Lengths instead of sheets. We lay out the baseboard for a bedroom in the Linear tab: enter pieces and stock lengths, read the plan per length, set kerf and minimum offcut, save a usable offcut, add a second stock length when a piece does not fit, tick off at the saw, and take the shopping list to the store. Free, no signup.
Chapters
Transcript
The spoken text of the video, per chapter.
Intro0:00
Not everything is a sheet. Baseboard, battens and framing come in lengths, and you lay those out differently. In this video we cut the baseboard for a bedroom from eight foot lengths, using the Linear tab.
The Linear tab0:13
We click Linear. There are two lists: Pieces and Stock lengths. While they are empty the app asks you to fill them; once you do, the cutting plan appears right beside them.
Entering pieces0:26
Under Pieces you add a row per wall: a name, the length and the quantity. Add piece gives you another row each time. For this room that is four walls, and two short pieces beside the door. Lengths are in inches here, just like everywhere else in the app. A name is optional, but at the saw you want to know which piece goes where.
Stock lengths and price0:49
Then the Stock lengths: the length you buy the baseboard in. Here ninety six inches, which is already filled in. We leave Quantity on the infinity sign, because the store has plenty. Fill in the price per length and cutlistlab works out the cost as you go.
Reading the plan1:07
The result is there right away: eighty nine percent used, four stock lengths, six cuts, and the cost of the baseboard. Below it every stock length is drawn separately, with the percentage you use of it. Sand is a cut piece, blue is a usable offcut, hatched is waste. The thin marks between them are the saw cuts.
Kerf, minimum offcut and trim1:31
So why is one offcut waste and the other usable? You set that on the left, under Settings. Kerf is the width of your saw cut, an eighth of an inch by default, and it comes off at every cut. Minimum offcut is set to about six inches. Anything shorter counts as waste, like the small piece on the first stock length. Trim takes the rough ends off the stock length first.
Saving a usable offcut1:58
Click a blue offcut and you see what it is: a usable offcut. Save to stock puts it aside. In the menu, under Offcut stock, it comes back as a length, with the project it came from. In your next project you put it back to work with Use.
When a piece does not fit2:16
Now a pitfall. The hallway needs a longer piece than the stock length we bought. cutlistlab says so straight away: this piece doesn't fit any stock length. So we add a second stock length, with its own price. The piece fits, and the utilization goes up.
Ticking off the cutting order2:35
At the bottom there is the Cutting order: per stock length, numbered, with the length beside it. At the saw you tick off what is done, and the counter at the top keeps up. After an interruption you can see straight away where you were. It works just as well on your phone at the saw.
Shopping list and printing2:55
What to buy is under Export, at What do I need: the stock lengths you need, with the price beside them. Cut list as CSV is there too, for anyone who would rather have the list in a spreadsheet. And Print or PDF gives you one sheet with the plan and the cutting order on it, to tick off at the saw.
Tip and close3:16
Measure every wall separately. Rooms are rarely square, and a piece that ends up a fraction of an inch short cannot be made longer again.
That was linear cutting. Start with one room: measure the walls, put them in the Linear tab, and see how many lengths you need. The whole series is in the playlist on this channel.