Firewood Cord Calculator
Measure the length and height of your wood stack and the length of the logs, then get the volume in cords, face cords and cubic feet — plus the cost at your seller's price per cord.
Measure wood that is already stacked. A loose dumped pile contains about 10–15% less wood per cubic foot.
How the math works
full cords = cubic feet ÷ 128
face cords (16" ricks) = cubic feet ÷ 42.7
Firewood is sold by volume, and the cord is the legal unit: 128 cubic feet of stacked wood, traditionally arranged as a stack 4 ft high × 8 ft long × 4 ft deep. The log length is the depth of the stack — 16-inch cuts are the most common, which is why a face cord (one 16-inch-deep row) equals about one third of a full cord. Measure your own stack the same way the math expects: wood tightly stacked, gaps included.
Buying tips: cords, ricks and loose piles
Because face cords aren't standardized, a "face cord" of 24-inch logs holds half again as much as one of 16-inch logs — always convert to full cords before comparing prices. If the seller delivers wood loose (dumped from a truck), remember a poured pile sits roughly 10–15% less densely than a hand-stacked one, so buy about 10% extra or stack it promptly and re-measure. Seasoned hardwood at 20% moisture or less also matters more than an extra inch of log: wet wood wastes a big share of its heat just boiling off water in your stove.
FAQ
- How much of my stack is actually wood?
- A neatly stacked cord is roughly 80–90% solid wood; the rest is air between the pieces. The 128-cubic-foot definition already accounts for normal stacking gaps.
- How long will a cord heat my house?
- It depends on the stove, climate and insulation — anywhere from about 4 weeks of heavy all-day burning in a drafty house to 2–3 months of evening fires. Track your own burn rate for one season and you'll never overbuy again.
- Does a cord weigh the same for every species?
- No. A seasoned cord of low-density softwood like pine might weigh around 2,000–2,500 lbs, while dense oak or hickory can exceed 3,500–4,000 lbs — and the dense wood delivers far more heat per cord.