Free Sheet-Goods Tool
Free Plywood Cut Optimizer
A plywood cut optimizer is a free woodworking tool that calculates the most efficient way to cut your required panels from full plywood sheets, minimizing waste and the number of sheets you have to buy. Enter the panels you need (cabinet sides, drawer bottoms, shelves, backs) and the sheet stock you're using - 4x8, 5x5 Baltic birch, or half sheets - and the optimizer returns a sheet-by-sheet cutting diagram with kerf-accurate placement and a printable cut list.
Plywood cut calculatorSheet cutting optimizerCabinet panel layoutBaltic birch friendly
Unit System
Sheet Stock
Pick a common plywood sheet size or enter a custom dimension below.
Panels Needed
List every panel: cabinet sides, tops, shelves, drawer bottoms, backs. Turn off rotation for grain-matched faces.
Panel 1
Panel 2
Panel 3
Panel 4
How to use the plywood cut optimizer
Five steps from cabinet drawing to a printable, kerf-accurate cut list for your sheet stock.
Pick your sheet stock
Choose a preset (4'x8' standard sheet, 5'x5' Baltic birch, half-sheet, or quarter-sheet) or enter custom sheet dimensions. Most cabinet shops use 4'x8' for case goods and 5'x5' Baltic birch for drawer boxes.
Add the panels you need
List every panel your project requires - cabinet sides, tops, bottoms, shelves, drawer fronts, backs, dividers - with length, width, quantity, and an optional label. Use 'Allow rotation' off for face-grain veneer plywood that needs grain matching.
Set kerf and units
Default kerf is 1/8 inch (3.2 mm), correct for a standard table saw blade. Use 1/16 inch for a thin-kerf or track saw blade. Toggle imperial or metric to match your shop drawings.
Run the optimizer
The bin-packing algorithm places largest panels first, rotates panels where allowed, and fills each sheet before opening the next. You get total sheets needed, waste percentage, and an SVG diagram per sheet.
Print the cut list
Use the Print Cut List button to take a sheet-by-sheet schedule into the shop. Each row tells you which panel goes on which sheet, its position, and whether it was rotated.
Plywood cut optimizer FAQ
Common questions about plywood sheet sizes, kerf, and how to lay out cabinet panels.
What is a plywood cut optimizer?
A plywood cut optimizer is a calculator that takes a list of required panels and arranges them onto full plywood sheets in the most space-efficient layout possible. It tells you exactly how many sheets to buy, where to cut each panel, and how much waste material the layout produces - replacing the back-of-napkin sketching most woodworkers do before a cabinet build.
How much waste does plywood cutting normally produce?
Manual sheet planning typically wastes 20 to 35% of each plywood sheet because off-cuts get oriented inefficiently and small panels end up fragmented across multiple sheets. A first-fit-decreasing optimizer usually drops that to 8 to 18%, depending on how diverse your panel sizes are. Highly varied panel sets pack tighter than uniform ones because small pieces can fill gaps between large ones.
What is kerf and why does it matter for plywood?
Kerf is the width of material a saw blade removes with each cut, typically 1/8 inch (3.2 mm) for a standard 10 inch table saw blade or 1/16 inch for a thin-kerf track saw. The optimizer subtracts kerf between every adjacent panel so the layout you see on screen is what you actually get after cutting. Skip kerf and your last panel on each row will be short by 1/8 inch per cut.
What is the standard plywood sheet size?
Standard hardwood and softwood plywood ships in 4 foot by 8 foot sheets (48 in x 96 in). Baltic birch and other European birch plywoods are sold in 5 foot by 5 foot sheets (60 in x 60 in) because they originate on a metric 1525 x 1525 mm panel. Big-box stores also stock 4'x4' half-sheets and 2'x4' quarter-sheets for hobbyists who can't transport a full sheet.
Can this tool handle Baltic birch and grain-matched panels?
Yes. Pick the 5'x5' Baltic birch preset (or enter custom sheet dimensions) and the optimizer treats it the same as any other sheet stock. For grain-matched panels - cabinet doors, face frames, or anything where the visible grain has to run a specific direction - turn 'Allow rotation' off on those panels and the algorithm will only place them in their original orientation.
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