Buying a load of logs

[Sandhill Crane]

Larger the diameter of the rounds the more "fluff" I guarantee. A cord of 8" across rounds will "fluff" a little. A cord of 30" across will "fluff" much more

Do the math.
In this case I don't know how to accurately figure a cord of 30" rounds in a 4' x 4' x 8' box. Two logs, three logs? So, I used 24" rounds as a comparison.
Volume = pi (r x r) x h
(volume per 8' log)
volume for a cord of 8" rounds: 3.14(4" x 4")(96")(36 logs)/1728 cu. in. = 100.48 cu. ft. of wood,
or 1.116 cords(assuming 90 cu. ft. per cord =128 cu. ft split and stacked)
volume for a cord of 24" rounds: 3.14(12" x 12")(96")(4 logs)/1728 cu. in. = 100.48 cu. ft.
1728 cu. in. per cu. ft.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

I'm wondering how much will actually be in the load, it would need to be PACKED with logs to hit that 9-10 cord range.

The only way to know how much is in a load is to process it and stack it up.

Step One. This is 4' high, 8' wide, 8' long logs. Two cord of logs.
Step Two. Cut into rounds, and re-stack.
Step Three. Split and stack.
I think these are sacrificial racks at this point. It is not just the camera lens, they're spread pretty good already.

 

[muddstopper]

My experience with those knuckle boom trucks like the one show is they tell you 8-12 cords and you endup with 4-6 cords. A lot depends on the logs. A load of slim poles are usually crooked and wont stack tight, lots of air space. Large dia logs usually stacks pretty tight and also usually yields more woods. Even loading on my dump trailer, 6x10, If I am loading 10' long limbs and rounding the loads, its hard to get a cord on the trailer. I can load the butt cuts and you can tell the difference in weight by just towing the trailer and it will always split out more wood than the rounded up small stuff.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Step Two: Progress so far; (3) 1/3 cord racks of rounds filled.
This is what's left to buck up.
I'm guessing (4 1/2) 1/3 cord racks total. Assuming that's the case, and a cord of rounds equals 1.1 cord of splits, then two cord of logs will equal 1.65 cord of splits, theoretically speaking. More cutting and splitting to do.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I'll jump in for laughs and giggles, plus it's lunch time (was) and it's raining out.
And let me begin by saying, a cord is not a cord.
Here are my assumptions in this case: the load is hard wood; hardwood = 5,800 lbs green; a cord of wood is 30% air, or 90 cu. ft of wood per 128 cu. ft. per cord.
Here's my math:
42 cu. yds. = 1134 cu. ft.
Consider a solid block of wood as maximum load.
1134 cu. ft. = 70% of possible cordage.
1134/70 x 100 = 1620 cu. ft./128 cu. ft. = 12.65 cord

Now you can simply estimate the percent volume of wood vs air in the box, and multiply by 12.65 cords.
8 to 10 cord load is implied. I buy 20 cord loads, so from experience I'm throwing out 10 cords, but lets do the math for 10 cord.
A cord of unsplit wood is (estimated) 90 cu. ft.
90 cu. ft. x 10 cord = 900 cu. ft. in a box of 1134 cu. ft. 900/1134 = 79% wood; and 5,800 lbs x 10 = 58,000 lbs tare weight. (this assumes the weight of green oak)
View attachment 502567 View attachment 502568
There is more to this: I buy 20 cord loads. Cut and split = on average 15 cords. So looking at this truck, there is 10 cord on the truck, and ten cord on the pup. But cut and split, that volume translates to seven and one half cords each. A cord is not a cord.
Now compare this truck to the one pictured in post #4.
My guess is 4 1/2 cord cut, split, stacked...plus or minus. $111. per cord
Five cord of good wood is worth way more than ten cord of crap. In other words, it is more about what your getting, not how much your getting, unless your feeding an outdoor boiler.

The last load I got from a tree service the driver estimated four cord. I estimated half of that. He left smiling. Cut/split/stacked... five, 1/3 cord, racks plus a little... The next load he brought over, he left with it too.
View attachment 502580

Wow, talk about alot of tires! We can haul ~50k on 18 tires on the log truck. My 10 wheeler is good to 60k gross.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

300zx_tt: Did you order a load of logs? From your second photo it looks to be good straight stuff and worth trying.

Hijack continued: The volume air/wood in of cord of logs, a cord of rounds, a cord of splits.
I called 'rain' after getting the log deck loaded, or sort of loaded. All of this will fit in a 1/3 cord rack, with very little left over. Mathematically, one cord of uniform rounds equaled 100.48 cu. ft. Divide by 128 cu. ft. per cord = 78.5% wood when cut in rounds. 21.5% air space. In reality, with varying sizes, I'm thinking there is less air space between the rounds then that.

 

[300zx_tt]

I have to sure up the details with my cohorts, I'll post on here wether I go either way, I just wanted a realistic number of cords I'd get so I could accurately determine the price per cord

 

[Sandhill Crane]

In this experiment: (2) cord of logs = 4 1/2 cord of rounds, plus some junk. All four racks are more than topped off, plus picking them up with forks with a 4' spread bows the bottom rails, which adds to the sides splaying out. So the short filled rack was estimated upwards. The 'junk' is cut off nubs and (7)short log cut-offs that should have been full rounds. The short logs were small to medium diameter as shown, a rather small amount for two cords of logs. Sometimes a log is punky and the whole thing is cut up and thrown in the discard bin. None of that this time.Often the punky ones are the larger ones. Cutting the nubs off helps me roll the logs on the cut table and splitter. Less fluff when stacking however.

Splitting 4 1/2 cord of rounds and re-stacking is next.
What are your guesses? (I tend to split small when using the SS.
How much will each 1/3 cord of split rounds stack up to?
How much will 4 1/2 cord of split rounds stack up to?
How much will 2 cord of split logs stack up to?

In the end, this proves nothing, it is just for fun... Every load is different and it all becomes averages.
Questions or comments so far?

300zx_tt: I used to have a 280 Z, and the neighbor just got, like a month ago, a brand new Audi TT coupe.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

We can haul ~50k on 18 tires on the log truck. My 10 wheeler is good to 60k gross.

How many cord is that?
What type of logs?

 

[NSMaple1]

In this experiment: (2) cord of logs = 4 1/2 cord of rounds, plus some junk. All four racks are more than topped off, plus picking them up with forks with a 4' spread bows the bottom rails, which adds to the sides splaying out. So the short filled rack was estimated upwards. The 'junk' is cut off nubs and (7)short log cut-offs that should have been full rounds. The short logs were small to medium diameter as shown, a rather small amount for two cords of logs. Sometimes a log is punky and the whole thing is cut up and thrown in the discard bin. None of that this time.Often the punky ones are the larger ones. Cutting the nubs off helps me roll the logs on the cut table and splitter. Less fluff when stacking however.

Splitting 4 1/2 cord of rounds and re-stacking is next.
What are your guesses? (I tend to split small when using the SS.
How much will each 1/3 cord of split rounds stack up to?
How much will 4 1/2 cord of split rounds stack up to?
How much will 2 cord of split logs stack up to?

In the end, this proves nothing, it is just for fun... Every load is different and it all becomes averages.
Questions or comments so far?

300zx_tt: I used to have a 280 Z, and the neighbor just got, like a month ago, a brand new Audi TT coupe.
View attachment 502889 View attachment 502890 View attachment 502891 View attachment 502892

Are these your usual wood processing procedures, or are you doing some experimentation on volume calcs?

That's a lot of stacking & unstacking & wood handling.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Are these your usual wood processing procedures, or are you doing some experimentation on volume calcs?

That's a lot of stacking & unstacking & wood handling.

300zx_tt asked about buying a truck load of logs estimated at 8 to 10 cord?
This is simply an experiment.
How I process depends on how I get my wood and where it is going.
This spring I filled the shed, now I'm experimenting, this post is simply me getting side tracked, but I'm learning too.

From the last post I had a small amount of scrap from two cord of log cut-offs, from short rounds, long logs, and nubs. It adds up rather quickly from a truck load. There were seven short rounds in two cord, estimate times ten for a 20 cord load is seventy rounds. If there are 72 8" rounds in 1/3 cord then ball park estimate is 1/3 cord scrap in round form = more in split form.

Mathematically a cord of rounds equaled 100.48/128 = 78.5% wood/21.5% air.
A cord of split est. at 90/128 = 70% wood/30% air. (I got that number on line somewhere. It's between 90-91 cu. ft.)
A cord of logs 75% wood in this sample.
So 70/100 = 78.5/X where X is split wood. (70 cu. ft. wood/100% split wood=78.5 cu. ft. wood/ X% of split wood)
X = 112% or 1.12 cord of split wood.
times 2 = 2.25 cord
2.25 cord x 3/4 (4 1/2 rack of rounds) = 1.69 cord or est. 1 3/4 cord of splits
1.75 cord of splits/2 cord log form = splits are 87.5% of log form.
That is way above my projected 75%.
And equally below 100% log form plus 10-20% Absrio suggested. Although, in the end, Absrio may well be closer, as
I also think the 4 1/2 racks of rounds will yield more than then the numbers suggest, as there seems less than 21% air.
Time to get splitting and stacking...
Will the true cord please send up...
(To Tell The Truth! For you young guys, it was a tv show.)
Wait, I goofed.
I measured log cords in terms of rounds.
Log cords = 75% rounds, but the measurement of rounds are 21.5% air/78.5% wood.
75% x 87.5 = wood
65.6% wood per cord of logs.
34.4% air per cord of logs. (in this sample) Which circles back to 90 cu. ft. of wood per cord, or 30% air.
4.4% of a cord is 5.6 cu. ft. difference between logs and splits.
4.4% of 20 cord = 112.6 cu. ft. So I should get 19 cord stacked out of a 20 cord load of logs.
If I use a 21% margin of error I'm still in the ball park.
Lunch, then split.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

How many cord is that?
What type of logs?

9-10 cords of birch.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

This is this...

And, this is this...
(the splits on the left)
I split another third of a cord but have to stack it yet. It is not growing as much as I expected. Finish up tomorrow.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

I just read my own post, and I'm having a hard time following it. Thank goodness for pictures.

 

[Marine5068]

Hey fellas I found a guy on Craigslist advertising a 42 yard dumpster of log length wood for sale, he claims that the load is 8-10 cords I'm thinking it's more like 6-7 not 10. What do you guys think? It's $500 delivered and I'd probably split it between me, my brother in law, and my uncle.

I'm wondering how much will actually be in the load, it would need to be PACKED with logs to hit that 9-10 cord range.

Log loads of maple, Ash and Beech around here sell for $1300 for 8 cord, delivered.
I'm not sure if they mean 8 cord space load on their truck or 8 cord after it's all blocked, split and stacked though.
If it's the latter, then each cord will cost you about $165 in log form.
Not such a great deal IMO

 

[Sandhill Crane]

2 cord of logs = 1 1/2 cord of rounds (4 1/2..1/3 cord racks)

1 cord of rounds (3) 1/3 cord racks = (3) 1/3 cord racks stacked splits + this photo.


***2 cord of logs = (4 3/4) 1/3 cord racks of splits. Or...128/3 x 4 3/4 divided by 128 = 1.58 cord of splits.***


The racks splay, or spread at the top up to 8" (8", 8", 3", 6", 8"). I used the same racks the rounds came out of to stack splits, with one exception because the bottom rail was broken. So rounds, splits and logs all was equal volume. Splaying 8" = an increase of 4" x 48" height x 16" depth, or 1.78 cu. ft. x 5 racks = 8.9 cu. ft. ; 9/128 = 7% of a cord total.

This is punky wood, nubs, and cut-offs, both long (over 96") and short ( 13" and under gets tossed aside).


It still does not answer 300x_tt's question of: 'how many cord in a 42 cu. yd. truck?'
The assumption is "How many cord 'cut/split/stacked'?", to compute "price per cord".

In Aug. 1989 at University of Wisconsin/Madison A. Jeff Martin did a paper stating several things.
A 'standard cord' is: wood/bark/air space = 128 cu. ft. = 100%
wood/bark= 92 cu. ft.
solid wood = 78 cu. ft.
solid wood 62%
bark 10%
air 28%
These numbers were kind of a check to see if I was way off.
He also says a 'pulp wood cord' in which the logs are 100" equals 133 cu. ft.(never heard of that)
and converting 1,000 board ft. to cords says, 1,000 bd ft. softwood = 2.4 cords softwood, and 1,000 bd. ft. of hardwood = 2.2 cords hardwood.

 

[damato333]

Hey fellas I found a guy on Craigslist advertising a 42 yard dumpster of log length wood for sale, he claims that the load is 8-10 cords I'm thinking it's more like 6-7 not 10. What do you guys think? It's $500 delivered and I'd probably split it between me, my brother in law, and my uncle.

I'm wondering how much will actually be in the load, it would need to be PACKED with logs to hit that 9-10 cord range.

What town are you in? I've never dealt with rick's but they are a huge tree service company and have a lot of nice equipment. I've never got a load of logs delivered on a log truck. But I think 6-7 is what is on those trucks and I think they want around $700 in our area. So $500 doesn't seem bad if it actually is at least 6.

 

[motorman1]

I won't even quibble about the price, or amount of wood. I've been "burned" ,so to speak, just once on the number of chains I wasted on nails / bolts etc... from a tree service delivery. If they aren't willing to cut it into 16", or less" rounds, pass on it. I got around 7 cords of wood for $600, but spent about $100 in completely ruined/unsalvageable chains. Was really pissed and unhappy. Didn't work out for me.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

300zx_tt: Did you order yourself a truck load of logs?

 

[Deleted member 116684]

I wouldn't pay that much for that amount of wood. Maybe 300 to 350 tops. If it was oak or something similar.