Firewood Calculator Android App

   / Firewood Calculator Android App #1  

joshuabardwell

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I made an Android app to calculate the amount of firewood that would be produced from logs of a given size. I was inspired to make the app once while I was surveying a pile of logs that a guy was wanting to sell. Not knowing how much wood was really in them, I couldn't tell if his price was fair or not. Of course, having made the app, I have never been in that situation again, but it was a fun exercise, and now it's done.

The app is very rough around the edges. I used Google's App Inventor to create it, and the options there are much more limited, but I'm not up to coding an Android app from scratch. Also, I mostly made it for myself to use, so a lot of interface niceties have been skipped.

You can download the app here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/x10y93m7spr79c4/Firewood_Calculator.apk You will need to install it on your phone manually by copying it to your SD card and running the installer from there. Because this app is not coming from the Android Marketplace, you will get an error message, and will need to allow installation of non-market apps before it will install.

Instructions for use: Enter log length and diameter, then press = to produce result. Press + to add the result to the list. Press C to clear the list. Press CE to clear the current entry only. Press - to remove a result from the list. You will be prompted which result you want to remove.

The Density button allows you to configure the assumed density of the cord of wood. A cord of wood takes up 128 cubic feet, but it has some air space in it. It is not a solid block of pure wood. So a 128-cubic-foot cord of wood might actually only contain 70 cubic feet of wood. This is normal, and is expected. The default density in the app is 70 ft^3 of wood per cord. I have read that typical values might range from 70-90 ft^3, depending on how tight the wood is stacked. The higher this number, the lower the number of cords of wood the calculator will produce, because it will assume the wood is stacked tighter. A "Density" value of 128 would assume a solid block of wood with no air space at all. If you put in a "Density" value over 128, you will have figured out how to stack wood into other dimensions.

A final word: the app assumes that the logs are cylindrical. In reality, the logs are likely to be tapered, and narrower at one end than the other. What I do to compensate for that is, I measure the diameter at both ends of the log, then split the difference.
 
   / Firewood Calculator Android App
  • Thread Starter
#2  
... and no, there isn't an iPhone version, and there never will be. ANDROID 4 LIFE!
 
   / Firewood Calculator Android App #3  
Nice. It's amazimg how much we can do with phones these days. May I make a couple of comments?
In my state the legal definition of a cord of softwood is 85 cubic feet of solid wood including bark; hardwood is 80. A "thrown cord i.e.; dumped out of the back of a truck is 185 cubic feet.

Kudos on the app. :thumbsup:
 
   / Firewood Calculator Android App
  • Thread Starter
#4  
What state is that?! I've never heard of such a thing. I thought a cord was 128 cubic feet, just like a gallon is... well, a gallon.
 
   / Firewood Calculator Android App #5  
wow... On all accounts- way beyond me. Didn't even know google had an app builder (not that I would figure it out..) I gave up on sketchup and went back to paper and pencil!!!!!

Does Google have an app on how to build an app?

To some extent it sounds like fun. Is it fairly easy?..like using a 'wizard" or do you go through a tutorial? I have no idea what I would do- just sounds cool to be able to do it!
 
   / Firewood Calculator Android App #6  
A cord of wood should be stacked tight. Saying a cord of wood is equal to 70 cubic feet of solid wood means 54% of the cord is air in a stacked cord. Hard to believe. I would like someone who is cutting wood now (not me) to calculate the number of board feet in a log, or cubic feet, then cut and split and see what it come out to. I realize there will be some shrinkage due to drying, but people ought to be paying less for wet wood and more dry anyways.
 
   / Firewood Calculator Android App
  • Thread Starter
#7  
To some extent it sounds like fun. Is it fairly easy?..like using a 'wizard" or do you go through a tutorial? I have no idea what I would do- just sounds cool to be able to do it!

I found it fairly easy, but I used to write code some years ago, and the fundamentals are still there. I think it would be a lot harder if you didn't already have experience programming, although it would be a much easier way to learn to code than actually typing in an editor. Google's App Inventor is entirely graphical.
 
   / Firewood Calculator Android App
  • Thread Starter
#8  
A cord of wood should be stacked tight. Saying a cord of wood is equal to 70 cubic feet of solid wood means 54% of the cord is air in a stacked cord. Hard to believe. I would like someone who is cutting wood now (not me) to calculate the number of board feet in a log, or cubic feet, then cut and split and see what it come out to. I realize there will be some shrinkage due to drying, but people ought to be paying less for wet wood and more dry anyways.

I got the 70 to 90 cubic feet per cord from what I considered to be a reputable source, although now I can't find it. If you follow this Google search, you can find many sources that quote the 70-90 cubic feet number. Of course that doesn't mean it's right.
 
   / Firewood Calculator Android App #9  
Each state should have something listed under "weights and measures" that dictates what a "cord" of wood is and/or- other acceptable terms and measurements.

In Vermont: "The term "cord" means the amount of wood that is contained in a space of 128 cubic feet and a run of wood is 42 2/3 cubic feet when the wood is ranked and well stowed". VT statutes t9 ch73 ss 2651 (5).

the basic definition of ranked and well stowed is same direction, lined up, touching each other with the cubic area equaling 128 square feet.
So, wood that is stacked "criss cross" to dry cannot be sold as a cord. It would have to be re-stacked in the proper manner.

Wet vs dry: same price? less/more? Not sure. Why pay for water that will evaporate and does nothing for you? Why pay more for wood that has been sitting a while? Is there any real difference in production cost? I would have to say that any wet or green wood should be priced much lower than dry. Haven't seen that big a difference though. IMHO
 
   / Firewood Calculator Android App #10  
A cord of wood should be stacked tight. Saying a cord of wood is equal to 70 cubic feet of solid wood means 54% of the cord is air in a stacked cord. Hard to believe. I would like someone who is cutting wood now (not me) to calculate the number of board feet in a log, or cubic feet, then cut and split and see what it come out to. I realize there will be some shrinkage due to drying, but people ought to be paying less for wet wood and more dry anyways.


The numbers I gave is the legal definition of a cord of wood. Of course as you cut and split it it will take up less space when properly stacked.
 
 
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