How Much Does a Cord of Wood Weigh

The term “cord of wood” has been around for a long time, going back to the early 1600s. At that time, the “cord” meant a literal cord of wood, much does a cord of rope tied around the bundle. This became a unit measuring exact weight and how much wood was, which was typically measured and regulated, ensuring that people got what they paid for.

While we still use the term cord for wood, few people truly understand how cord refers to how much a cord of wood measures and its meaning. Therefore, it is possible for unscrupulous sellers to get away with selling whatever quantity of pine wood they want and still call it a cord seasoned firewood. While I suppose this could be done with pine wood weighing other materials, the term cord is only used about how much a cord of wood weigh, specifically a cord of firewood, as we have other units of measure for other types of wood.

So, Just How Much Wood is in a Cord?

That is how much moisture content a cord partly depends on what you mean when you use the term green cord. As properly measured, the average weight of a cord or full cubic foot literal cord is 128 cubic feet green cord, generally organized as the weight of a cord stack 8’ long x 4’ wide x 4’ high.

Some people refer to the weight of a cord of firewood as a “rick” of wood, but the two are not synonymous. While the weight of a cord refers to the wood weighing a specific number of cubic feet, a rick refers to the wood’s’s weight differs vary depending on the wood structure and how it is stacked, specifically that it will weigh significantly weigh differently depending if it is stacked in a four-foot high, eight-foot long stack.

One somewhat misleading term that’s often used is “face cord.” This is a stack of firewood that is 8’x 4’, but only one stack deep. Since most firewood is just round logs cut to 16” lengths or split logs, it would take how mu h a cord of wood weigh and how much a cord of wood weigh a kiln-dried firewood, and how much a cord of wood weigh a triple stack of 16” long round logs or split logs to make a significant difference from how much does a cord of wood weigh a full cord of kiln dried firewood.

People who don’t know the difference might buy a face cord, thinking it is a ful cord, or they might compare prices between the two, thinking they are the same.

Even though it takes three stacks of 16” cut wood to make a full cord of wood weigh in, many sellers try to sell wood cords that only have two stacks pine weigh measuring wood. They justify this by saying that the pieces are cut longer than 16”,, nd might be.

But to make that a full cord of wood weigh in, the pieces measuring the pine wood weigh in would have to be cut 24” long.. Yet they might just as well be cut 18” to make average standard cord oak wood weigh-in of 20” long.

Finally, how a cord of oak wood is stacked can have as much to do with how much wood is in the stack as how much a cord of the oak wood weighs by measuring overall dimensions. A cord of bur oak wood is supposed to be tightly stacked, ith the wood pieces turned as needed to eliminate air space between them.

However, while the purchaser usually does that, when they stack the bur oak wood for seasoning, it may not be done by whoever they bought it from. A full 10 percent of the wood by volume can be lost o poor stacking method alone.

How Much Does a Full Cord Weigh?

Some people think weight can be used to verify that a half cord full of firewood is a face cord full. How much moisture does the weight of a cord and the weight of a half cord full of wood weigh? This makes sense, except for f nding a scale to weigh it with. But even if a scale can be found knowing the exact weight measurement, type of wood, and moisture content is essential. Cords can vary in eight from 2000 to 5000 pounds.

Moist content alone cutting wood can make over 1,000 pounds of wood by weight of moisture content alone. Fresh-cut wood, with a h gh moisture content, will weigh considerably more than a woodcut before that has been properly seasoned so the cutting wood dries so that the full moisture content can evaporate out of the wood.

This process of easoning fresh-cut wood can take six months to a year. If the seasoned ood is not protected from rainfall, it may never fully dry, as the rain will wick up the cut ends.

Splitting wood can help with the drying process, as one of the purposes of the wood structure of wood species with the very white oak bark is to help hold moisture in. However, wet woo is denser, making it harder to split wood cut into.

Besides, more o the moisture content of seasoned wood is gained or lost through the ends of white oak wood weighing the cut pieces than through the same wood wet long grain of wood dries.

The weight of some common types of wood that might be used as firewood are:

Wood Type	Lbs. per cord – wet	Lbs. per cord – dry
Apple	4850	3888
Ash, white	3952	3472
Basswood	4404	1984
Birch	4312	2992
Buckeye	4210	1984
Cherry	3696	2928
Cottonwood	4640	2272
Douglas fir	3319	2970
Elm	4456	2872
Fir	3585	2104
Maple	4585	3680
Mulberry	4712	3712
Oak, red	4888	3528
Pine, white	3600	2250
Spruce	2800	2240
Sycamore	5096	2808
Walnut	4584	3192
Willow	4320	2540

The entire difference in weight measurement between the wood weighs these weights is water. Those woods sh wing a higher average weight difference between wet wood weight and dry wood weight lose a lot of moisture during the drying process. If there were n emergency and it was necessary to burn this dried wood while wet, it would not only be harder to light the fire and keep it going, but the fire would also produce more white “smoke,” which would be water vapor escaping from the dried wood, as it burns hotter than it was burning.

On the other hand, if it were necessary to burn wet wood, it would make the most sense to try and use seasoned firewood or one of the woods with lower moisture content. Most firewood, such as wood species such as ash, cherry, or Douglas fir.

When buying firewood, keep these weights in mind. Hauling that wo d home might be quite a challenge. For example, A alf-ton pickup truck is only designed to carry 1,000 pounds. So, to bring the same weight of a full cord of wet red oak home would take five trips if the driver didn’t want to overload his truck. Volum is a problem, too, as it’s only possible to fit about half the actual weight of a full cord of wood in an eight-foot full-sized truck bed. If th same half-ton pickup truck is one of the newer models, with a four-door cab and a six-foot bed, it only has enough space to haul about a third of the actual weight of a full cord of wood.

Not All Woods Burn the Same

The vast difference between these various types of wood tells us another tale about wood type and species, in addition to how much moisture content they hold. hat is, not all wood species or types of wood have the same density.

What that means for us, when using the wood type of wood cords using it for firewood generally preferred, is that those denser woods will provide more heat per log. How much heat measured split logs give in BTUs is known.

Wood Type	Heat per Cord (million BTUs)
Apple	27.0
Ash, white	24.2
Basswood	69
Birch	104
Buckeye	69
Cherry	102
Cottonwood	79
Douglas fir	103
Elm	100
Fir	73
Maple	128
Mulberry	129
Oak, red	123
Pine, white	81
Spruce	78
Sycamore	98
Walnut	111
Willow	88

This table makes it clear that when buying firewood, not all woods, vary depending on the density of the wood is something impor ant to consider. While some of those hardwoods might be considerably more expensive to buy than green wood, the cost per BTU of green wood could still be cheaper than seasoned hardwood due to the higher energy density contained within the greenwood.

Typically hardwoods that have higher energy density are also harder to ignite. Therefore, it’s a good idea to buy some softwood, such as jack pine and oak trees, wood species such as jack pine and bur oak, and hardwood. The softwood ca be used to start the fire and get it blazing.

Then the hardwood can be fed into the fire, gradually replacing the firewood use of seasoned hardwood with softwood entirely.

The actual cost per cord of hardwood firewood will vary considerably depending on what factors affect the wood type, of wood elected, and what part of the country it is being bought in. Woods that are less common in a particular area are going to cost more.

Then, the rarity of those woods will likely keep t em from being used as firewood, at least in that part of the country. Still, the average price we can expect to pay per cord of wood weight is between $120 and $280 for ha dwood firewood in most parts of the country when buying it off-season. prices can double if the cord of wood is purchased in the middle of the winter.