Thread: A question to those big biz firewood sellers

when i mean big those guys that sell over a hundred + cords a year.

1. do you guys measure out every cord or is it a rough guesstimate?

2. if somebody doesnt get a full cord do you guys ensure that they do or is it tough luck?

3. is there some sort of mathematical formula too figure out how much wood is in the pile or some sort of measure device i.e. a bucket or something along those lines?

i was curious because i noticed the wood we sell never stacks up the same so it might take more time but we have to stack it to ensure its a complete cord. also was hoping that maybe in the future might be able to bypass this to make it a little more efficient.

We weren't in the fire wood bus, but we sold a lot of wood as a by product of residential tree care. We had Ford F600's with 12' dumps and 6' sides. I got my trusy calculator out and took spray paint and marked the sides of the truck. I used one color for 24" wood and another for 18" wood.

A couple years ago I looked in the Washington Post just to see what fire wood was going for "down county". Prices go up a lot the closer to DC you get. There was a disclaimer at the beginning of the add that stated that fire wood could only be advertised in measured increments of a cord. 1 cord, 1/2cord, 1/4, etc. It also stated that terms such as "face cord", "rick", "rack" truck load", "pile", were not legal measurements for sale.

Most of the big sellers around here have a giant pile of wood with steel bins to stack the wood for measurment. Some pick the whole bin up with a skid loader and slide it into the truck, others just point to a bin and say go to it.

A Cord is a Cord, 128 cu ft. If your wood is cut 24" it's 2 rows 4ft high by 8ft long. If it's cut 16" it's 3 rows 4ft high by 8ft long. It's not a guesstamate. It has to be measured some where along the line, Joe.

A cord of firewood tossed in a truck will take up 180 to 190 cubic feet and when stacked will make 128 cu. ft. I've stacked a half cord several times and tossed it into my 3/4 ton Dodge pickup and it fits if it's mounded in the middle about one foot above the sides tapering down to level at the sides. I don't sell by the pickup load...I sell a half cord. I've never had a firewood related complaint.

My brother is one of those big out fits and sells well over 2000 face cords per year. All, and I do mean ALL his wood is stacked to dry in long rows, some of which are 3-400' long. He just measures off 8' and then tosses that onto his trucks if it is a single or two cord delivery. Anything more than that he stacks the wood on is flat bed F450s and F550s. All his trucks have ladder racks and he uses plywood pieces with hooks on them than hook onto the ladder racks. That way he can pile the wood on the beds to a depth of ~5'. In those cases he can tell the amount on the truck every easily and thus measure out what each customer gets. He tries to never leave the yard unless the truck is full so as to minimize his windshield time. He tries to hit one neighborhood and take care of 2-4 deliveries in one neighborhood.

I never understood why people have to guess cords if they are selling dry wood. It should be stacked in order to dry so thus measuring should be easy peasy.

im not a big operation, just a couple hundred cords a year. in my experience it takes closer to 210-220 cubic feet to get a full thrown cord. I talked to timberwolf years ago and they told me 170 cubic unstacked feet would make a cord. but boy we're they wrong.


Different lengths of wood will make it vary greatly. i cut all mine 16".
stack you a cord then throw it in your truck. then you'll know how much it is. But no, i do not measure every cord

We sell by the face cord or rick, we have 6' steel fence post in the ground with a wire stretched at 5'. Once we did this and stacked it on the truck we marked the truck bed with spray paint. That way we give a consistent amount and always give more than they expect. We have never lost a customer this way.
We pride ourselves on giving more wood than expected, too many people around here rip people off, we've had new customers realize that they were getting ripped by others, it's kind of funny to watch.

1/3 cord .... pallet with two rows of 16" wood, 4'hx4'w. It's tidy, and easy to handle.

For full cord orders, just put three in the truck.

I have stacked two cords in the truck, that was a pain, but it goes away when it slides out as the box goes up, and the customer says, " WOW, that's alot of wood."

i was just curious how you guys did it and its good to know you guys make sure its a cord. i cant even fathom how those guys sell wood without measuring it but just ROUGH estimates. i am no means a big firewood biz but for a round here some people would beg to differ maybe because when most people think of nevaduh lush forest isnt the first thing that comes to mind. i know i would love to sell A LOT more wood but i am limited to the scarsity of trees sadly i am up to 42 cords. maybe next year i can sell a 100 cords.

Lots of things are sold by weight such as metal,sand,gravel,coal,feed. Hay is supposed to be sold by the ton and it is in large quantities, but around here it is bought by the bale. Wonder if selling firewood by the weight could work. You would have lots of variables(green/dry and type of wood),but it could be established maybe. Just a thought and I'll probably get hammered bout this.

Originally Posted by merlynr

Lots of things are sold by weight such as metal,sand,gravel,coal,feed. Hay is supposed to be sold by the ton and it is in large quantities, but around here it is bought by the bale. Wonder if selling firewood by the weight could work.

Weight of wood is all over the map. My 10 face cord truck could have as much as 8-10000 pound swing between green and dry wood depending on species of wood. I was always hauling over the 20K limit for my truck, but many times I had it loaded with wood that I knew was light (maple, very dry) I took it to the weigh station near my house and got weigh slips to show it was not overloaded. That way when the NY weigh police would pull me over I would show them the stack of weigh slips and show them that wood on my truck was not over the limit. They would let me go and not pull out their scales. I would just tell them "go ahead, drag out the scales but as you can see you will find I am not over the limit."

Originally Posted by merlynr

Lots of things are sold by weight such as metal,sand,gravel,coal,feed. Hay is supposed to be sold by the ton and it is in large quantities, but around here it is bought by the bale. Wonder if selling firewood by the weight could work. You would have lots of variables(green/dry and type of wood),but it could be established maybe. Just a thought and I'll probably get hammered bout this.

Selling by the pound is a very good option, in my opinion. Also it's legit with our Dept. of Ab. We have a local large firewood seller that sells by weight. It works out great for him.....he's often got dozens of SUVs, pickup trucks, station wagons....etc. people getting small amounts of wood.

They drive on his scale when they come in...and drive over it when they leave. He's doesn't do any delivery's and I don't blame him a bit!

selling fire wood by the ton seasoned or green

solves many issues such as the debate over a

12,14,16,24 inch face cord and as long as you

have a certified scale or scale

ticket it is legal tender in all states.


It is regulated by the county where the

scale is located and certified annually by

the same counties weights and

measures inspector.


These are the same folks who check scales

in the grocery stores, farmers markets

and the volume of liquids pumped from

gas stations to verify accuracy.


High temperature kiln drying of fire wood and selling it by weight

go hand in hand as you have a guaranteed product with

no bugs, and very low water content.


Selling kiln dryed wood in bulk also gives the customer

wood that is ready to burn and a high profit margin as you

would be able to charge simply on a wet/green per ton basis,

plus the cost of drying per batch plus a reasonable profit per ton

eliminating problems with hollow logs, rotted wood, what a cord or face cord

consists of in size etc. and if you use fire wood to fuel you wood kiln the

scraps will burn nicely.


Cutting firewood to 12 inch lengths as I do allows it to dry faster either

over time or by the use of heat from forced air.


reducing your labor is key to this as well as you only want handle it twice-

this is accomplished by:

1.raising the kiln off the ground above the height of the trailer or truck body
to use mechanical advantage and gravity.

2 conveying the wood from the splitter to the bin
3.rolling the bin in the kiln, drying the fire wood and being able to dump
the kiln dried wood into a trailer or truck etc., from the kiln by rolling the bin out and either opening a trap door in the bin or rolling the bin into the trailer and delivering it that way dumping the firewood and leaving it for the customer to deal with.

A 20 foot used refridgerator shipping container would be the least costly way to create a firewood kiln and placing it on the large precast concrete blocks to support the container and allow room for ducting to the kiln from under the floor of the kiln for the hot air and return cold air.


A very small coal furnace will give you very hot air on a continuos basis and allow you to burn wood scraps as well.


It alll depends on your market and if you can guarantee a continuos supply firewood to simply sell it or make it a value added product by kiln drying it which requires additional sales tax as well as the fuel tax in most states.

i used to estimate volume as i loaded the truck, almost everyone got more than they asked for, but occasionally it would be short. i would always refund the amount of money it was short. but i think it made me look unprofessional, and when the amount was over, i was giving away money. most customers dont know what a cord looks like, or even a face cord. i may have gotten some repeat business for delivering extra, but it never made a difference. now every load of wood i sell is measured, measured by stacking in the truck, or stacking before loaded in the truck, or if by large volume measured by cubic feet in the trailer. if thrown in the truck or trailer, i take the volume of the trailer and reduce it by 30% to get the actual cord volume. i have measured it by stacking and 30% seems to be pretty close.

Originally Posted by merlynr

Lots of things are sold by weight such as metal,sand,gravel,coal,feed. Hay is supposed to be sold by the ton and it is in large quantities, but around here it is bought by the bale. Wonder if selling firewood by the weight could work. You would have lots of variables(green/dry and type of wood),but it could be established maybe. Just a thought and I'll probably get hammered bout this.

I ain't gonna hammer ya about that idea. I thought of that a few years ago. Dry and season the wood, measure it's water content. load the truck and weigh the sucker. Subtract the tare wt... and sell it by the POUND

As for the other system, My truck measures out to 220 cf, and I try and load it to the 170-180 cu ft area. I have sold 80 cords this year so far, nobody has called me and said that I shorted them. Isn't going to happen.

Length makes a difference, and I try and cut it to 15-16, but I bet that 24" would take up more space...!