Will Lowe’s Cut Wood For You? [Answer + Prices Costs] (2024)

Don’t want to deal with the inconvenience of cutting your own wood when you purchase it from a hardware store? If so you may be wondering: Will Lowe’s will cut wood for you.

The answer is yes; Lowes will cut wood for you. Not only that, but Lowe’s will make a certain number of cuts for free. However, there are some restrictions that apply to their wood cutting services, and prices can vary by store. So read the rest of this article to find out the full details.

Will Lowe’s Cut Wood For You?

Lowe’s will cut wood for you, but only the wood that you buy from them in store. This means Lowe’s won’t cut wood that you purchase from a different store.

Most Lowe’s stores have their lumber and wood cutting center at the back of store. So go to the back of the store to pick out your wood and access their wood cutting service. The lumber section typically has plenty of large signs, so you won’t be confused about how to find it.

The main purpose of Lowe’s wood cutting service is to reduce the size and length of the lumber, thereby making it easier to handle. This is so that Lowes’ customers can transport their wood home in smaller vehicles, since typical customers are unlikely to have large trucks.

How Much Does It Cost To Have Lowe’s Cut Wood For You?

Lowe’s stores will provide 2 cuts free of charge. But beware, there may be some stores that will only offer 1 cut for free and some that will offer up to 4 cuts free. After that, you’ll have to pay for each cut. Having looked into it, Lowe’s doesn’t seem to have an official policy on how many free cuts they offer.

After your free cuts, the pricing can vary. Typically Lowe’s will charge 25 cents or 50 cents per cut. If the Lowe’s store you visit charges $1 per cut, you may want to consider visiting a different branch.

There are things that you can do to increase your chances of getting multiple free cuts, and then only paying 25 cents for each wood cut. Typically, this will include being polite and showing respect to the sales associate, and showing that you value their time.

Ultimately, it will also depend on how busy the store is, and what sort of day the sales associate has had so far! Neither of which you can influence, unfortunately.

What’s Included In Lowes’ Wood Cutting Service?

Lowe’s have panel saws installed in all of their stores. They also have radial arm saws in many, but not all of their stores. This is in contrast to Home Depot who do have radial saws in all their stores.

Lumber associates at Lowe’s will do crosscuts and rip plywood sheets using a panel saw. The panel saws are large enough to hold a full sheet of plywood, so you can get your plywood cut down to smaller practical sizes very easily.

Dimensional lumber that’s 1” and 2” depth will be cut to length using a modified radial arm saw. Keep in mind that not all Lowe’s stores will have a radial arm saw. This means it’s a good idea to call ahead to your nearest Lowe’s and check what cutting saws they have.

Will Lowe’s Cut Your Own Wood That You Bring In?

As mentioned earlier, Lowe’s will not cut wood that you bring in from your home or that you bought from a different store. Lowe’s will only cut wood that you buy from them.

Lowe’s offer a free cutting service to motivate people to spend money buying wood from them.

Free or very low-cost cutting services encourage customers to buy wood. Customers will be motivated to buy wood from Lowe’s as a result of this.

What Type Of Wood Does Lowe’s Cut?

If they have the capacity to, Lowe’s will cut whatever wood they sell in store, which is more or less all lumber, project boards and plywood. I’ve stated ‘if’ they have the capacity to, and that’s because some Lowe’s stores don’t have a radial arm saw. This means those particular stores don’t have the capacity to cut lumber.

That being said, all Lowe’s stores do have panel saws installed, so they always have the capacity to cut sheet wood like plywood.

Note that particularly large sheets of wood cannot be cut with the saws at Lowe’s. This is because the saws have size constraints.

What Types Of Cuts Does Lowe’s Offer?

As previously stated in this article, the primary goal of Lowe’s wood cutting service is to decrease the size of the wood in order to make it more manageable to carry in smaller trucks.

With this in mind, it wouldn’t be a surprise to learn that Lowe’s offer rough cuts only, rather than project cuts.

What Are Rough Cuts?

Rough cuts are what they sound like, cuts designed to break down the size of wood so the wood can be transported in small cars and vehicles. Having your wood rough cut will not result in your wood being cut down to small precise pieces. This means that you will have to measure and cut your wood into the size and shapes that you need in order to complete your wood project.

What Are Project Cuts?

Project cuts are the opposite of rough cuts. They are the carefully measured and precise cuts that you make to assemble or build your wood project. Often you’ll use a variety of saws to make project cuts, such as a miter saw, a circular saw, a jigsaw or band saw. You may also use various hand saws to create your project cuts.

As you’ve undoubtedly guessed, project cuts require a significant amount of time and effort, and they are essential to the correct and precise execution of a project. Lowe’s would need a substantial amount of time, intense training, and personnel resources in order to give project cuts. For this reason, Lowe’s wood cutting policy stipulates they only offer rough cuts for wood.

Does Lowe’s Cut Wood At Angles?

It’s not possible to cut wood at an angle using Lowe’s wood cutting service. Straight cuts are the sole option available via their wood-cutting service.

Customers that want an angled cut are most usually looking for a project cut, which is a precise cut that helps them accomplish a job. However, Lowe’s would be held responsible if the angled cut the client received did not meet his or her expectations for the wood project. This might generate a lot of customer service difficulties for Lowe’s.

Such millimeter-accurate angled cuts need training and would put a lot of strain on lumber employees.

It’s important to keep in mind that making any cuts other than straight ones increases the danger of injury.

Does Lowe’s Cut Wood Into Shapes?

Lowe’s does not cut wood down into forms or shapes. Cuts in the form of shapes and angles are both included in the category of project cuts, and neither are officially offered by Lowe’s.

Shape cutting is not available for the same reasons that angled cuts are not. If the form is not accurate enough for the customer to finish their wood project, giving shape cuts might result in highly dissatisfied consumers.

Making multiple perfect cuts also takes a lot of time, and we all know how hectic Lowe’s stores can be. Shape cutting isn’t a viable option because of the lengthy lines it would cause at the wood cutting department.

Does Lowe’s Put Size Restrictions On The Wood?

The size of wood that can be cut at Lowe’s varies from store to store, because some stores are larger than others. This means the room available for wood cutting can be a little smaller or a little larger in some stores.

On top of the actual physical space available, the saws they use to cut wood have size restrictions. This means that some of the wider project boards you can purchase from them cannot be cut in store. And as mentioned earlier in this article, some Lowe’s can’t cut lumber of any size, because they don’t have a radial arm saw installed on site.

It’s best to call up your local Lowe’s branch and check with them what size restrictions that specific store has.

Final Thoughts on Will Lowe’s Cut Wood For You?

We believe this article has answered the question; will Lowe’s cut wood for you? As you will have learned, Lowe’s will happily cut wood for you, and even provide a certain number of cuts for free. This is a wonderful option if you simply want the wood to be chopped to a manageable size for transporting purposes. Lowe’s wood cutting policy is similar to Home Depot, and you can read will Home Depot cut wood for you, if you want to know more.

Lowe’s is quite accommodating when it comes to the kind and amount of wood they’ll cut. They go above and above to make things as simple and straightforward as possible for their customers.