Firewood calculator
Measure the stack and see how many cords and face cords it holds, what you're paying per cord, and about what it weighs.
This stack is
0.33 cords
- Cubic feet
- 42.7 ft³
- Face cords (ricks)
- 1
- Face cord of 16 in wood
- 0.333 cord
- Price per full cord
- $0.00
- Price per face cord
- $0.00
- Weight, green
- 1,629 lb
- Weight, seasoned
- 1,176 lb
- Heat, million BTU
- 8.2
Weight and heat are typical for Oak, red and vary with moisture and stacking. Measure a neatly piled stack, pieces parallel and touching.
How to measure a cord of wood
A cord is 128 cubic feet of wood stacked neatly, pieces parallel and touching, counting the air between them. That's the legal definition in NIST Handbook 130, the model rule many states adopt for selling firewood. The classic cord is 8 ft long, 4 ft high and 4 ft deep, but any stack of the same volume is a cord.
- Cubic feet = length (ft) × height (ft) × piece length (in) ÷ 12
- Cords = cubic feet ÷ 128
- Face cords = length × height ÷ 32 (an 8 × 4 ft face, one piece deep)
- Price per cord = price ÷ cords
Worked example
A seller offers a face cord of 16-inch wood for $120.00: a stack 8 ft long and 4 ft high. That's 8 × 4 × 16 ÷ 12 = 42.7 cubic feet, and 42.7 ÷ 128 = 0.333 cord (1/3 of a cord). So $120.00 for the face cord is $360.00 per full cord. Compare that with a seller quoting by the full cord.
Cord and face cord sizes
Fractions of a cord
| Amount | Cubic feet | Stack 4 ft high, 4 ft deep |
|---|---|---|
| Full cord | 128 | 8 ft long |
| Three-quarter cord | 96 | 6 ft long |
| Half cord | 64 | 4 ft long |
| Third of a cord | 42.7 | 2.67 ft long |
| Quarter cord | 32 | 2 ft long |
| Eighth of a cord | 16 | 1 ft long |
Face cord (rick) by piece length
A face cord is always 8 ft × 4 ft of face, so how much wood it holds depends on how long the pieces are.
| Piece length | Cubic feet | Part of a cord | Face cords per cord |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 in | 32 | 1/4 | 4 |
| 16 in | 42.7 | 1/3 | 3 |
| 18 in | 48 | 3/8 | 2.67 |
| 20 in | 53.3 | 5/12 | 2.4 |
| 24 in | 64 | 1/2 | 2 |
Rows of 16-inch wood, 4 ft high
| Row length | Face cords | Cords |
|---|---|---|
| 8 ft | 1 | 0.33 |
| 12 ft | 1.5 | 0.5 |
| 16 ft | 2 | 0.67 |
| 20 ft | 2.5 | 0.83 |
| 24 ft | 3 | 1 |
| 32 ft | 4 | 1.33 |
Weight and heat per cord by species
Typical figures from Utah State University Extension, Wood Heating (Kuhns and Schmidt), Table 1. Green is freshly cut; seasoned is air dried. Real loads vary with moisture and stacking.
| Wood | Green, lb per cord | Seasoned, lb per cord | Million BTU per cord |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | 4,850 | 3,888 | 27 |
| Ash, green | 4,184 | 2,880 | 20 |
| Ash, white | 3,952 | 3,472 | 24.2 |
| Basswood (linden) | 4,404 | 1,984 | 13.8 |
| Birch | 4,312 | 2,992 | 20.8 |
| Cherry | 3,696 | 2,928 | 20.4 |
| Cottonwood | 4,640 | 2,272 | 15.8 |
| Douglas-fir | 3,319 | 2,970 | 20.7 |
| Elm, American | 4,456 | 2,872 | 20 |
| Hackberry | 3,984 | 3,048 | 21.2 |
| Honeylocust | 4,640 | 3,832 | 26.7 |
| Locust, black | 4,616 | 4,016 | 27.9 |
| Maple (sugar and other hard maples) | 4,685 | 3,680 | 25.5 |
| Maple, silver | 3,904 | 2,752 | 19 |
| Oak, red | 4,888 | 3,528 | 24.6 |
| Oak, white | 5,573 | 4,200 | 29.1 |
| Osage-orange | 5,120 | 4,728 | 32.9 |
| Pine, ponderosa | 3,600 | 2,336 | 16.2 |
| Spruce | 2,800 | 2,240 | 15.5 |
| Walnut, black | 4,584 | 3,192 | 22.2 |
Cord of wood questions
How big is a cord of wood?
128 cubic feet, neatly stacked: usually 8 ft long, 4 ft high and 4 ft deep. With 16-inch pieces that's 3 rows side by side, or one row 24 ft long and 4 ft high.
What is a face cord or a rick of wood?
A stack 8 ft long and 4 ft high, one piece deep. With 16-inch pieces it's 1/3 of a full cord; with 24-inch pieces it's 1/2. Because it changes with the piece length, NIST Handbook 130 says sellers shouldn't use "face cord" (or "rack", "pile" or "truckload"). Ask for the cord fraction or measure the stack.
How many face cords are in a cord?
It depends on the piece length: 3 face cords of 16-inch wood make a cord, and 2 of 24-inch wood. Divide 48 by the piece length in inches.
How much does a cord of wood weigh?
About 4,888 lb green and 3,528 lb seasoned for red oak, 4,200 lb seasoned for white oak and 2,336 lb for ponderosa pine (typical figures; see the table). Check your truck's payload before hauling a full cord.
How much is a cord of wood?
Prices vary a lot by region, season, species and whether it's split, seasoned and delivered, so this page doesn't quote one. To compare offers, turn each into a price per full cord: $120.00 for a face cord of 16-inch wood is $360.00 a cord, and $200.00 for a face cord of 24-inch wood (half a cord) is $400.00 a cord.
How do I check that I got a full cord?
Stack it neatly, then multiply length × height × piece length (in feet). You should get about 128 cubic feet; loosely thrown wood in a truck takes more room than a stacked cord. Many state weights and measures offices take complaints about short cords.