Stack it, measure it, know what you bought
Firewood cord calculator
Enter the length and height of a stacked woodpile and the length of the pieces. You get full cords, face cords (ricks), stacked cubic metres and an estimate of the solid wood inside, with a drawing to scale.
Result
12 ft long × 4 ft high × 16 in pieces, 1 row deep = 64 cu ft (1.81 m³ stacked) = 0.5 full cord = 1.5 face cords of 16-in wood.
Compare firewood offers per cord
Sellers quote face cords, half cords, "ricks" or cubic metres. Put each offer on the same footing: the price of one full cord (128 cu ft) and of one stacked cubic metre.
Price per cord
| Offer | Per full cord | Per m³ stacked | Compared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seller A1 face cord / rick of 16-in for $140 | $420 | $116 | +12 % |
| Seller B1 full cord for $375 | $375 | $103 | Best value |
| Seller C0.5 full cords for $200 | $400 | $110 | +7 % |
Same wood, same dryness? Then the lowest price per cord wins. A face cord's value depends on piece length: 1 face cord of 12-in wood is a quarter cord, of 16-in a third, of 24-in a half. Volumes are 3.625 m³ per cord.
How to measure a woodpile
Stack the wood tightly first: pieces parallel, touching, with as few gaps as you can manage. That is how a cord is defined, and a loose heap holds far more air.
- Length: measure along the front of the stack, end to end.
- Height: measure in three or four places and use the average.
- Piece length: measure a few typical pieces. A face cord is only as deep as one piece.
- Rows deep: count the rows standing one behind the other. Three rows of 16-inch wood make a 4-foot-deep stack.
What the results mean
- Full cord: 128 cubic feet of stacked wood, classically 4 ft high, 4 ft deep and 8 ft long.
- Face cord or rick: a 4 × 8 ft face one piece deep, so its size depends on the piece length.
- Stère: one cubic metre of stacked wood, the usual unit in much of Europe. A cord is 3.62 stères.
- Solid wood: what is left without the air gaps. We show 62–72 % of the stack: solid wood alone, then wood plus bark.
Worked example
A stack 12 ft long, 4 ft high and one row of 16-inch pieces holds 12 × 4 × 1.33 = 64 cubic feet. That is half a cord, or one and a half face cords of 16-inch wood. If a seller charges 140 for one such face cord, the full-cord price is 420.
Sources
- Washington State Department of Agriculture, Firewood information, quoting NIST Handbook 130, Uniform Regulation for the Method of Sale, section 2.4 (cord of 128 cu ft "ranked and well stowed"; prohibited terms; delivery ticket).
- NIST, Handbook 130, current edition (Uniform Laws and Regulations in the Areas of Legal Metrology).
- Utah State University Extension, Kuhns & Schmidt, Wood Heating (standard cord, face cord of 32–48 cu ft, pickup loads).
- University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension, A. J. Martin, What Is A Cord? (FEM No. 44, PDF): an average cord holds 79 cu ft of solid wood and 92 cu ft of wood and bark.
- Missouri Department of Conservation, Home Heating (rick, rank and face cord usage).
- Landratsamt Bodenseekreis, Die wichtigsten Maßeinheiten für Brennholz (PDF, German): 1 stacked cubic metre ≈ 0.7 solid cubic metres.
More firewood calculators
- Firewood BTU chartHeat per cord for 46 species in million BTU, kWh or GJ, and what a million BTU costs at your price.
- Seasoning time guideHow many months your wood needs to dry below 20 %, a moisture-meter check and a woodpile log.
- Wood stove size calculatorA rough kW and BTU range for a room or house, and how many cords a winter might take.
Recommended
CleanTempMail
Asking several wood sellers or stove shops for quotes means filling in forms that keep emailing you afterwards. A free temporary inbox from CleanTempMail takes those sign-ups instead: no account needed, and messages are deleted automatically after three days.
Get a temporary inboxWebTraceCheck
Found seasoned wood or a stove at a surprising price on a site you have never used? WebTraceCheck's free domain lookup and website audit help you judge the site before paying a deposit, and its disposable cloud browser opens unfamiliar links away from your own computer.
Check a seller's websiteCord questions
How big is a cord of firewood?
A full cord is 128 cubic feet of wood stacked tightly, with the pieces parallel and touching. The classic shape is 4 ft high, 4 ft deep and 8 ft long, but any stack whose length × height × depth makes 128 cubic feet is a cord. In metric terms that is about 3.62 cubic metres of stacked wood.
How many face cords make a full cord?
It depends on the piece length, because a face cord is a 4 × 8 ft face only one piece deep. With 12-inch pieces it takes 4 face cords to make a cord, with 16-inch pieces 3, and with 24-inch pieces 2. Always ask how long the pieces are before comparing prices.
Is a rick the same as a face cord?
Often, but not reliably. The Missouri Department of Conservation notes that some people call a third or half of a cord a rick, even though the word only means a pile of no set size. The model rules in NIST Handbook 130 tell sellers not to use terms like face cord, rack, pile or truckload at all, so ask for the amount in cords or cubic metres.
How much firewood fits in a pickup truck?
Utah State University Extension puts a full-size pickup with a standard bed at about half a cord (64 cubic feet) when the wood is loaded level with the top of the bed. Small pickups hold much less, and wood thrown in loosely holds less again, so measure the stack after unloading rather than trusting a truckload.
How much solid wood is in a cord?
Less than you might think. University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension measured an average of 79 cubic feet of solid wood and 92 cubic feet of wood plus bark in a 128 cubic foot cord, the rest being air. Straight, smooth, tightly stacked pieces hold more; crooked or branchy wood holds less.
How do I check a firewood delivery?
Stack the wood neatly, measure its length, height and depth in feet, multiply them and divide by 128 to get cords. Keep the delivery ticket or invoice, which the NIST model rules require the seller to give you. If the amount is short, contact the seller before you burn any of the wood.