How to Use a Cut List Optimizer: Complete Step-by-Step Tutorial

Using a cut list optimizer takes about 5 minutes: you enter your parts, add your stock sheets, set the saw kerf, and click calculate. The tool returns a sheet-by-sheet cutting layout that fits everything using the fewest boards with the least waste, plus a printable cut sheet for the workshop. This tutorial walks the full workflow using CutPlan, but the same seven steps apply to any optimizer (OptiCutter, CutList Optimizer, MaxCut, and others). If you want the theory behind the layouts rather than the how-to, read the complete guide to cut list optimization first; if this is your very first project, the panel cutting beginners guide is a gentler starting point.

What you need before you open the tool

Gather these five things first so you never have to stop mid-run to look something up. Four of them are just numbers; the fifth is a decision.

• A part list with dimensions and quantities. Pull this from your drawing, SketchUp model, or a sketch. Every part needs a length, a width, and a count. For casework, the kitchen cabinet cut list guide has ready-made part sizes you can copy.
• Your stock sheet size. Standard plywood is 2440 × 1220mm (8 × 4 ft), but MDF, melamine, and metric sheets differ. Check the standard sheet sizes reference and enter the exact size your supplier sells.
• Your saw kerf. This is the width of material each pass removes, usually 2 to 5mm depending on the tool. Skip it and every part comes out undersized. The saw kerf guide shows how to measure yours.
• Whether grain direction matters. Veneered ply and melamine have a visible grain. If parts must show the grain running one way, you will lock rotation on those parts. The grain direction article explains which parts need it.
• A decision on offcuts. If you have usable leftovers from past jobs, have their sizes ready so the optimizer can consume them before it reaches for a fresh sheet.

A worked example to follow along

Numbers make this concrete, so we will build one 18mm birch plywood kitchen base cabinet, 720mm tall, 560mm deep, 600mm wide, throughout the tutorial. The carcass breaks down like this:

The 564mm width on the internal parts is the 600mm cabinet width minus two 18mm side panels. The 6mm back panel is a different material, so it goes in its own group (more on that in Step 2). Six parts on one sheet: a small run, but big enough to show every step honestly.

Step 1: Enter your parts

Open CutPlan and you land on a parts table. For each part enter a label ("Side Panel"), the length (the longer dimension, 720mm), the width (560mm), and the quantity (2). Work straight down your drawing in a fixed order: carcass sides, then tops and bottoms, then shelves, then rails and backs. A consistent order is the single best defense against a missed part, which is the most expensive kind of error because you only discover it after the sheet is already cut up.

Enter every part at its finished size and let the tool handle the spacing. Do not manually pad parts for the kerf; the optimizer inserts the blade gap between pieces for you, and doing both double-counts it. If your project runs to dozens of parts, CutPlan takes a CSV paste from a spreadsheet so you are not typing rows one at a time. For a wider look at how the input side of these tools works, see the cut list optimizer app guide.

Step 2: Add your stock sheets

Switch to the stock section and enter the boards you will buy or already own.

• Sheet dimensions. Enter the real size from your supplier, 2440 × 1220mm for our example. Guessing here shifts every part on the sheet.
• Multiple sizes. If you have full sheets plus a half sheet, add each size as its own stock line. The optimizer will reach for whichever combination wastes least.
• Offcuts. Add usable leftovers as extra stock and the tool consumes them before a new sheet. That alone can turn a two-sheet job into one. The offcut management guide covers how to measure and store them so they actually get reused.
• Material name. Label the stock ("18mm Birch Ply") so the printed cut sheet reads clearly at the saw.

Because our cabinet mixes 18mm ply for the carcass and 6mm MDF for the back, create two material groups. The optimizer solves each group on its own, so a 6mm back can never be planned onto an 18mm sheet. If you are unsure how many boards a job needs before you even build the part list, the how many sheets calculator gives a quick estimate.

Step 3: Set kerf, grain, and units

Three settings decide whether the plan is accurate. Get these right and the rest is automatic.

Kerf width is the one people most often skip. Match it to your actual tool, because the gap compounds: a sheet with 15 cuts at a 3.2mm kerf loses roughly 48mm of usable length, which is easily the difference between fitting a part and not. Typical values:

Measure your own by cutting a board in two and comparing the combined offcut width to the original; the kerf guide walks through it. Grain direction comes next: lock it only on parts where the grain shows, such as our two side panels, and leave hidden parts like the bottom and shelf free to rotate. Over-locking is a common self-inflicted wound because every locked part removes a way to fit the puzzle. Finally, confirm your units are all metric or all imperial. Mixing millimetres and inches produces layouts that look absurd, and it is a surprisingly frequent cause of a "broken" first run. If you are banding edges, add the band allowance per part too; the edge banding guide explains the trim amount.

Step 4: Calculate

Press Calculate. In CutPlan the solve runs locally in a browser web worker, so nothing about your project leaves your device. The engine tests thousands of arrangements against a scoring function that rewards fewer sheets and less waste, then returns the best it finds. Our six-part cabinet resolves in well under a second; a full kitchen with 40 to 60 parts still lands in a couple of seconds, and only 100-plus part runs take meaningfully longer.

Step 5: Read the results

You get a layout diagram per sheet, a total sheet count, a utilization percentage, and a cutting sequence. The number to focus on is utilization, the share of the sheet filled by real parts. Here is how to read it rather than just chase 100%:

Our single cabinet fills only part of one 2440 × 1220 sheet, so its utilization looks low, and that is expected: with one small cabinet the leftover is a large, reusable offcut, not waste. Utilization only becomes a fair scorecard once a sheet is genuinely full. Also verify the grain-locked side panels show as fixed (not rotated) in the diagram, and glance at the leftover regions: big rectangles are future stock, thin slivers are true scrap. If a result looks wrong, check inputs before blaming the engine. Nine times in ten it is a wrong dimension, a missing kerf, or grain locked on a part that did not need it, all covered in the common cut list mistakes article.

Step 6: Export your cut sheet

Once the layout looks right, export it:

• PDF (free). The everyday choice: print it and take it to the saw. It carries the layout diagram, the parts list, and the numbered cutting order. The PDF cut sheets guide explains what each section is telling you.
• DXF (Pro). Exact part geometry for a CNC router or beam saw to read directly, no re-keying of dimensions. The DXF export and CNC guide covers taking the file from optimizer to machine.
• CSV (Pro). A spreadsheet-friendly parts list for inventory tracking or sending to a supplier for a quote.

CutPlan's free tier includes PDF export and 30 calculations a month, which is plenty for a one-off project like our cabinet. DXF and CSV sit on the Pro plan; the features page has the full comparison.

Step 7: Cut

Take the printed cut sheet to the workshop and work through it in order. Three habits keep a clean plan from unravelling at the saw:

• Follow the numbered sequence. The optimizer orders the cuts to minimise how often you wrestle a full sheet around. Jumping the order usually means handling the same board twice.
• Label each piece as it comes off. Pencil the part name onto every panel or use painter's tape. On our cabinet a 720 × 560 side and a 564 × 560 bottom are easy to mix up once they are stacked.
• Keep the good offcuts. Any rectangular leftover bigger than roughly 300 × 300mm earns its shelf space. Write the material and size on it, store it upright, and add it to your offcut list so the next job starts with free stock.

That is the whole loop, from a blank parts table to a labelled stack of panels: about five minutes of input, a second or two of calculation, and a plan you can trust at the saw. Run it twice and it becomes muscle memory. When you are ready to understand why the layouts come out the way they do, the complete guide to cut list optimization goes under the hood.

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