PC with XP no service pack.)

Driver 2 has added 17" wheels and racing seats to his car (PC with XP no service pack but extra programs added)

Driver 3 has updated his car engine (PC with XP Service Pack 2)

Now along comes Tony with his new 17" tires (the new calculator) he is giving away. 

Driver 1 has got 14" wheels so he needs new wheels (vbrun extra files) to be able to use the new tires. 

Driver 2 has already got 17" wheels so is able to use the new tires. 

Driver 3 needs the new wheels too because although he has got a new car he still needs to add the bigger wheels to be able to use the new tyres.

Does that help or does it make it more confusing :lol:

Basically it means that what you guys are not experiencing bugs but missing files that the calculator needs. Try typing a letter without using the letters "E O S U" and you'll see that I mean.


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## crazylilting (13 Sep 2009)

I guess us mac users will have to stick to the measuring tape and calculator eh?


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## RogerS (13 Sep 2009)

crazylilting":re7ufomn said:


> I guess us mac users will have to stick to the measuring tape and calculator eh?



You never know. If Tony lets us have the algorithms I'm sure that we could knock one up for the Mac. Excel?


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## CHJ (13 Sep 2009)

http://www.realsoftware.com/ ?

http://www.realsoftware.com/company/news/2009/vbma


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## RogerS (13 Sep 2009)

CHJ":1dgpb0z4 said:


> http://www.realsoftware.com/ ?
> 
> http://www.realsoftware.com/company/news/2009/vbma



Of you go then, Chas :wink:


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## CHJ (13 Sep 2009)

RogerS":1wqau7ad said:


> Of you go then, Chas :wink:



Strictly PC household I'm afraid, I have enough trouble getting my head around simple Web coding these days let alone running MAC emulators etc. :roll:


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## RogerS (13 Sep 2009)

I've just seen the price!

Seriously, I can't see why Excel can't do the same thing.


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## joesoap (13 Sep 2009)

Hi Tony 
Same problem as Noel for me and I hav'nt a scooby what they're on about , will try again sometime Cheers !


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## ajmoran (14 Sep 2009)

Here's a wood price calculator that works for PCs and Macs - AmbiCalc. It's on my website and is free to use.
http://templatesbynumbers.com/?q=ambicalc

The wood price bit is new so let me know if you come across any issues.

AmbiCalc works over the internet so there is nothing to install and as well as working on any computer it also works on that new fangled iPhone thing. Perfect if you want to do costing in the woodyard. There is even a downloadable version for iPhone (may work on other phones) that you don't need an internet connection to use. If you want a copy of the iPhone version, message me and I'll send it to you for free.

Cheers
Andrew


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## toolsandtimber (20 Sep 2010)

This is so handy, thanks!!


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## RogerS (20 Sep 2010)

A nice gesture, thanks. Slight problem in that it's not very happy in either Firefox or Safari on a Mac.


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## grahamar (20 Sep 2010)

Hi,

FWIW - Firefox 3.6.10 and Mac OSX 10.5.8 work o.k. for me with the tool.

Graham


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## RogerS (20 Sep 2010)

grahamar":3o2yq0ej said:


> Hi,
> 
> FWIW - Firefox 3.6.10 and Mac OSX 10.5.8 work o.k. for me with the tool.
> 
> Graham



10.6.4 here


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## ajmoran (20 Sep 2010)

Just tested it on Mac OS 10.6.4 and Safari 5.0.1 and all was ok. Measurements need to be put in without 'mm' or 'inch'.

What problem do you see on your machine, Roger?

Cheers
Andrew


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## RogerS (20 Sep 2010)

I clicked 1/8 then + then 1/32 then = and got this







How do you get the cabinet calculator? If I click on the little cabinet icon then all I get is the template offset.


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## Mike.C (20 Sep 2010)

I do not know if it will help but there is an updated version of this as a sticky at the top of the page 1.

Cheers

Mike


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## ajmoran (20 Sep 2010)

With fractions the denominator needs to be selected first (my fault this wasn't clear, website now updated)





To rotate between the different functions: template offset calculator, cabinet calculator, diagonal measurement calculator and wood price calculator you keep pressing the little cabinet icon





Mike - the links here have no connection with the sticky post which appears to have orphaned content.

Cheers
Andrew


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