Can anyone help with this quantity question?

[sredlin]

right around 1000 pieces plus or minus 300

 

[splittah]

Post # 11

I have counted. I split my wood kind of small. It's a little bigger then what the gas station sells but not a lot. There is an average of about 325 pieces in a rank of wood. So between 950 and 1000 in a cord.
Scott

Post # 21

right around 1000 pieces plus or minus 300

Pretty big window at a possible 1/3 +/- of a cord difference depending on splits. This is exactly why I said as an average it really cannot be done. Although you both figure "around" 1000 your window, if you were to sell by the count it is a very large window..

STLfirewood has the potential to give the customer 1/3 less wood than you do if you were just to count the pieces. Most firewood dealers do not stack the wood, they dump it, therefore you cannot go by piece count.

It would be the same as guess the beans in the pot, one person says 500, one says 300 though the bean pot has the same number for each person guessing.

IMHO

 

[STLfirewood]

95% of what I sell I stack. I use the 74 cubic ft to a rank(1/3 cord) measurement more. I know what the trailer hauls. It's hard to count when you are loading with a skid steer.


Scott

 

[groundup]

We cut and split all our wood as similar as we can each time. Usually oaks that are 18" avg diameter split into fours. We also count the wood in our cords on a regular basis and average around 400, but it varies by about 50 pieces. Now if you get a lot of narrow tops or the wood isn't split than it all goes out the window, but under regular circumstances, in a pinch we can count out a cord and throw some extra in for good measure and be almost on the nose every time.

 

[LazyJ]

My wood crib holds precisely 3 cords, 3 rows of 22" wood 12'w by 6'h. I just emptied it out on Saturday and put the last 1/2 rick on the porch. On Sunday, I hired my teen son to fill it back up from stacks scattered in the woodlot. All large straight splits having 8" side dimensions, not a round in the lot. I haggled him to a contract price of $60 and feeling cheated he felt it important to calculate how many pieces of woods he handled. He counted 620 splits in 3 cords which earned him almost 10 cents per stick and took him a little over 3 hours so about $20 and hour. He was counting pretty closely by putting 40 splits per row on the trailer. I gave him a $20 tip for stacking tight and not getting stuck in the mud. My 50yo stooped back thought I got a good bargain.

These were long, large splits, green weight @40 lbs each, a little over 200 sticks per cord. Probably not the size you typically get when you purchase wood. My son gets his anal retent gene from me, I keep a 22" piece of PVC pipe in my left hand when sawing to measure my bucking lengths. I've never seen anyone else do this?

 

[acer saccharum]

I keep a 22" piece of PVC pipe in my left hand when sawing to measure my bucking lengths. I've never seen anyone else do this?

I hope you mean that you keep a piece of PVC in your left hand while you mark your log with an axe/hatchet in your right hand.

2 hands on the saw please.

 

[STLfirewood]

My son gets his anal retent gene from me, I keep a 22" piece of PVC pipe in my left hand when sawing to measure my bucking lengths. I've never seen anyone else do this?

I do this also. I use a small twig. I can hold it in my left hand and still grip the saw fine.

Scott

 

[Sprig]

I do this also. I use a small twig. I can hold it in my left hand and still grip the saw fine.

Scott

Lol, I just mark my bar with felt pen if its got to be exact
One could always use a toy arrow stuck on the side of the saw (hey, now theres an idea for someone to go make a million! Perfect for the HO who has everything!)

(funny topic too)

Serge

 

[farmer]

I had a friend assure me that 200 pieces were close to a face cord. The way i split it which was kind of coarse it did work out. I hold a stick to measure but I set it on the log and remeber the spot so I am using 2 hands.

 

[2FatGuys]

95% of what I sell I stack. I use the 74 cubic ft to a rank(1/3 cord) measurement more. I know what the trailer hauls. It's hard to count when you are loading with a skid steer.

Scott

Check your numbers! If you are selling 74 cu ft as 1/3 chord is shorting yourself some profit. 1/3 chord is only 42 2/3 cu ft. you are almost doubling that.

 

[Patrick62]

I lost count....

One time I loaded the truck with a cord, stacked.
I counted every piece, 400 (or so) on that load. The pieces must have been big, because the next time I was up to 600 or so.... but I was loading another truck with them just tossed in. These are your average hunks of split with branches tossed in (smaller than 3"). Everything was cut to 15-16".

I have actually considered building a 128 cu. ft. box. Then stack that thing as tightly as possible. There is your honest cord. Then throw it in the truck. :jawdrop:

-Pat

 

[2FatGuys]

Lol, I just mark my bar with felt pen if its got to be exact
One could always use a toy arrow stuck on the side of the saw (hey, now theres an idea for someone to go make a million! Perfect for the HO who has everything!)

(funny topic too)

Serge

Too late... it's already out there! Bailey's (a site sponsor) has the following:

http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=47150

They also have:

http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=265&catID=

We use the Mingo from Bailey's (and NT by the way). It is VERY quick for one of our guys to grab it and mark an entire downed tree in a matter of a couple minutes. There's nothing to fumble with one the cutting starts.

 

[farmer]

I have used lumber crayons , a hatchet, awl on my jacknife, and a small ax to mark firewood. Most guys cutting firewood are to cheap to buy something cause were trying to save money , not spend it!!

 

[Patrick62]

Cheap? I beg to differ!

I have used lumber crayons , a hatchet, awl on my jacknife, and a small ax to mark firewood. Most guys cutting firewood are to cheap to buy something cause were trying to save money , not spend it!!

This "cheap" hobby of mine has reached ridiculous proportions. What started with a well used 041, and a 1967 D100 pickup now has $1800 in saws, Who knows how much is in the dump truck. Several thousand in the splitter, couple rolls of chain + spinner/breaker. The 511A to keep things sharp. Cheap?

I had to start selling some to help justify this absurdity!!! Oh well.....

-Pat

 

[STLfirewood]

Check your numbers! If you are selling 74 cu ft as 1/3 chord is shorting yourself some profit. 1/3 chord is only 42 2/3 cu ft. you are almost doubling that.

You are correct that is what it equals stacked. But thrown in wood is between around 72-74 cubic feet to a rank(1/3 cord). Some people say it's a little less then that in the 60's somewhere. But I can't get that to stack out.

Scott

 

[mga]

supposedly, when a dealer stacks a full cord of wood, (4 x 4 x 8) this is the legal size. transporting the same load and restacking might result in a smaller size, but it shouldn't be small enough to cause concern for the buyer. one can't possibly restack the pile into it's original state when first measured.

as for loading wood into pick up trucks:

http://www.woodheat.org/firewood/cord.htm

 

[2FatGuys]

STL - That makes a LOT more sense now! Lose in the box then stacked upon delivery....