I think I got about 5 face cords from a honey locust earlier this summer. I saw an ad on Craigslist for a standing maple that supposedly contains 30+ face cords!!? I'm not planning on tackling this particular job, but it made me curious. What's your record for most number of face cords from a single tree (redwoods excluded!)? It'd be interesting to hear some stories on this one.
Most amount of wood from a single tree?
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PA Plumber
Addicted to ArboristSite
Not sure how many "face cords" equals a full cord.
I currently have 5 cords of White Oak, sitting by the house, that are from a single tree. The neighbor kept some of it and quite a bit was chipped by the tree company that did the removal.
There was also an 8' spar left that was 43" on the small end.
BTW, this was another reminder that a 441 will pull a 32" bar, and full comp chain, with authority!
I currently have 5 cords of White Oak, sitting by the house, that are from a single tree. The neighbor kept some of it and quite a bit was chipped by the tree company that did the removal.
There was also an 8' spar left that was 43" on the small end.
BTW, this was another reminder that a 441 will pull a 32" bar, and full comp chain, with authority!
I got 9 face cords(3 full cords) from a double trunk dead ash that a neighbor had cut down. It went up about eight feet with a 6 foot base (Which the tree company took. Too big for me!) and then split into two stems that were about 2 1/2 feet in diameter each. I got both stems and all the limb wood down to four to five inches. Most of the stuff smaller than that had already fallen off... That tree was easily the tallest one on the block.
Gark
ArboristSite Operative
A 113 year old white oak taken from a residential yard last spring yielded 6 full cords. And we didn't take any branches smaller than 3".
Guido Salvage
Supreme Saw Whoreder
I tried to post a response when this post first appeared, but the server timed me out.
Your statement that you harvested "about 5 face cords from a honey locust" provides us with no clue as to the amount of wood the tree yielded.
The only accepted measure of wood is a cord, which is defined as 128 cubic feet. It is most commonly measured as 8' x 4' x4', but any combination of L x H x W that equals 128 can be a cord. A "face cord" will be the W x H of any pile that contains 128 cubic feet. Given that a cord is measured in three dimensions and a "face cord" in only two, it is impossible to determine the volume.
I could cut my firewood into 6" lengths and stack it 8' long and 4' tall and call it a face cord. You on the other hand may cut your 24" long for your OWB and stack it to the same "face cord" dimensions. However, your "face cord" contains four times as much wood as mine, making the use of the term meaningless in determining the amount of wood any stack contains.
Stick with measuring wood by the cord or fractional amount and there will never be a question as to the amount.
Your statement that you harvested "about 5 face cords from a honey locust" provides us with no clue as to the amount of wood the tree yielded.
The only accepted measure of wood is a cord, which is defined as 128 cubic feet. It is most commonly measured as 8' x 4' x4', but any combination of L x H x W that equals 128 can be a cord. A "face cord" will be the W x H of any pile that contains 128 cubic feet. Given that a cord is measured in three dimensions and a "face cord" in only two, it is impossible to determine the volume.
I could cut my firewood into 6" lengths and stack it 8' long and 4' tall and call it a face cord. You on the other hand may cut your 24" long for your OWB and stack it to the same "face cord" dimensions. However, your "face cord" contains four times as much wood as mine, making the use of the term meaningless in determining the amount of wood any stack contains.
Stick with measuring wood by the cord or fractional amount and there will never be a question as to the amount.
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WidowMaker
Addicted to ArboristSite
1 rick, but it was a big one....
forestryworks
Addicted to ArboristSite
Cords, half cords, 1/4 cords. Enough with the silly-assed ricks and ranks and racks and rick crackers stacks o' firewood!
Sagetown
Farmer and a STIHL
As stated the cord is the only official standard in measuring firewood. My Dad was an old time logger back in the 30's. We had a large fireplace, and he'd cut his wood in 24" lengths, stacked 48" high and 8' long, and called it a rick, saying it was a half cord. But over time I saw 18" lengths x4'x8' being called rick, then 16", then 14". What I'm trying to say is when you go messing with the cut lengths, you lose the entire meaning of the word.
I've cut only a few large trees. Most of mine have been red oak with some good size limbs averaged 16"x 30' and yielded about 1/6th cord.
How about buckets? The biggest one I have cut had 34 8' loader buckets full with three rows on the bottom each getting taller (shape of bucket) to 3' high. The wood was cut twenty inches long, we filled a 8'x8'x20' silage dump box 1.5 times.
zogger
Tree Freak
4.5
4.5 cords from a huge big twin hickory. I have brought up 3.5 cords, there is one cord and change left in one of the main trunks and part of the other trunk left to cut and haul up.
Largest single trunk tree, around three cords, a pretty big sweetgum. Gotten similar from some really large oaks. Of course I have seen much larger trees, but never cut one up.
I think around here, on the forum, and I apologize profusely for forgetting which member cut it up, but that GIANT cottonwood. Like a movie special effects tree, hugemongous Who has that link? You guys know what I mean, all the pics, took like most of the summer to cut it up? The other one I remember is a doug fir?? conifer, largest cut in like oregon or washington? Just the base round was like multi tons.
Those two trees I remember from seeing the pics here, but I didn't bookmark either.
edit, found one of a few of the giant cottonwood tree threads, StihltheOne is the member, well over ten cord for one tree:
http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/169669.htm#post2886095
4.5 cords from a huge big twin hickory. I have brought up 3.5 cords, there is one cord and change left in one of the main trunks and part of the other trunk left to cut and haul up.
Largest single trunk tree, around three cords, a pretty big sweetgum. Gotten similar from some really large oaks. Of course I have seen much larger trees, but never cut one up.
I think around here, on the forum, and I apologize profusely for forgetting which member cut it up, but that GIANT cottonwood. Like a movie special effects tree, hugemongous Who has that link? You guys know what I mean, all the pics, took like most of the summer to cut it up? The other one I remember is a doug fir?? conifer, largest cut in like oregon or washington? Just the base round was like multi tons.
Those two trees I remember from seeing the pics here, but I didn't bookmark either.
edit, found one of a few of the giant cottonwood tree threads, StihltheOne is the member, well over ten cord for one tree:
http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/169669.htm#post2886095
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Constrictor
ArboristSite Operative
A face cord is not a universally known measure of wood so means nothing. I got 6 cord from a monster red oak a few weeks ago.
Thanks for the lesson on face cords.
Sorry to ruffle your feathers. I'm aware of the 8x4x4 dimension. That makes sense, doesn't it, given that this is an "Arborist" web site?
As a rule of thumb, when someone says facecord, I figure approximately (approximately being the key word here) 1/3 of a full cord. 16" X 3 = 48" = 4 foot (Stumpy75 got that all on his own, without feeling the need to show me up in the process.) If someone cuts to a length longer than 16", then of course that fraction changes. You are 100% right that a cord is a more accurate measurement, and believe me, I promise to never ever ever ever use the term facecord on this website ever again. Sorry for not clarifying.
The job I saw advertised had a homeowner claiming 30 facecords out of a maple. I'm assuming he wasn't planning on cutting to 6" lengths either. I'd estimate that at 10 full cords. As for my locust, it almost filled a 10X5X5 rack. That's 250 cubic feet, or 1.953125 cords (sorry for not rounding, I wanted to be EXACT). And before anyone starts criticizing the dimensions of my rack (why not build your rack to the standard 8X4X4 cord dimension or some other 128 cubic foot variation, you might say), I had a good reason for that: just to throw all you guys a loop, it's my intention to change the universal cord measurement to 250 cubic feet from 128 cubic feet, just as soon as I can get 5 guys named Guido to agree, because that was the biggest damn wood rack I could build without interfering with my wife's rose garden.
Thanks for the responses. Nice pics PA plumber, I've been at this since last March and believe it or not STILL haven't got my hands on any oak yet.
Sorry to ruffle your feathers. I'm aware of the 8x4x4 dimension. That makes sense, doesn't it, given that this is an "Arborist" web site?
As a rule of thumb, when someone says facecord, I figure approximately (approximately being the key word here) 1/3 of a full cord. 16" X 3 = 48" = 4 foot (Stumpy75 got that all on his own, without feeling the need to show me up in the process.) If someone cuts to a length longer than 16", then of course that fraction changes. You are 100% right that a cord is a more accurate measurement, and believe me, I promise to never ever ever ever use the term facecord on this website ever again. Sorry for not clarifying.
The job I saw advertised had a homeowner claiming 30 facecords out of a maple. I'm assuming he wasn't planning on cutting to 6" lengths either. I'd estimate that at 10 full cords. As for my locust, it almost filled a 10X5X5 rack. That's 250 cubic feet, or 1.953125 cords (sorry for not rounding, I wanted to be EXACT). And before anyone starts criticizing the dimensions of my rack (why not build your rack to the standard 8X4X4 cord dimension or some other 128 cubic foot variation, you might say), I had a good reason for that: just to throw all you guys a loop, it's my intention to change the universal cord measurement to 250 cubic feet from 128 cubic feet, just as soon as I can get 5 guys named Guido to agree, because that was the biggest damn wood rack I could build without interfering with my wife's rose garden.
Thanks for the responses. Nice pics PA plumber, I've been at this since last March and believe it or not STILL haven't got my hands on any oak yet.
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