Firewood Yard Bucket Measurement

[sb47]

The problem I have is. When the original seller claimed he can measure cords to number of bucket fulls IF he is grabbing it from a large stockpile.

If he is grabbing the wood from already stacked piles in individual cord stacks, then it doesn’t matter what it looks like on the trailer.

I run a loader at a gravel pit feeding a crusher. It has a 8.5 yd bucket. We also have on board scales. A full bucket averages 14 tons. In the course of 100 tons loaded, each individual bucket can very by 3-5 tons at times. My long winded point is, loader bucket size cannot be a used for measuring sale-able products. Especially with something like firewood. That’s how landscape companies make so much money on mulch and topsoil.

I drove a dump truck for several years and you have to account for moisture. If the dirt is wet or dry is gonna make a big difference in the weight, but the volume is the same.
Wood splits however are different then dirt, it can have more or less air witch will change the weight and volume.

 

[Ryan'smilling]

The problem I have is. When the original seller claimed he can measure cords to number of bucket fulls IF he is grabbing it from a large stockpile.

If he is grabbing the wood from already stacked piles in individual cord stacks, then it doesn’t matter what it looks like on the trailer.

I run a loader at a gravel pit feeding a crusher. It has a 8.5 yd bucket. We also have on board scales. A full bucket averages 14 tons. In the course of 100 tons loaded, each individual bucket can very by 3-5 tons at times. My long winded point is, loader bucket size cannot be a used for measuring sale-able products. Especially with something like firewood. That’s how landscape companies make so much money on mulch and topsoil.

I see your point and I mostly agree. That said, if you were buying a quantity of wood that took many buckets to load, it would be much closer to the average.

Just like your poster at work. If you buy one bucket load, it might be 9 tons or 19 tons. But if you buy 100 bucket loads it'll probably be pretty close to 1400 tons.

 

[muddstopper]

I use a fel to hual my split wood to the shed. Never counted how many buckets it would take to make a cord, but I doubt 6.67 buckets full would make it. Of course I just scoop and run and aint trying to get all I can in the bucket. On the other hand, when I got help spltting and the wood is stacked in the bucket as we split and then carried to the shed, 6 buckets full should be more than a cord. Maybe this year I will keep count and see how it ends up.

 

[c5rulz]

If we are calling a loosely thrown cord 180 cubic feet and if we assume that the operator is getting close to one cubic yard or 27 cubic feet in a bucket then there are 6.67 buckets/yards of loose thrown wood per cord.

I agree.

You beat me to it, that is exactly what I was going to say.

 

[Mustang71]

I would think someone took a cord and threw it into a box or trailer to come up with the measurement of 180cuft. To just take wood from a pile and fill a space isn't really the same thing. As mentioned it might be close but you could throw a cord into a 180cuft space 100 times and it would be different every time.

 

[cantoo]

Mustang71, you could do the same thing with 5 different guys stacking the same splits too. I've filled about 150 of these and I'll bet the amounts are different but still close enough. I have an OWB to feed.

 

[GAEngineer]

http://codes.ohio.gov/oac/901:6-7-03v1

(3) Quantity: Wood of any type used as fuel may be advertised, offered for sale, and sold by measure, weight, and count, insofar as the wood advertised, offered for sale, and sold by measure shall use the term "cord" and fractional parts of a cord or the cubic meter; except that:

(a) Natural or processed wood offered for sale in package form shall display the quantity in terms of cubic feet and include fractions of cubic feet, or cubic meters and include decimal fractions of cubic meters.

(b) A single log shall be sold by weight. Packages of individuals logs containing less than four cubic feet (one thirty-second of a cord), if sold by inch-pound volume, may be sold by net weight plus count.

(c) Wood advertised, offered for sale, and sold by weight shall be sold in terms of price per ton, the sale based on a net weight determined using an appropriate scale sealed by a weights and measures inspector. In no case shall a scale be used for net loads that weigh less than fifty minimum divisions.

(4) Prohibition of terms: The terms "face cord," "rack," "pile," "rick," "truckload," or terms of similar import shall not be used when advertising, offering for sale, or selling wood for use as fuel.

 

[cantoo]

I've already been in jail ain't no big thing, I'm gonna stick with my measurements. The wood cops can go hang with the phone and the no smoking cops.