How Many Trees in a Cord

[Robby]

I need some help. First how do I determine usable height of standing tree? They are 6" to 10" at 3' above ground. Poplar. After I find out height, I need to figure cords.

Thanks,

 

[lone wolf]

cords

stack one cord unsplit count pieces add total length of all pieces that's how many feet of tree you need example 40 logs x 2 feet long equals 80 feet of same diameter tree to make a cord

 

[Shine]

Check this out.

 

[Beefie]

At the top of the firewood, home heating page there is a stickey on usefull information and one of them list how many trees at a certain Diameter that it takes to make a cord of wood. For that matter there is a ton of usefull at the top of the page that is handy to have printed out and stuck in your wood cutting vehicle.

Beefie

 

[Beefie]

Check this out.

Thats the one I was thinking of thanks Shine. A little Rep Sent your way for posting it up.

Beefie

 

[havsawwilltravl]

3.1416 times half the average diameter squared, divided by 144, then times the length of the log in feet gives you cubic footage. If your log has a 8" butt and a 4" tip then the average is 6." Half of 6 (3)squared is 9, 3.1416 times 9 is..........roughly 28 inches divided by 144 is.......roughly .2 cubic feet times the length, (say it's 12 feet)= 2.4 cubic feet. 128 divided by 2.4=53 logs that size by cubic feet but by the time you cut and split them, you'll probably gain 15%.

 

[slowp]

I believe there is a thread somewhere on how to measure height using a stick.

You can invest in a clinometer and tape if you plan to do a lot of it. A clinometer measures angles. You go out say 100 feet, staying level with the base of the tree, take the clinometer and read the percent slope to the top of the tree, read percent slope to the bottom or stump height, then add the two readings and that'll get you the height. If the stump reading is a positive, or uphill a bit from you, you SUBTRACT that for total height.

There are many instruments to measure height-- they get pretty expensive.

After you figure the height of a tree or two, you can compare others in the area to those and estimate the height.

Usable height? Measure up to where you'll stop cutting or where the tree will break up at.

Another method, that I use for a quick timber cruise, is to envision a loaded log truck. How much room on that truck would your trees use? Around here, a log truck holds about 10 cords. This works well for blowdown.

Timber cruising is measuring and getting an estimate of the volume of timber.

Hope this isn't too confusing.

 

[woodfarmer]

Check this out.

interesting, but it doesn't give the hight of the bole, or do you need the branches too?

 

[Dalmatian90]

interesting, but it doesn't give the hight of the bole, or do you need the branches too?

The Nebraska table is just a rule of thumb.

I'm sure you could go on for pages and pages if you started classifying trees by height and species as well.

 

[Robby]

The reason for the questions: I have about 6 acres of mixed,mostly Aspen, and have planted 200 Hybrid poplar this year, 300 more next spring and so on. I have figured out about how many trees I can harvest from the 6 acres spacing trees out to approx 10'. I have bought trees by logging truck load, cut from piles when roads were built, but they were mostly much larger diameter. I am trying to figure out how many I need to plant.

Because I have water running down from high hill behind me I can irrigate for free, just buy the line. The tree will grow extremely fast.

thanks for the help!

 

[Dalmatian90]

Here's an old book with a table for Aspens, but I reckon the trees are about the same size still:

http://books.google.com/books?id=0MtOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA220#v=onepage&q=cord&f=false

 

[Lugnutz]

one tree 8ft wide by 16ft tall should be close