What is a cord

[Chiphaller]

No one has yet described a actual cord of wood. I’ve worked in the woods more than 40 years. A cord of wood is 4x4x8 in 8 ft length. 128 cubic feet of wood and air. If you cut and split that cord and stack it in a tight pile it will no longer be a 128 cubic feet. If you stack it very loosely it will be more then 128 cubic feet. If you were able to take a tightly stacked pile of 128 cubic feet and reassemble it into 8 ft logs it would be more then 128 cubic feet. If you take a 10 cord load of logs and cut split and tightly stack it in 128 cubic foot piles you’d be lucky to have 8 piles.

 

[lone wolf]

No one has yet described a actual cord of wood. I’ve worked in the woods more than 40 years. A cord of wood is 4x4x8 in 8 ft length. 128 cubic feet of wood and air. If you cut and split that cord and stack it in a tight pile it will no longer be a 128 cubic feet. If you stack it very loosely it will be more then 128 cubic feet. If you were able to take a tightly stacked pile of 128 cubic feet and reassemble it into 8 ft logs it would be more then 128 cubic feet. If you take a 10 cord load of logs and cut split and tightly stack it in 128 cubic foot piles you’d be lucky to have 8 piles.

Here we go!

 

[northmanlogging]

No one has yet described a actual cord of wood. I’ve worked in the woods more than 40 years. A cord of wood is 4x4x8 in 8 ft length. 128 cubic feet of wood and air. If you cut and split that cord and stack it in a tight pile it will no longer be a 128 cubic feet. If you stack it very loosely it will be more then 128 cubic feet. If you were able to take a tightly stacked pile of 128 cubic feet and reassemble it into 8 ft logs it would be more then 128 cubic feet. If you take a 10 cord load of logs and cut split and tightly stack it in 128 cubic foot piles you’d be lucky to have 8 piles.

if you're selling logs as cord wood, then you sell it as logs with the understanding that split and stacked it will be less then a cord
if you are selling fire wood split and stacked, then you sell it as split and stacked
If you are putting logs back together and trying to sell them as logs, seek professional help
If you are selling "face cords" maybe put down the bottle and find a real job.

As for log loads of firewood, you sell either based on weight, or by dead reckoning of split and stacked cords, not the "volume" on the truck, and if you intend to keep selling firewood, logs or split/processed, over deliver and if some one bitches about being 1/2 a cord shy of 8 cords, and you know damned well you brought them 10... bring them 1-2 logs, then block their number.

 

[Del_]

 

[Chiphaller]

if you're selling logs as cord wood, then you sell it as logs with the understanding that split and stacked it will be less then a cord
if you are selling fire wood split and stacked, then you sell it as split and stacked
If you are putting logs back together and trying to sell them as logs, seek professional help
If you are selling "face cords" maybe put down the bottle and find a real job.

As for log loads of firewood, you sell either based on weight, or by dead reckoning of split and stacked cords, not the "volume" on the truck, and if you intend to keep selling firewood, logs or split/processed, over deliver and if some one bitches about being 1/2 a cord shy of 8 cords, and you know damned well you brought them 10... bring them 1-2 logs, then block their number.

 

[Chiphaller]

A logger hauls loads of wood in 8 ft sometimes 16ft sometimes even tree length. Gets paid buy the cord. Some mills pay by weight, figuring average weight per cord of the species that’s delivered. The mill doesn’t cut and split the wood, stack it tight and then pay for adjusted volume. When loggers buy stumpage they pay so much based on a cord. If you buy a section you don’t figure out how many cords your buying then subtract 20% because someone down the road is going to cut split and stack it and expect the volume to stay the same. You get the same amount of wood, less air space.

 

[Okie294life]

I think it’s funny how people say they’re selling a cord and show up with a half ton no sideboards…..that’s maybe a rick (face cord) for yanks @24”. Where I’m from people would hardly buy wood in cords for that reason because a rick is about all that will fit safely in a half ton, and unless they’re a processor or legit farmer they probably don’t have a one ton or a duece flatbed sitting around.

 

[9050lx]

A harmony of three or more pitches.

 

[TRTermite]

I think it’s funny how people say they’re selling a cord and show up with a half ton no sideboards…..that’s maybe a rick (face cord) for yanks @24”. Where I’m from people would hardly buy wood in cords for that reason because a rick is about all that will fit safely in a half ton, and unless they’re a processor or legit farmer they probably don’t have a one ton or a duece flatbed sitting around.

I had a friend that had OCD issues and we worked on is truck (Long wide box 1/2 ton 2wd 1976 F-150 "RED" for the sticklers). He was clearing a hillside pasture of bramble and chose to cut and sell the firewood from it. He was adamant that You cut the length at 16" and drive tee posts 12 feet apart (1/2 cord) Stack one row at 4 feet high and fill the area between posts. He (and his 2 boys) could stack that 1/2 cord in the pickup box and usually the load was level with the pickup box. Any thing above that was more than a 1/2 cord. I have some ocd but more LeadITeAss so it was easier to believe him than prove anything else.
The reason I replied to your post not the thread is on account of you mentioning "RICK" as being a 1/2 cord OF 24" LONG WOOD. 20 some years ago it wasn't easy for me to find the definition of a RICK of wood. I myself found it easier for conversation sake to refer it to a Face Cord at 16" (Third Cord) or a Face Cord at 24" (Half Cord). I always had it in my head as a rick is a half cord.

 

[northmanlogging]

A logger hauls loads of wood in 8 ft sometimes 16ft sometimes even tree length. Gets paid buy the cord. Some mills pay by weight, figuring average weight per cord of the species that’s delivered. The mill doesn’t cut and split the wood, stack it tight and then pay for adjusted volume. When loggers buy stumpage they pay so much based on a cord. If you buy a section you don’t figure out how many cords your buying then subtract 20% because someone down the road is going to cut split and stack it and expect the volume to stay the same. You get the same amount of wood, less air space.

yer talking pulp wood I assume?

In which case if the mill is paying by the cord, the logger is losing money, and a lot of it. Very few areas operate on cords commercially, the few that do are pretty much all pulp wood, or small janky outfits, that likely won't survive the next 5 years despite timber prices skyrocketing in the next couple months (woods been hard to get out around here the last few months... feckin wind-snow-mud, not to mention lack of daylight and still not enough trucks)

 

[slowp]

A harmony of three or more pitches.

No, that's a chord. I got orchestra to go to tonight.

 

[9050lx]

No, that's a chord. I got orchestra to go to tonight.

My bad...

 

[GeeVee]

its the thing on the back of the wind up doll you pull when you want to read another thread about which 2 stroke oil is best.

 

[slowp]

Just found out that orchestra is now part of the Cancel Culture, along with school today.

 

[buzz sawyer]

That's not

A harmony of three or more pitches.

That's not a cord, that's a chord. Then you have a notochord which has nothing to do with music or wood. What would this cord sell for?
I think the entire firewood system should be completely overhauled. Value should be based on weight and species since available btu varies with species. Anyone selling firewood would have to use a certified scale to get the exact weight of the load and factor in the species to get the btu value of the load. Or not. THIS IS SARCASM!

 

[capetrees]

A cord of wood, firewood, meaning it's been cut to length, in this case we'll use 16" lengths and has been split to usable size pieces that will then be stacked in an arrangement that will equate to 128 cubic feet. 16" long pieces can be stacked ay way you want but the volume must add to 128 cubic feet. Easiest way in this example is 3 stacks of 16" pieces, 4' tall and 8 feet long. Imagine laying down a piece of plywood on the ground, 4' x 8'. Now take your pieces and stack them up on the plywood until the stack is neatly squared and 4' tall.

That's a cord of stacked wood.

When I deliver my firewood, I fill the back of my one ton until I have 160 cubic feet of firewood pieces, 16" long, thrown into the truck. In my 9' body, that's about 2.5' deep level across the top. Anyone that wants to stack that out on their own and tell me I shorted them, I'm happy to bring more to equal out to 128 cubic stacked. I've only had one customer that did it to be a jerk and told me I owe'd him 2 cubic feet, about 10 pieces of wood.

I used to get it delivered cut/split by the trailer. I was told by the driver that there was 15 cords on the truck. I was always coming up with only 12-13 at best. I stopped after 4 trailers and the supplier called to wonder if I wanted another load. I told him that I didn't trust him, that he was shorting me 3 cords every load. He told me they can ONLY load 12-13 cords on a trailer so my numbers were correct.

Turns out the trucker was lying to me, telling me he had 15 cords. 4 trailers later, 3 cords short every trailer, he owed me 12 cords, right? So I did order a trailer from the supplier. Trailer comes in overnight, 2 am, backs in to where I was storing it at a yard and had him dump it, live floor. When he was done he asked for his money. I told him that I was on to him as was the supplier. Told him I wasn't paying him, throw the wood back into the trailer if he didn't like it and I drove away.

Turns out he did go back, he paid the supplier, the supplier wouldn't use him any more and the driver eventually had to sell his truck, nobody trusted him and I got my 12 cords.

 

[BLR]

Pennsylvania and federal law govern the sale of firewood, and these laws prohibit terms like “racks” or “truck loads” to describe the amount being offered for sale.

70 Pa. Code § 23.107 requires wood used for fuel to be sold in cords or a fraction thereof. The PA Standard Weights and Measures Act of 1996 amended the PA Agriculture Code (Title 3) to adopt the national weights and measures standards issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Specifically, the standards found in NIST Handbook 130 address the sale of firewood.

NIST Handbook 130 requires firewood to be sold by the cord or fraction thereof. See page 111. A cord is defined as 128 cubic feet or a stack 4 feet wide, 4 feet high by 8 feet in length. The federal regulations also prohibit the terms “face cord,” “rack,” “pile,” “truckload,” and similar terms when advertising, offering for sale, or selling wood for use as fuel, because these terms are imprecise and can be misleading.

In light of the state and federal law, ads selling firewood should describe the amount sold as a cord or fraction thereof.

 

[chipper1]

No one has yet described a actual cord of wood. I’ve worked in the woods more than 40 years. A cord of wood is 4x4x8 in 8 ft length. 128 cubic feet of wood and air. If you cut and split that cord and stack it in a tight pile it will no longer be a 128 cubic feet. If you stack it very loosely it will be more then 128 cubic feet. If you were able to take a tightly stacked pile of 128 cubic feet and reassemble it into 8 ft logs it would be more then 128 cubic feet. If you take a 10 cord load of logs and cut split and tightly stack it in 128 cubic foot piles you’d be lucky to have 8 piles.

Welcome to the site.
Good you're here to help us all out

 

[chipper1]

Pennsylvania and federal law govern the sale of firewood, and these laws prohibit terms like “racks” or “truck loads” to describe the amount being offered for sale.

70 Pa. Code § 23.107 requires wood used for fuel to be sold in cords or a fraction thereof. The PA Standard Weights and Measures Act of 1996 amended the PA Agriculture Code (Title 3) to adopt the national weights and measures standards issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Specifically, the standards found in NIST Handbook 130 address the sale of firewood.

NIST Handbook 130 requires firewood to be sold by the cord or fraction thereof. See page 111. A cord is defined as 128 cubic feet or a stack 4 feet wide, 4 feet high by 8 feet in length. The federal regulations also prohibit the terms “face cord,” “rack,” “pile,” “truckload,” and similar terms when advertising, offering for sale, or selling wood for use as fuel, because these terms are imprecise and can be misleading.

In light of the state and federal law, ads selling firewood should describe the amount sold as a cord or fraction thereof.

I'm sure ole Joe and his buddies will start enforcing that with heavy fines soon enough.
Heck they put in a million or millions into the last big bill before the trumpster left office lol.

 

[capetrees]

No one has yet described a actual cord of wood. I’ve worked in the woods more than 40 years. A cord of wood is 4x4x8 in 8 ft length. 128 cubic feet of wood and air. If you cut and split that cord and stack it in a tight pile it will no longer be a 128 cubic feet. If you stack it very loosely it will be more then 128 cubic feet. If you were able to take a tightly stacked pile of 128 cubic feet and reassemble it into 8 ft logs it would be more then 128 cubic feet. If you take a 10 cord load of logs and cut split and tightly stack it in 128 cubic foot piles you’d be lucky to have 8 piles.

Trial and error is the only way to gauge what you're doing. Buying it by the log length is tricky but you'll have to cut a specific number of logs, generally the same dimensions, and then stack it so see how many logs equal a cord. Multi dimensional logs? different diameters and lengths? Trial and error. Cut and split numerous log length deliveries and you can then determined vaguely what's on a delivery truck if the logs are generally the same each load. The only way is to figure it out pretty specifically is after it's been cut and split.