How to calculate cord volume from log dimensions

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

I have the Fisher Grandpa Bear - it's one of the biggest stoves on the market. Massively oversized for the house, by the previous owner, not me.

We go through about 4 cords in a season, and yes, on warmer days we open windows.

So here we are, two people with oversized stoves, and we're burning maybe a cord a month compared to a cord a week? Maybe now folks can see why I say that's crazy.

Again, though, they were probably talking about that bogus unit known as the "face cord".

(By the way, it's cord, not chord.)

 

[oosik]

I simply can't imagine how you could burn a cord - thanks - a week. At that rate, a lot of your body heat is generated by just lugging firewood to the stove. I've never heard of a "face cord" until I joined this site. Actually a "face cord" is a measure of nothing. It all depends upon how long the chunks are cut.

Another thing that makes me chuckle - those guys selling a pickup load of wood and calling it a cord. I've NEVER been able to get a full cord in a pickup.

There were two brands I looked at - Fisher & Lopi. I got the Lopi because it was a tad less expensive. Either brand should last a lifetime if you take care of them.

 

[LD1]

I have always read that a full stacked cord of wood would normally contain ~80 cf of solid. That is the number that all of the charts that calculate "what does a cord of _____ weigh"

I've never heard of a "face cord" until I joined this site. Actually a "face cord" is a measure of nothing. It all depends upon how long the chunks are cut.

Another thing that makes me chuckle - those guys selling a pickup load of wood and calling it a cord. I've NEVER been able to get a full cord in a pickup.

Not a fan of face cord either. But It is possible to put a full cord on a puckup, if you know how to stack.



But I did make some ~10"-12" high side boards to make loading exactly 1-cord a bit easier for delivery.

 

[GregbkH]

I've been cutting wood for 7 years now and used to stack about 6 face cords for our fire pit. (3 face cords = 1 full cord). Now that I have retired and bought a business with a wood boiler, I have to have 20 full cords ready to go. The not so funny part was that the previous owner didn't tell us how much wood was needed until the last moment. This found my son and I cutting, splitting and stacking 15 full cords the last 5 weeks before deer season. Man, that's a lot of wood.

 

[turnkey4099]

I have always read that a full stacked cord of wood would normally contain ~80 cf of solid. That is the number that all of the charts that calculate "what does a cord of _____ weigh"



Not a fan of face cord either. But It is possible to put a full cord on a puckup, if you know how to stack.

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But I did make some ~10"-12" high side boards to make loading exactly 1-cord a bit easier for delivery.

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I haulaed a cord...once... on my f150. That truck told me every foot of the way that it was way too much and that was hauling dry willow. Of course it was an old truck and stock, no overloads etc. My racks are cab high and carefully stacked it will measure out at a cord. I usually haul one rick stacked in front, one stacked as a tail gate and the rest loose stacked and figure that as 3/4 cord. Yes, I am still overloaded but it is reasonable.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

I simply can't imagine how you could burn a cord - thanks - a week. At that rate, a lot of your body heat is generated by just lugging firewood to the stove.

ROFL!! You got that right!

I've never heard of a "face cord" until I joined this site. Actually a "face cord" is a measure of nothing. It all depends upon how long the chunks are cut.

Exactly right. Since it is not legally defined, it means whatever the selller wants it to mean, which means that it means exactly nothing.

 

[zzvyb6]

I thought burning pine in a wood stove or furnace was a no-no. What's the recommendation to keep from having a chimney fire ?

 

[oosik]

I burned pine for eighteen years before converting to pellets. I wire brushed my chimney every spring for creosote buildup. I never got as much as a quarter of a coffee cup full. I think the secret for preventing a chimney fire - for any type of wood - is don't get a buildup of creosote in the chimney, burn seasoned wood and burn a hot fire approximately once a week.

Any wood can produce creosote - some more so than others.

 

[mapper]

I simply can't imagine how you could burn a cord - thanks - a week. At that rate, a lot of your body heat is generated by just lugging firewood to the stove. I've never heard of a "face cord" until I joined this site.

Just reporting what my friend told me when we were about 12 years old, he spent a lot of time cutting wood with his dad and I recall a heck of a lot of wood piles around their place. I don't think he was talking face cords, that is a term that was not used at that time. Nor do I think he found any sort of pleasure in cutting, splitting and hauling firewood. Keep in mind that what they were using was a furnace that was for either forced air or hydronic heating. Their house was probably not insulated very well or at all. My folks house was built in 1956 and was not insulated, theirs was at least 20-30 years older.

 

[turnkey4099]

I thought burning pine in a wood stove or furnace was a no-no. What's the recommendation to keep from having a chimney fire ?

It's just another of those "old wive's tales". Over half the country burns nothing but evergreen and other "junk" wood. Hardwood forests don't exist except in small areas west of the the MIssissippi or north of the USA. I grew up back in the 40s and 50s, almost everyone heated with wood and all that was available was evergreen. I knew of just two houses that burned. One had nothing but a chimney still standing and it burned many years before I was born. The other burned in the middle of the summer - unknown causes.

The answer, as with all wood: burn only seasoned wood and clean your chimney at least once a year.