# how much does a cord weight



## JONSSTIHL

anyone have a good guess as to how much a cord 4' x 8' x 16"
weights

I know it will vary by species and whether the wood is dry or green but I would like a good estimate for a cord of hardwood that is dry. 

I have to haul my firewood for about 30 miles and I'm wondering if I'm not overloading my trailer. 

thanks 
James


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## ray benson

Several good charts on the forum. Here is one that lists different woods - green and dry weights for a cord 4'x 4' x 8'. Your measure around here we call a face cord which is about a 1/3 of a full cord.
http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g1554/build/g1554.pdf


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## staywarm53

ray benson said:


> Your measure around here we call a face cord which is about a 1/3 of a full cord.
> http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g1554/build/g1554.pdf



Ray , i'm perplexed. what do you mean a face cord is 1/3 of a real cord? I thought a real cord was 24 in logs 4 foot high and 16 feet long.

i thought a face cord was a different log length, 4 ft high and 16 foot long.
So if my face cord is logs 18 in long, 4 foot high, 16 foot long. Isn't that 25% less or 3/4 of a real cord ?


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## LarryTheCableGuy

A cord is 128 cubic feet, period. 

.


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## cord arrow

staywarm said:


> I thought a real cord was 24 in logs 4 foot high and 16 feet long.



well, that would be correct. 128 cubits.

cardington, been there many times.


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## cord arrow

staywarm said:


> So if my face cord is logs 18 in long, 4 foot high, 16 foot long. Isn't that 25% less or 3/4 of a real cord ?


yeppirs.........also correct. great thing about mathmatics, you can not argue with it.


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## Freakingstang

It really seems that people from Ohio from my experience, really don't know what a full cord is, yet there is a lot of firewood sold in these parts...

16 foot? ok, as long as it totals 128 cubic feet, then you can make you piles 2 foot high, 2 foot wide and 32 foot long if you want..


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## sloth9669

*illegal*

From what i understand it is illegal to sell firewood in anything other then full cord measurements ( full cord being 128 cubic feet ). Measurements being 1/4 -1/2 -3/4 - or full cords.


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## laynes69

Thats right, it is illegal, and Ohio has guidelines to selling firewood, but around here you can get a rick 4ft high, 8 foot long, 16 or 18 wide for 40.00
I agree it should only be sold in a full cord perspective. I don't buy my wood, so I don't worry about it. Also one hell of a difference whether it is stacked, or thrown in. Many people don't care about guidelines, its all about the money.


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## Freakingstang

Who regulates the sale of firewood?
I mean, it is illegal to sell firewood other than the set measuremnts, right?
Who is gonna enforce a seller that sells "truckload" of firewood, seriously folks


I can look in the paper in a normal weekday and see about 5 listings for "truckload" of firewood, $75 being the cheapest, 125 being the most expensive... Hell my neighbor has a sign at the end of the road, and one at his driveway that says "firewood for sale". He sells it by the truckload. Him and his sons cleanup their farm and other properties.

My dad bought firewood for years for 50 bucks a cord...

It was a face cord at 18". A face cord seems to be the most common form of a cord around here...

I wonder how many face cords I have in my 12 full cords of wood?


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## Freakingstang

laynes69 said:


> Thats right, it is illegal, and Ohio has guidelines to selling firewood, but around here you can get a rick 4ft high, 8 foot long, 16 or 18 wide for 40.00
> I agree it should only be sold in a full cord perspective. I don't buy my wood, so I don't worry about it. Also one hell of a difference whether it is stacked, or thrown in. Many people don't care about guidelines, its all about the money.



My understanding from the term used in this area, that a RIK is half of a cord or 64 cubic feet. That would be 24" or 2ft x 4ft x 8ft

A face cord, again not a "legal term", but area term is a 4 x 8 cord at whatever length, such as 16" or 18" This is not a valid mesurement as the cubic footage will increase or decrease upon the length of the pieces.


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## laynes69

Auditor Kim R. Perez reminds people not to get burned when buying firewood

With skyrocketing energy prices, more and more people will turn to burning wood this winter to heat their homes. Because of this, it is important to know all the facts when it comes to buying firewood. Said Auditor Perez, “Many people in our county rely on burning wood to help them over the winter reduce their reliance on other fuel sources while others burn it out of necessity. Remember, if you do buy firewood, understand what your buying, your rights as a buyer, and purchase it from a reputable dealer.” 

Some important things to remember when making your purchase is that in Ohio, the most common legal method of sale of firewood is the cord or fraction of a cord. A “cord” is defined as 128 cubic feet when the wood is stacked and well stowed. When a cord is properly stacked, it should be at least as large as a stack that is eight feet long by four feet high and four feet wide.

Also, the seller must provide the purchaser with a sales invoice which states:

• The name and address of the seller and purchaser
• Delivery date 
• Cord or weight price
• Amount delivered and total price


The Auditor’s Weights & Measures department is responsible for enforcing Ohio’s laws regulating firewood sales in the county. If there is a problem with a firewood sale, and the seller will not correct the problem, contact the Weights & Measures department at 330-451-7356. A pamphlet titled, Helpful Tips When Purchasing Firewood, is available free of charge by calling the same number.

For additional information, please contact the Stark County Auditor’s office at 330-451-7106.

Also look at:

http://www.ohioagriculture.gov/weights/curr/news/wght-nr-purchasefirewood-121304.stm


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## DDM

http://www.anycalculator.com/logscordweight.htm

We have a thread with different measurements.
http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=32667


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## bottlefed89

I get very sick of all the talk about what a cord is. I carry a dictionary and a calculator in my truck, anyone who wants to challenge my def. of 128ft3 per cord can sell it somewhere else. I buy a lot of firewood. I sell a lot of firewood. I have to register my finished product with the department of weights and measures. I have been asked to show a bill of sale for wood I am buying, or wood I have sold. Every time I buy wood I show the seller my method for arriving at 5.625 cords which is what I put on my truck.. Why does everyone make it so complicated?? 
I love the comments like "what are you calling a cord?" or, "oh your dealing in the big cords, huh??""
I don't tell someone to come to my house, turn on 300rd and go 1/2 mile, and expect to explain what size mile I'm refering to, so why is a cord any different?? It is an exact, DEFINED unit of measurement. It is 128 cubic feet.


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## Rspike

Hey guys ........... Anybody here know how many cubic feet is in a "real cord" ? opcorn:


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## Banjoec

*Real Pennsylvania cord*

We've got guy's trying to sell an Ford F-150's load of wood as a cord. I know my smaller Dakota can barely handle a 1/3 cord of wood, when it's loaded to the gills.


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## Rspike

Banjoec said:


> We've got guy's trying to sell an Ford F-150's load of wood as a cord. I know my smaller Dakota can barely handle a 1/3 cord of wood, when it's loaded to the gills.


Even if you had side rails and a back rail on the tail gate with a headach rack for the back window ..... filled it stacked / split wood to about 2" from the top of the cab you would get about 1 cord in a full size bed/ full size truck . Now this would would be around 3800 - 4500 lbs DRY weight. Thats a hell of a lot of weight even for a F250 let alone a F150 size truck . I dont see it happening .


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## enjoys cutting

guys arond here put on a full size truck stacked in,tailgate up just above or level to the back and a little extra on top of the pile for half a cord.two truck loads like that they consider a cord and stacked on the ground it real close.


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## turnkey4099

enjoys cutting said:


> guys arond here put on a full size truck stacked in,tailgate up just above or level to the back and a little extra on top of the pile for half a cord.two truck loads like that they consider a cord and stacked on the ground it real close.



Hmmm...maybe I'd better do some re-measuring. I have been selling 2 cords a year to a guy as a favor. Measure in the rick, then toss the load into an F150 with racks to just above the cab. My math may be off but it came out to about 1 1/3 load (thrown) per cord. Will be re-checking that. 
This is well cured Willow so weight is not a factor.

Harry K


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## v8titan

Rspike said:


> Hey guys ........... Anybody here know how many cubic feet is in a "real cord" ?



128 Cubic Ft. (4x4x8) for example.


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## DanMan1

If a cord of water alone is 7,973 pounds, and a cord of wet red oak is 5,700 pounds, can I calculate the moisture content of a Michigan face cord of this?


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## stumpguy

how many cubic feet are in a "michigan face cord"?


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## BlueRidgeMark

However many you want there to be. Since it's not a defined measurement, you can be... _flexible_.


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## JAL

Over here it is 4' x 4' x 8' for a cord of wood and a run is a third of a cord. To be officially classified as a cord, the wood should be stacked so tight as to allow a squirrel to get through but not let the cat that is chasing it get through. Simple!


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## Schultzz

*Measurements*

It's amazing how many people think they know volumes of wood. In most states wood for sale has to be described in terms of a full cord or part thereof. When selling wood by the bundle it has to say what part of 1 cu ft it is and what part of a full cord it is. Some states allow the use of the word 
"Rick" or "Rik" - Wisconsin is one. To find what your state requires look up your states' bureau of weights and measures. And stop guessing.


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## turnkey4099

Rspike said:


> Even if you had side rails and a back rail on the tail gate with a headach rack for the back window ..... filled it stacked / split wood to about 2" from the top of the cab you would get about 1 cord in a full size bed/ full size truck . Now this would would be around 3800 - 4500 lbs DRY weight. Thats a hell of a lot of weight even for a F250 let alone a F150 size truck . I dont see it happening .



I measured my F150 today. It has racks that go a bit above the cab. 
Width 5' and a few inches
length 8' and a few inches
height 4' and a few inches

So 5x8x4 = 160 ft3 well over a cord even allowing for two wheel wells and a spare tire in the bed.

I don't load it full tho. 4 ricks crosswise leaving the tail end clear for the saws and other equipment. Still makes a heavy load.

Harry K


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## Rspike

turnkey4099 said:


> I measured my F150 today. It has racks that go a bit above the cab.
> Width 5' and a few inches
> length 8' and a few inches
> height 4' and a few inches
> 
> So 5x8x4 = 160 ft3 well over a cord even allowing for two wheel wells and a spare tire in the bed.
> 
> I don't load it full tho. 4 ricks crosswise leaving the tail end clear for the saws and other equipment. Still makes a heavy load.
> 
> Harry K


Yep , You can get a full cord in a full size bed with rails but there again 4000 lbs on a 1000 lbs truck is not a good mix . I ended up building a trailer out of another F150 box ( half the truck , built the hitch ) Now i can cover the weight in over two truck box beds and have the room for my gear . Stock can pull around 5500 lbs so i would rather pull the extra weight then have it all on just the 1 truck axle .


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## turnkey4099

Rspike said:


> Yep , You can get a full cord in a full size bed with rails but there again 4000 lbs on a 1000 lbs truck is not a good mix . I ended up building a trailer out of another F150 box ( half the truck , built the hitch ) Now i can cover the weight in over two truck box beds and have the room for my gear . Stock can pull around 5500 lbs so i would rather pull the extra weight then have it all on just the 1 truck axle .



Oh, yeah, overloading is very easy to do. I once hauled 22 #1 RR ties 17 miles on my old 62 chev 1/2 ton...had to replace all 4 shocks the next day.

Harry K


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## DanMan1

turnkey4099 said:


> Oh, yeah, overloading is very easy to do. I once hauled 22 #1 RR ties 17 miles on my old 62 chev 1/2 ton...had to replace all 4 shocks the next day.
> 
> Harry K



Normally it's your springs that break not the shocks. Your shock bodies must have been rusted to paper thin.


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## DanMan1

JAL said:


> Over here it is 4' x 4' x 8' for a cord of wood and a run is a third of a cord. To be officially classified as a cord, the wood should be stacked so tight as to allow a squirrel to get through but not let the cat that is chasing it get through. Simple!




O.K., so it's 4' x 4' x 8', not 128 cuft. So you say a 'run' is a third of 4' x 4' x 8'?
so a 'run' = 4/3' x 4' x 8', or 4' x 4/3' x 8' or is it 4' x 4' x 8/3'?
opcorn:


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## stumpguy

4'x4'x8'=128cuft so a 'run" would be 128/3 or 42.67cuft


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## JAL

DanMan1 said:


> O.K., so it's 4' x 4' x 8', not 128 cuft. So you say a 'run' is a third of 4' x 4' x 8'?
> so a 'run' = 4/3' x 4' x 8', or 4' x 4/3' x 8' or is it 4' x 4' x 8/3'?
> opcorn:



A cord is 4' x 4' x 8' =128 cubic feet
a run is 16" x 4' x 8' 

The 16" is a standard fireplace log length and so that is where a 16" wide x 4' tall x 8' long stack of wood equals a 1/3 of a cord comes from.


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## turnkey4099

DanMan1 said:


> Normally it's your springs that break not the shocks. Your shock bodies must have been rusted to paper thin.



Didn't seem to be but the seals were shot. Of course the rest of the PU was in the 'junker' category too. Hauled a lot of wood with that old rig.

Harry K


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## gslam88

Well I can say that I have had my truck on the scales picking up some stone dust for a customer. The truck weighed in at just over 10,000 and its a Chevy 2500 with a 8600 gvw... so yes it's easy to over load a truck... 

Now as far as volume of a cord.. let me ask this question a different way... 

Can someone tell the difference between a full cord.. (128 cu) and say .95 of a cord or 1.05... can you tell when your 12 pieces of wood under or over of a cord or better yet.. can a customer spot it... 

More of the volume of it is subjective than objective that you think... take a step back and think about it... 

just my .02 and I am sticking with it


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## DanMan1

Around here to legally sell cordwood, after you put a cord of wood in your truck, 75 gallons of water added to the bed of the truck must meet, or exceed the top of the 2 foot high bed rail, otherwise the stack is considered too loose and contains less than 1 cord.


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## JeffHK454

As a kid my dad and I sold firewood and he had a 4'x4'x8' set of steel tubes that where welded to hold a "cord" of wood. Any of his customers where welcome to come see the quantity of wood we call a cord. 

I still have that old rack that I now store wood on and have also built a bunch of duplicates for holding the 3 cords I use a year, plus racks for friends and family. 

The racks I've built have started an argument or two with local wood suppliers who sell a cord of wood delivered in a half ton truck! 

I have a Chevy dump with a 2'x6'x10' bed and my "cord" uses every bit of that bed! 

I actually got stopped by D.O.T and a "cord" of dry (1Year) Oak weighed like 3700 lbs , or around there as the truck was 7,250 and the total was 11K.

Jeff


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## DaddyBean

*Interesting math*

There's a firewood place here in NW PA that lets you back right up to the pile and load your own wood - take only the pieces you like, toss aside any undesirable species / heavy wet logs / etc, pack it and stack it as tight as you like. Then you pull over to the office, and they measure the size of your pile, and charge $1 a cubic foot. The math always goes something like this. "Let's see, that's about six feet wide, and about eight feet long, so that's forty-eight, and 18" high, a little extra on top to account for the wheel wells, ok, let's see, that comes out to... let's call it $60." I've never had any reason to argue.


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## Steve2910

BlueRidgeMark said:


> However many you want there to be. Since it's not a defined measurement, you can be... _flexible_.


 
Where have you been lately?


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## banshee67

DanMan1 said:


> Around here to legally sell cordwood, after you put a cord of wood in your truck, 75 gallons of water added to the bed of the truck must meet, or exceed the top of the 2 foot high bed rail, otherwise the stack is considered too loose and contains less than 1 cord.


 
what in the world:msp_scared:
ive never heard this one before

what truck beds are even water tight?
what kind of truck are we talking about? people use all sorts of vehicles/trailers to deliver firewood

assuming somehow this hypothetical truck bed IS water tight, how do you get the 600+ pounds of water back out after?


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## turnkey4099

banshee67 said:


> what in the world:msp_scared:
> ive never heard this one before
> 
> what truck beds are even water tight?
> what kind of truck are we talking about? people use all sorts of vehicles/trailers to deliver firewood
> 
> assuming somehow this hypothetical truck bed IS water tight, how do you get the 600+ pounds of water back out after?


 
Same here and I find the claim is dubious. 

Harry K


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## teatersroad

turnkey4099 said:


> Same here and I find the claim is dubious.
> 
> Harry K


t

too bad five years is past the statute of limitations for calling out Internet BS. pretty funny though, plus nothing like soaking your cordwood in water on delivery day.


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## blackdogon57

DaddyBean said:


> There's a firewood place here in NW PA that lets you back right up to the pile and load your own wood - take only the pieces you like, toss aside any undesirable species / heavy wet logs / etc, pack it and stack it as tight as you like. Then you pull over to the office, and they measure the size of your pile, and charge $1 a cubic foot. The math always goes something like this. "Let's see, that's about six feet wide, and about eight feet long, so that's forty-eight, and 18" high, a little extra on top to account for the wheel wells, ok, let's see, that comes out to... let's call it $60." I've never had any reason to argue.



For $1.00 a cubic foot who cares if the math is off a little - still a real good deal. I pay more than that for log length.


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## banshee67

teatersroad said:


> t
> 
> too bad five years is past the statute of limitations for calling out Internet BS. pretty funny though, plus nothing like soaking your cordwood in water on delivery day.


 
didnt realize it was such an old thread when i commented earlier :msp_ohmy:

its a shame the guy is most likely long gone by now, id love to hear the explanation, or at least a confirmation he was joking :msp_mellow:


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## earnhardt

*correct no matter how you get there*



LarryTheCableGuy said:


> A cord is 128 cubic feet, period.
> 
> .



correct no matter how you get there


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## Bushbow

I always bring a really skinny cat when buying firewood in Vermont - seems to provide greater yields!!


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