Firewood Cord Calculator
Measure your woodpile or a seller's load and see exactly how many full cords and face cords it holds. Compare quotes on a true price-per-cord basis and see how much heat the wood will give for the species you burn.
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Log length front to back. A full cord is 48 in deep; face cords are usually 12–18 in.
Loose wood takes roughly 1.5× the space of the same wood stacked.
Open fireplace 10–20%, older stove 50–60%, EPA-certified stove 70–80%.
How to use the Firewood Cord Calculator
- Measure the stack: length and height in feet, and depth (the length of the pieces) in inches. Switch to metric if you prefer.
- Add more rows if you have several identical stacks, or choose loose if the wood is thrown in a pile or a truck bed.
- Enter the seller's prices and what each price covers, such as one face cord or the whole load.
- Pick the wood species and your stove's efficiency to see the heat value.
- Read the cords and price per cord, then check the table to compare the heat of other species.
Cord, face cord and other firewood measures
Firewood is sold by stacked volume, which includes the air spaces between the pieces. A full cord is 4 ft × 4 ft × 8 ft = 128 cubic feet. Anything else should be converted to this unit before you compare prices.
| Measure | Size | Cubic feet | Share of a full cord |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full cord | 4 ft × 4 ft × 8 ft | 128 | 1 |
| Half cord | 4 ft × 2 ft × 8 ft | 64 | 1/2 |
| Face cord, 12 in pieces | 4 ft × 8 ft × 12 in | 32 | 1/4 |
| Face cord, 16 in pieces | 4 ft × 8 ft × 16 in | 42.7 | 1/3 |
| Face cord, 18 in pieces | 4 ft × 8 ft × 18 in | 48 | 3/8 |
| Face cord, 24 in pieces | 4 ft × 8 ft × 24 in | 64 | 1/2 |
| Stere (stacked cubic meter) | 1 m × 1 m × 1 m | 35.3 | 0.276 |
The formula is simple: cords = length × height × depth (in feet) ÷ 128, and face cords = cubic feet ÷ (32 × piece length in feet). Terms like "rick", "rank", "truckload" and "bush cord" are not standardized everywhere, so always ask the seller for the stack dimensions.
Firewood heat value by species
Approximate heat content of one full cord of air-dried wood (about 20% moisture). Published figures vary by about 10% between sources and with the actual dryness and density of the wood.
| Species | Million BTU per cord | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Osage orange | 32.9 | Extremely hot, sparks a lot; use in a closed stove |
| Black locust, hickory | 27.7–27.9 | Excellent, long-lasting coals |
| White oak, sugar maple | 25.5–25.7 | Excellent; oak needs 1–2 years to season |
| Red oak, American beech, white ash | 23.6–24.6 | Very good; ash burns well even when slightly green |
| Black walnut, yellow birch | 21.8–22.2 | Good |
| Douglas-fir, tamarack, black cherry, paper birch, elm | 20.0–20.8 | Good; elm is hard to split |
| Red maple | 18.7 | Fair to good |
| Ponderosa pine, white pine, cottonwood, aspen | 14.7–16.2 | Lights fast and burns quickly; good kindling and shoulder-season fuel |
Tips when buying firewood
- Stack and measure the delivery before you pay. Loosely thrown wood looks like much more than it is.
- Compare price per million BTU, not just price per cord: $250 for a cord of pine can cost more per unit of heat than $350 for oak.
- Check the moisture with a cheap moisture meter on a freshly split face; under 20% is ready to burn.
- Buy local. Many states restrict moving firewood to stop invasive pests such as the emerald ash borer.
- See what the wood is worth against other fuels with the heating cost calculator.
Frequently asked questions
How big is a cord of wood?
A full (standard) cord is a neatly stacked pile 4 feet high, 4 feet deep and 8 feet long, which is 128 cubic feet including the air gaps between pieces. This is the legal unit for selling firewood in most US states.
What is a face cord or rick?
A face cord, also called a rick or rank, is a stack 4 feet high and 8 feet long but only one piece deep. With common 16-inch pieces it holds about 42.7 cubic feet, one third of a full cord. With 12-inch pieces it is one quarter of a cord, and with 24-inch pieces one half.
How do I calculate cords from a woodpile?
Multiply length × height × depth in feet to get cubic feet, then divide by 128. For example a pile 20 ft long, 4 ft high and 16 in (1.333 ft) deep holds 106.7 cubic feet, which is 0.83 cords or 2.5 face cords.
How much wood fits in a pickup truck?
A full-size pickup with an 8-foot bed holds about half a cord when the wood is stacked neatly to the top of the bed rails, and a 6.5-foot bed a bit less. Thrown loosely, the same bed holds noticeably less, often about a third of a cord. Use the loose option to estimate a thrown load.
Which firewood gives the most heat?
Dense hardwoods such as Osage orange, hickory, black locust, oak and sugar maple contain about 24 to 33 million BTU per air-dried cord. Softwoods like pine, cottonwood and aspen contain about 15 to 17 million BTU, so you need roughly one and a half to two cords of them to get the same heat as one cord of oak.
Why does the moisture content matter?
The BTU values assume seasoned wood at about 20% moisture. Green wood can be 40% to 50% water, and the energy used to boil that water off is lost, so it burns cooler, smokes more and builds creosote. Season split wood under cover for 6 to 12 months, or longer for oak.
How do I compare firewood prices?
Convert every quote to price per full cord. A face cord of 16-inch wood for $120 is $360 per full cord, while $300 for a full cord is cheaper even though the number is larger. The calculator does this conversion for two sellers and also shows the cost per million BTU.
Are all the tools on FreeToolCabin tested for quality and accuracy?
Yes! Every tool on our site undergoes automated Q/A testing in real browser environments to ensure high precision, correct output, and zero errors. If you happen to spot a bug or have a suggestion, please contact us at [email protected] and our team will review it right away.