My Pathway

Cut your plywood smarter.

Enter your stock sheets and the parts you need. Get a layout that uses the least material, with grain direction and blade kerf built in.

Start a cut listHow to use it

Evolutionary solver

Tests thousands of arrangements and keeps the one that needs the fewest sheets.

Grain and kerf aware

Lock a part's grain direction and leave room for your blade on every cut.

Many stock sizes

List up to 100 stock sheets, with quantities, and the solver picks what fits.

Adjust by hand

Drag pieces around on the sheet when the shop calls for something different.

How it works

  1. Add your stock
    Enter the sheet sizes you have or plan to buy.
  2. List your parts
    Name each part, give it a size and quantity, and pick a color.
  3. Cut from the layout
    Print the sheets, or tweak them by hand first.

Made in a working shop

This optimizer comes from Path Design Co., a custom furniture shop in the North New Jersey and New York City area. We run it on our own projects.

Read our story

Cut-list optimizer

Enter your stock and the parts you need. An evolutionary solver finds a layout that uses the least material, kerf included.

New here? Read the step-by-step guide.

Project

Keep similar pieces near each other
Most cost efficient: lowest total price, even if it uses more sheets or wastes more
Roll optimizer: pack panels against the left edge to see how much roll to cut off

Stock sheets

ColorLengthWidth$ / sheetQty

Parts

ColorNameLengthWidthQtyGrain

Fractions work: 23 1/2, 3/4, or 23.5. Part length runs along the sheet's length. Grain: Any lets a part turn 90°, Along length keeps its length along the sheet's length, and Along width runs its length across the sheet's width. Leave stock Qty blank to use as many sheets as needed. The solver picks the smallest stock sheet that fits.

MonthlyYearly Save 20%

Standard

$0 /month
  • Full cut-list optimizer
  • Up to stock sheets and part rows
  • Manual layout editing and printing
  • Up to saved projects

Professional

$5 /month
  • Higher cutting-list limitsFor large cabinet jobs or batches of furniture parts.
  • Custom text fieldsAdd extra identifying information to cutting plans.
  • Unlimited projectsOrganize plans for different jobs and customers.
  • Material groupsManage material types, colors, or thicknesses within one plan.
  • Cost minimizationOptimize on material prices, not just waste.
  • PrioritizationPrefer certain stock materials when calculating a solution.
  • Roll material supportOptimize cuts for material supplied on rolls.

How to use the optimizer

Turn a list of parts into a cutting plan in a few steps. The first time takes about two minutes. Tap a step to jump to it.

1Set your blade kerf and units

Open the Optimizer. The project box on the left is where everything starts.

  • 1Project name (optional). Name it, then press Save project to keep it.
  • 2Blade kerf is the width of material your saw blade turns to dust on every cut, such as 1/8. Leave room for it and your parts will fit in real life.
  • 3Units: inches or mm. If you switch and switch back, your original numbers come back exactly.
ProjectKitchen cabinets Save project Blade kerf1/8 Unitsinches ▾ 123

2Add your stock sheets

Stock is the plywood you will cut from. Add every size you have or could buy.

  • 1Color: tap the swatch to pick how this sheet looks in your layout.
  • 2Length and width, for example 96 × 48.
  • 3$ / sheet (optional) lets the site total your cost.
  • 4Qty: how many you have. Leave it blank to use as many as needed.
  • 5The + button adds one row. More… adds 5, 10 or 20. You can list up to .
ColorLengthWidth$ / sheetQty 96 4845 Any More… ▾ 12345

3List the parts you need

Each row is one kind of part. Say how many of it you need.

  • 1Color and Name make parts easy to spot on the sheet.
  • 2Length, Width and Qty. Fractions such as 23 1/2 or 3/4 work.
  • 3Grain controls whether a part may turn. See the next step.

The layout updates as you type. You can list up to rows.

ColorNameLengthWidthQtyGrain Side30122Any ▾ Shelf28 1/211 1/44Along length ▾ 123

4Choose a grain direction

Plywood grain usually runs along the sheet's length. For parts where the look or strength matters, tell the site which way the grain should go.

  • Any: the part may turn 90° if that saves material.
  • Along length: the part's length runs with the grain, along the sheet's length. It will not turn.
  • Along width: the part's length runs across the grain, along the sheet's width.
↻ Anycan turn 90°Along lengthlength runs with the grainAlong widthlength runs across the grain

5Read your layout

While the solver works you will see a live panel with its generation count and the best material use so far. When it finishes, you get your plan.

  • 1Summary: sheets needed, how much stock is used, parts placed and waste.
  • 2Each sheet is drawn with your colors and sizes.
  • 3Dark lines between parts are the saw kerf, drawn to scale.
  • 4Side list shows which parts to cut from that sheet.
2 sheets91.4% used14 parts3.1 sq ft BackSideSideRailShelfShelfShelf Back ×1Side ×2Rail ×1Shelf ×3 1234

6Try the optional switches

They sit under the project name. Turn on any that fit your job.

  • Keep similar pieces near each other groups identical parts together so they are easy to find.
  • Most cost efficient picks the lowest total price, even if it uses more sheets. Enter prices in the stock table first.
  • Roll optimizer is for material on rolls. It packs parts against the left edge and tells you how much to cut off. Length becomes Roll length, and price becomes price per inch or mm.
Keep similar piecessame parts end up side by side off on Most cost efficientlowest total price wins 3 × $50$150 6 × $20$120 ✓ Roll optimizerpacks from the left edge cut here

7Fine-tune in Manual layout

Above the results there is a toggle between Optimizer and Manual layout. Your stock and parts stay in view while you switch.

  • 1Drag a piece to move it. Double-click it, or press ↻, to turn it 90°.
  • 2Pieces snap to edges and to other pieces, leaving room for the kerf.
  • 3The piece list scrolls. Use its menu to send a piece to another sheet.

Overlaps get a red outline. Add sheet gives you more room. Reset to optimized layout asks you to confirm before it undoes your changes. Parts with a fixed grain direction cannot be turned.

moved BackSideRailShelf Drag to move · double-click to turn · menu to change sheet 123

8Check the cost

Enter a price in the $ / sheet column. At the bottom of your layout, the Project cost box shows the math: price per sheet × number of sheets = total.

With the roll optimizer on, price is per inch (or mm) and the math uses the length you cut: price per inch × length cut.

Project cost 96 × 48$45.00 per sheet × 3 sheets= $135.00 Total for this project= $135.00

9If there isn't enough stock

If your parts need more material than your stock allows, a red banner appears at the top of the results. It says how many parts don't fit and which ones.

  • Add another stock sheet, or raise the Qty on a sheet you already listed.
  • In roll mode, add roll length or another roll.
  • Pressing Print/Export will warn you first, because the missing parts would not be in your printout.
⚠ Not enough stock.2 of 12 parts don't fit: 2× Side.Add more stock sheets, or raise the quantity.

10Save and print

  • 12Save project keeps your stock, parts and settings under the name you typed. Reopen it from the list below the button. The Standard plan holds projects. Signed in, projects save to your account. Otherwise they stay in this browser.
  • 3Print/Export is the yellow button at the right above your layout. It opens your print window.
  • 4In the print window, pick your printer, or choose Save as PDF as the destination to get a file.
Kitchen cabinetsSave project Choose “Save as PDF” in the print window.Print/Export DestinationSave as PDF ▾ 1234

Words you may see

Kerf
The width of material your saw blade removes with each cut.
Grain
The direction of the wood fibers in the plywood face. It usually runs along the sheet's length.
Stock
The full sheets or rolls you cut your parts from.
Roll material
Material sold on a roll, such as flexible sheet goods, where you cut off the length you need.
Generation
One round of the solver's search. Each round tests many layouts and keeps the best ones.
Open the optimizerSee plans

Built by makers, for makers

We're Brandon and Casey, the makers behind Path Design Co. We joined forces in 2018 with a wish to honor nature while designing and building custom furniture. We started with dining tables and have since grown into banquettes, breakfast nooks, consoles, studio desks and more, for clients in North New Jersey and New York City.

A lot of our work is built to fit: a small apartment corner, a low windowsill, a hundred-year-old wall that isn't quite straight. We take precise measurements, design alongside our clients, and make each piece for their space. We work mostly in sustainably sourced hardwoods, paired with materials like plywood and veneer where they make the piece better.

Plywood is expensive, and every sheet that ends up as scrap costs us money and shop time. So before we buy material for a project, we run the cut list through a plywood optimizer. It tells us how many sheets to order, which parts share a sheet, and what offcuts we'll have left for smaller pieces. Our furniture work depends on it.

This is the optimizer we use on all of our projects. We built it to work the way we want a shop tool to work: put in your stock and parts, see the sheets, print it, and head to the saw. Grain direction and blade kerf are in there because they matter at the saw, not just on a screen.

Wasting less material also fits our pledge to build sustainably. If you cut and build for a living, or for the love of it, we made this for you.

Brandon and Casey
Path Design Co.
pathdesign.us · @pathdesignco