Lumber counting app: count boards from a photo, free

What the lumber counter counts

This lumber counting app counts board ends in a stack or a strapped unit, seen end-on: dimensional lumber such as 2x4s and 2x6s, planks, scaffold boards and other sawn timber. Photograph the end of the stack and it rings every board. The iPhone app also puts square and rectangular steel tube in this mode, since the ends look alike; the accuracy below was measured on lumber only, so check tube counts closely.

It counts pieces. It does not measure board sizes, board feet or volume, which lumber tally apps do. If you need to know how many boards are in the unit, it does that.

It leaves out, on purpose:

• The crosswise spacers between layers (stickers or dunnage). Only their sides show, and they are separators, not stock.
• Boards lying flat on top of the stack, where only the face shows.

It is not made for sheet goods such as plywood or OSB edges, or for round logs, which have their own counter.

How to photograph a lumber stack

1. Look at the ends, not along the boards. This is the mistake that matters most. A photo down the length of loose boards shows faces and edges, and it cannot tell one board from the next. Walk round to the end of the stack.
2. Get the whole stack in the frame, with a margin all round. Most boards it misses are ends cut by the photo border.
3. Hold the phone upright and steady. Point it straight at the ends, not tipped up at a tall stack, so the ends stay sharp and square.
4. Enough light. Ends at the back of a shed or under racking sit in deep shadow. Use daylight from the open side, or a work light.

In a rack with several bays, count one bay at a time. For a tall stack, step back to fit it rather than tilting the phone up.

Why the Check step matters most for lumber

Board ends sit tight together in a stack, and the frame often cuts through the ends along the photo border. Most of the boards it misses are those border ends. Ends well inside the frame are almost always found.

So the counter flags the border for you. Ends with less than half showing get an orange ring, along with a few faint spots it was not sure of. Tap Check to step through them and count or dismiss each one. On lumber, that step matters more than on any other counter.

How accurate is it on lumber?

The lumber model scores 84% count accuracy before you check anything. Count accuracy is 100% minus the average counting error, measured in the browser on held-out photos with 10 or more objects that the models never trained on, before any checking.

It is the newest of the five models. It was trained on photos of dimensional lumber stacked at one lumber yard, so stacks from other yards, species or profiles may count lower. Busy, tightly packed stacks are where it misses most. It rarely rings something that is not a board end. It is made for stacks: a single board held up to the camera is often not found at all.

Who counts boards in a photo

• Lumber yards and building supply stores doing a stock-take, unit by unit.
• Builders checking a lumber delivery against the order before the truck leaves.
• Sawmills counting boards in a stacked unit before strapping.
• Scaffolding firms counting boards back in after a job, which makes it a quick plank counter too.

Save the image with the count drawn on it as a record of the delivery or the stock-take.

Other counters

Round logs: count logs in a photo. Round pipe and tube: the pipe counter. Bar bundles: the rebar counter. Bricks, blocks or other building stock: count them by example with Anything. Comparing this with CountThings or a paid lumber app? See how the free counter compares.

Counting stock every day? The iPhone app coaches the shot

The web counter is free for every stack. The Counting Master app for iPhone adds what matters most for lumber:

• A camera that catches the wrong angle. In Lumber mode the level warns you, before you shoot, when the phone is pointing along the boards instead of at the ends. A tilted shot is flagged after you take it, along with blur and dark light. It works with no signal.
• Teach it your own items. Count a profile the lumber model was not trained on, like decking or trim, by tapping one example, and save it as an item. After 20 checked counts, your iPhone trains a counter for it, and it counts by itself from then on.
• Keep a history of every unit you counted, on the phone.

iPhone, iOS 17 or later. The first three counts are free. Get Counting Master for iPhone