✂️ Cut Yield Calculator
Enter your stock length, part length, and kerf to see how many pieces you get per bar, how much drop is left, the waste percentage, and how many bars a full order will take.
Informational estimates only — verify against your own cut list; not professional engineering advice.
🧮 Plan Your Cuts
✂️ Yield per stock length
What is a Cut Yield Calculator?
Buying stock is buying length, and length is money. How much of a bar becomes finished parts, and how much ends up as swarf and drop, decides both your material bill and your scrap pile. This calculator answers the question every cut list starts with: how many pieces come out of one stick, and how many sticks the whole run needs.
The detail that trips people up is the kerf — the slice of metal every cut vaporises or grinds away. On a single part it is trivial; across a production run it quietly eats whole pieces. By charging a kerf between each part and reporting the leftover drop and waste percentage, the tool lets you compare stock lengths, re-order parts to shrink the offcut, and order the right number of bars the first time. It is a planning estimate — confirm against your actual stock and add margin.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How many parts fit in a stick of stock?
Divide the stock length by the part length plus one kerf, and round down. The kerf — the material the blade or torch turns into swarf on every cut — has to be counted, because a 20-inch part cut with a 1/8-inch kerf really consumes 20-1/8 inches of bar each time. The calculator does this and reports whole pieces per length.
What is kerf and why does it matter?
Kerf is the width of material removed by the cut itself. A thin bandsaw blade might take 1/16 inch, an abrasive chop saw or plasma torch more. Ignore it and your cut list comes up short: over many parts, those slivers add up to a whole missing piece. Enter your actual blade or torch kerf to keep the count honest.
What is the drop, and can I use it?
The drop is the offcut left at the end of the bar once no more full parts fit. Whether it is useful scrap or waste depends on your other jobs — a long drop may serve a shorter part elsewhere. The calculator reports the drop length so you can decide, and rolls it into the waste percentage.
Is the bar count exact for ordering?
It is an informational estimate that assumes every stock length is the nominal size and every cut takes the kerf you entered. Real bars vary, and nesting or remnant reuse can beat the simple count. Verify against your own cut list and add a safety length; not professional engineering advice.