Oh, I guess I’m asking about a “face cord” rather than a “full cord”. Seems that everybody has a different definition.
I recently sold a stack of seasoned split red oak that measured 10’x17"x4’. for $200. May have sold it too cheap. What is the cost of firewood in your area?
I know folks want their firewood to be cut at different lengths.
I’m confused.
1 “cord” of wood == 3 “face cords” essentially.
A cord is 4 ft high 8 ft long… and the wood is cut 4 ft long.
3 … 16 inch face cords = 1 cord.
2… 24 inch face cords = 1 cord.
1… 48 inch face cord = 1 cord.
But really the length of the wood in the face cord (4x8 ft stack) depends on how long the customer wants it.
You could have a 14 inch face cord… or 20 inch face cord … if that is what the customer wants.
A face cord is a 4x8 stack of wood cut to the customers desired length.
A cord is 4 foot tall by 4 foot deep by 8 foot long.
A face cord is usally 4 foot tall by 16 inces deep by 8 foot long.
Bucking and splitting logs 16 inches long is common. Because it works out mathematically 16 + 16 + 16 equals 4 foot or 3 face cords or 1 cord.
Hope that helps.
Ultimately a “cord” is 128 cubic feet of volume. 4’ x 8’ x 4’ is just a convenient size and shape to represent that. I have some 12’ rows in my wood shed and can easily estimate how many cord of wood I have, just 12 x height x depth. And with this cold spell for the last couple of weeks, it should have been more!
I dont know about too cheap…
Last year I bought well in excess of a cord of mutli-year seasoned mixed hardwood and 12x 6.5 foot t-post for $2.00 at an action. It was under roof so dry as a bone. There were 3 face cords cut at 20 inces long. And a nice flirty lady jumped up in the back of farm truck and helped me load it and stack it all. She gave me her number which I threw away as soon as I got home. I dont need that kind of trouble in my life 
Do you feel better now?
Out here, you never hear people talk about face cords. Wood generally sells by the cord. 4x4x8
We burned firewood in a ashley wood stove all my childhood until I was about 20 years old.
Never heard of a cord or face cord… in my younger days.
It was a rank of wood… some call it a rick of wood. That was a 4 x 8 ft stack of firewood. Those may be more southern names.
For someone burning it in a wood cook stove… that might be a 4x8 stack of 12 inch long wood… in a ashley wood heater 4x8 stack of 16 inch wood.
Best I can tell a rank, rick, face cord … all mean the same thing… a 4x8 stack of wood some specific length.
I have a customer now asking for 20 inch long firewood… it works best in his stove.
2 … 4x8 stacks of that… would be 8 inches short of a cord… so it cant really be sold by the cord… but we just call that 2 face cords… or 2 rank of wood (20 inch long).
If you just cut 16 inch long firewood here some customers will absolutely refuse it.
Not everyone wants 24 inch firewood either… so a true cord of wood does not always work out.
TNHunter
This is what I cut recently… mostly oak… some hickory and sourwood.
It is stacked 4 ft high x 12 ft long… the wood is 20" long.
There are 2 stacks side by side.
So the customer can purchase 1.5 or 3 face cords of 20" fire wood.
TNHunter
Not really. i can’t get over the outrageous price of a 0.70 cubic feet bundle of firewood sold at Kroger. Something like $14.95 for 5 sticks of firewood. Price may vary. So what if the wood has been kiln dried?
I get the feeling that most sellers arbitrarily price their firewood.
I’m more of a visual person and because of that in my childhood we simply measured a cord by how much of a full sized truck it filled up. Sometimes seeing it is easier than saying it.
My older truck 1995 chevy silverado has a 7 ft long bed. That was a standard bed back then. A long bed truck was a foot or two longer.
Most newer trucks today have much shorter beds 5 ft or so. Cant even haul a kayak or 4 wheeler in them.
You might get half a face cord in them.
I dont deliver my wood though… they come and pick it up… usually in a truck with a trailer.
TNHunter
I currently own 2 Ashley wood stoves one without a blower motor and one with. The one with a blower motor is in use today but I really don’t turn on the blower much. The Ashley without the blower needs some replacement parts - bricks and grates. As I understand it these can be ordered.
Did your family ever burn coal in it?
@tennessean … never tried coal… only fire wood we cut ourselves… my dad, my brother and me.
My dad cut… i did most of the splitting and my brother and I loaded the truck.
When I was 12 … I could ring the bell at our county fair… and most if the high-school football players could not 
only one way to measure a cord! 128 cubic feet! 4’x4’x8’ if logs are shorter or longer than 16" 4’x4’x8’ wont work as 16" goes into 4’ 3x. So do the math to get to 128 cu ft!
A cord of wood is 128 cubic ft. That is actual wood, not the space it occupies If a person had a chunk of solid wood that measured 4ft x 4ft x 8ft with 90 degree angles it would be a full cord. If you took that same chunk of wood and cut it into pieces and restacked it, it would be less than a cord. How much less would depend on the saw kerf width. Take again that same chunk of wood and split it, it could be considerably less than a cord due to waste wood chips.
Most commercial firewood operations use big firewood processing machines with conveyors. They do not stack it before delivery. Honest sellers will stack out a cord, load it onto the conveyor and gauge how full the trailer or truck is. Then they will add more to ensure the customer gets a full cord. A 4x4x8 stack of split wood isn’t a full cord due to the space. Larger and irregular length wood can’t be stacked tight. There can be as much as 25 -30 percent air space in a 4x4x8 stack of split wood.
All consumers should stack their purchased wood as tightly as possible to see if they are getting what they paid for. Also some states regulate firewood sales. State weight and measures usually oversee sales. Some states require the seller to give a receipt with the amount of wood and price. Some states outlaw face cords, piles, wheelbarrows etc. Bundles have to be labeled.
There are a lot of firewood sellers who either don’t know or don’t care what actually constitutes a cord. Just imagine going to buy a gallon of gasoline and only getting 3 quarts.
We dont sell by the cord here… we sell by face cords.
The unit of measure cord only works if you are selling 3… 4x8 stacks of 16" firewood… or 2… 4x8 stacks of 24" firewood.
It could also work for 4… 4x8 stacks of 12" firewood.
Some people burn very short wood like that in cook stoves… but that is quite rare now days.
If your customer wants 14" wood or 20" wood or 18" wood… the measure cord just does not work.
You can call it a face cord or rick instead… and people here understand that
I am currently selling face cords of 20" firewood.
TNHunter
I think that the purpose of a “cord” (ie. 128 cubic feet)
is so that there is a uniform measurement. A cord of split and properly stacked firewood is obviously not the same amout of wood as one solid chunk of wood that is 128 cu. ft. but who buys firewood in one big solid chunk like that? NOBODY.
So, having a uniform measurement of a “cord” will be very close to the same amount of wood from vendor to vendor providing it pieces are split to approximately the same size and stacked as tight as possible.
As @TNHunter has pointed out, a rick or facecord is a improper measurement, it only contains 2 of the 3 measurements needed, only enough to figure out the square feet that the stack contains not the cubic feet.
Per a Nebraska forestry clipboard data table I just downloaded for another purpose (tree spacing per acre), their assessment is 1 cord is 85 cubic feet of solid wood OR 128 cubic feet of wood and void spaces. I’m not saying either of you is right because this isn’t my expertise but I figured I’d share since I remembered seeing this thread recently.
