Cut List Optimizer: SawKit

Plan a full sheet of plywood in seconds. Type sizes in fractions or millimetres, see the cut plan, print it, take it to the saw. Works offline. Nothing collected.

SawKit works out how to cut your parts from full sheets of plywood, MDF or melamine with the least waste — and then tells you the order to make the cuts in.

Type your cut list the way you'd say it. 15 3/16. 3/4". 4' 6". Millimetres if that's your shop. SawKit reads all of it, and a unit written on a number always wins, so you can mix imported hardware into a metric project without doing sums.

WHAT IT DOES

• Works out the layout across as many sheets as it takes, and picks the best of twelve different packing strategies for your particular list. • Respects the grain. Say which way it runs on the sheet and on the part, and parts that must follow it are turned to match — never guessed from which number you typed first. • Accounts for the blade. Kerf and edge trim are part of the calculation, not an afterthought. • Gives you the cut order. Every pass runs edge to edge across the piece in your hands, numbered, so you can work through it at the saw. • Prints. A page per sheet plus a shopping list with prices and a total, in black and white that survives a workshop printer. • Runs on iPad, iPhone and Mac, side by side or one at a time. • Works with no signal at all. Workshops are usually the worst room in the building for that.

FREE INCLUDES Everything above on screen: the whole calculation, the drawing, and the calculators. Up to 25 parts, three projects and one kind of stock.

PRO ($24.99, one payment) Unlimited parts, projects and stock. PDF export and printing. The cut order. Your own stock list with prices. Your projects on every device you own.

SHOP CALCULATORS — always free Board feet with cost. Purchase allowance, done properly: waste comes out of what you buy, not what you need, so 15% waste means buying about 18% more — not 15%. Project cost with markup.

PRIVACY Nothing is collected. No account, no analytics, no tracking, no server. Your cut lists are yours and they stay on your devices.