How much does a cord of oak weigh?

[Adirondack]

The question is in reference to buying a trailer and making sure it will carry the weigh. It will have a 3,500 lb axle so I am wondering the dementions to carry a load of oak to the top of the sides. The trailer might be 6X10 floor so I am wondering how high the sides should be?

[Wood Doctor]

It depends on which oak species you are talking about and whether you are hauling it green or dry. These two factors alone can vary the estimate of the weight of a cord of oak by at least 1,500 lb.

[chucker]

red oak is 6300 common green and dry is 5500 at 20% moisture. so 1/2 a cord green is 3150 and dry being 2750 pounds ... you can get away with 16" sides on a 6x10 foot floor... stacked with out have to worry about falling out from the higher sides!!

[PA Plumber]

Originally Posted by Adirondack

The question is in reference to buying a trailer and making sure it will carry the weigh. It will have a 3,500 lb axle so I am wondering the dementions to carry a load of oak to the top of the sides. The trailer might be 6X10 floor so I am wondering how high the sides should be?

A 6' x 10' bed would need sides approx. 2.1333 feet tall.

[Dalmatian90]

Species Green Dry

Oak, Red 4888 3528
Oak, White 5573 4200

From the Nebraska reference:
http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/...edirected=true

Missouri has another, very similar numbers:
http://extension.missouri.edu/public...b.aspx?P=G5450

[Adirondack]

Thanks. Good point. I think I would be mostly be hauling dry white/red oak but I probably should bet on the fact it might be green oak. I think from the posts I will go with 2 2x10's with three inches between. That should be close enough. 1/2 cord would be safe to carry.

[J.W Younger]

not telling you not to do it but keep in mind that if you loose a tire with a single axle it can get hairy.

[Mntn Man]

The height of the sides is relative.



This was 3/4 of a cord when stacked dry ash. I have a slightly smaller load on this trailer right now (fairly green ash) and the axle weight is 4500. Pushing the limits, but the tires are rated for it. Having brakes would definetly be a major plus so I don't go too far with big loads.

[Brushwacker]

Originally Posted by Dalmatian90

Species Green Dry

Oak, Red 4888 3528
Oak, White 5573 4200

From the Nebraska reference:
http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/...edirected=true

Missouri has another, very similar numbers:
http://extension.missouri.edu/public...b.aspx?P=G5450

Very realistic for sure on the green. I weighed a healthy 1/3 cord mixed oak white,black, pin just under 1900 lbs. Another time I had a healthy 1/3 of pin oak well over 2000 I think it was 22?? lb..The pin oak was unsplit and a good size tree. The other was fresh split .
Its been a long time since I weighed dry wood but I think wood seasoned, stacked for most of a year may weigh a little less.

[Wood Doctor]

Originally Posted by Dalmatian90

Species Green Dry

Oak, Red 4888 3528
Oak, White 5573 4200

From the Nebraska reference:
http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/...edirected=true

Missouri has another, very similar numbers:
http://extension.missouri.edu/public...b.aspx?P=G5450

Then there is live oak. Take the white oak numbers and add at least another 500 lb.

[Dalmatian90]

Originally Posted by Wood Doctor

Then there is live oak. Take the white oak numbers and add at least another 500 lb.

To paraphrase the immortal words of Chief Brody, ""You're going to need a bigger chainsaw."

[magnumhntr]

My tandem with two 3500lb axles will take about 1 1/4 cords of green oak, but it doesn't like it. It has heavy duty trailer tires on it with 60lbs of air in them, and I built it solely for the purpose of hauling wood. No way would I try and put a full cord of green oak, or dry oak for that matter over a single axle...

Chris

[xlr82v2]

Originally Posted by Mntn Man

The height of the sides is relative.



This was 3/4 of a cord when stacked dry ash. I have a slightly smaller load on this trailer right now (fairly green ash) and the axle weight is 4500. Pushing the limits, but the tires are rated for it. Having brakes would definetly be a major plus so I don't go too far with big loads.

Mntn Man,

What tires are you running on your trailer? I've got one that's just like yours, except it's a chevy, with 15" rims. Finding 15" LT tires is like finding a needle in a haystack! Looked at switching to 16" rims, but finding them with the proper "5 in 5" bolt circle, is another needle in a haystack!

Can anyone help???

[laser]

Short answer, don't do single axle. Even if you have a 7000lb axle with brakes...if something goes wrong, you're screwed.

Now for the OCD observations:

Some schools of thought say that you only get 74~96 actual cubic feet of wood in a stacked cord, depending on how you stack/cram your wood. In a trailer, you can probably cram tighter because you can wedge things in. If they are smaller splits, and mostly round, I have read that's even more air, and those numbers above are for very little round edged wood (apparently).

http://mb-soft.com/juca/print/firewood.html These numbers are from the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory and other sources, and seem pretty meticulous. Definitely more detailed than other sources, and I tend to trust more detail over less detail.

So on average, you are looking at a 34% loss of capacity on a trailer/truck due to air, if stacked perfectly tight, not going over the sides. I think the only way to do better is to have rectangular splits. You can make up for this by heaping it on top. Good luck with calculating that volume.

So I do this: Calculate your total volume of the trailer capacity, subtract 30%, take that number and multiply it by 50lbs per cubic foot if dry, unless it's green, then you need a better number (I'd say north of 65lbs/cf), and that's what you are likely carrying if it's split normal. If it's round on the edges from smaller logs, you're probably going to have more air. If it's in large rounds, you'll have even more air if you stay below the sides, but more "capacity" because they are easier to stack and tie down, and the rounds have less air, so it might wash out...can't find numbers on that. You will run out of axle quick with rounds, though.

With dual 3500lb axles, you are talking 7k capacity, and most trailers that have enough frame and bed and tires to do one cord are going to weigh 1500~2000lbs (depending on the metal, and the amount of treated wood), so you might get 5000lb capacity out of one, which should get you one cord even if it's hand tossed (if you have the sides, you can do the weight).

And check those tires to make sure they are rated high enough to match the axles. A two cord trailer gets on the super-heavy duty side of things, and you aren't pulling it with a normal vehicle...unless you want a Darwin award.

Anything over 2k lbs should have brakes of some sort. I've yet to see a vehicle rated for over 2k lbs for trailers without brakes. Maybe a dually. Just because people do it, doesn't mean it's smart. I pulled 2500lbs in my trailer, and got stuck in traffic, and had brake fade very quickly, and that was with 4 wheel disk. Add snow, ice, or rain, it gets really interesting. I'm upgrading as soon as I get some money, and I don't tow unless it's sunny outside and never again in traffic.

[xlr82v2]

Originally Posted by laser

Short answer, don't do single axle. Even if you have a 7000lb axle with brakes...if something goes wrong, you're screwed.

Now for the OCD observations:

Some schools of thought say that you only get 74~96 actual cubic feet of wood in a stacked cord, depending on how you stack/cram your wood. In a trailer, you can probably cram tighter because you can wedge things in. If they are smaller splits, and mostly round, I have read that's even more air, and those numbers above are for very little round edged wood (apparently).

http://mb-soft.com/juca/print/firewood.html These numbers are from the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory and other sources, and seem pretty meticulous. Definitely more detailed than other sources, and I tend to trust more detail over less detail.

So on average, you are looking at a 34% loss of capacity on a trailer/truck due to air, if stacked perfectly tight, not going over the sides. I think the only way to do better is to have rectangular splits. You can make up for this by heaping it on top. Good luck with calculating that volume.

So I do this: Calculate your total volume of the trailer capacity, subtract 30%, take that number and multiply it by 50lbs per cubic foot if dry, unless it's green, then you need a better number (I'd say north of 65lbs/cf), and that's what you are likely carrying if it's split normal. If it's round on the edges from smaller logs, you're probably going to have more air. If it's in large rounds, you'll have even more air if you stay below the sides, but more "capacity" because they are easier to stack and tie down, and the rounds have less air, so it might wash out...can't find numbers on that. You will run out of axle quick with rounds, though.

With dual 3500lb axles, you are talking 7k capacity, and most trailers that have enough frame and bed and tires to do one cord are going to weigh 1500~2000lbs (depending on the metal, and the amount of treated wood), so you might get 5000lb capacity out of one, which should get you one cord even if it's hand tossed (if you have the sides, you can do the weight).

And check those tires to make sure they are rated high enough to match the axles. A two cord trailer gets on the super-heavy duty side of things, and you aren't pulling it with a normal vehicle...unless you want a Darwin award.

Anything over 2k lbs should have brakes of some sort. I've yet to see a vehicle rated for over 2k lbs for trailers without brakes. Maybe a dually. Just because people do it, doesn't mean it's smart. I pulled 2500lbs in my trailer, and got stuck in traffic, and had brake fade very quickly, and that was with 4 wheel disk. Add snow, ice, or rain, it gets really interesting. I'm upgrading as soon as I get some money, and I don't tow unless it's sunny outside and never again in traffic.

Don't do single axle, if something happens, you're screwed? Bull Hockey. Except for the flat tire part... yeah, you're screwed... especially if you don't have a spare!

I had a flat on my pickup bed trailer on Thanksgiving day, loaded stacked level with the sides (.6 cord) with half seasoned Pin Oak, and didn't know anything was wrong until I pulled in the driveway and got out of the truck. Couldn't feel a thing inside my Duramax 2500HD that was also loaded stacked level. The tire hadn't shredded yet, so it wasn't flat for long, but it was definitely flat. And, by my calculations, that was with approximately 2590 lbs of wood loaded...

Might I have been screwed if I was pulling that same load with a 4 cyl short bed Ford Ranger or the like? Maybe... I don't know. Maybe not.

As far as the calculations... I just do it the old school way...

For example, I know that my PU trailer is approximately 77 cubic feet level to the sides (that's with the wheel wells figured in), which is equal to .603 cord. So, if I tightly stack it level with the sides, I know that I have .603 cord of wood on board. Then all I have to do is consult one of the charts, and determine how much a cord of whatever species of wood I have weighs, green or dry, and then multiply that weight by .603. That tells me, probably within 200 pounds or so, how much weight is in the trailer.

Simple enough, works for me. No need to re-invent the wheel. Your method is just as much a guess as the old school way... just too many assumptions going on at one time.