Jack,

I buy my firewood and was just curious how would I know if I was getting shorted on buying a cord of wood? My firewood guy seems honest but it never hurts to check I guess. Thanks.

Rich

Jack is on the money there…..a cord is 128 cuft of tight stacked wood.,,,traddionally that is 4'x4'x8'…but it can be any stack that has 128 cubic feet of wood in it.

  “Ricks” or “face cords” or “Pickup loads” mean nothing, and nobody should buy wood that way, because you are buying a pig in a poke….an unknow quantity of wood that will vary from seller to seller.  You don't buy milk “by the jug”…you buy it by the gallon ( or 1/2 gallon, or quart, or pint)…..wood should be no different….in fact, in some States, that is the ONLY legal way you can sell wood.

If people would insist that sellers sell by the cord ( or 1/2 cord or whatever ), pricing of wood would be a lot easier to do.

And he is also correct, no standard pickup truck will hold a full cord of wood…..you'd need a 3/4-1 ton flatbed truck at a minimum to haul a full cord.

A full size American pickup bed (long, wide bed ) is about 5×8 ( and you loose some for wheelwells )….if you stack it to the top ( say 2' ), you'd have 5×8×2=80cuft….and IF it was stacked TIGHT ( most is just throw in ), you can see that would be slightly less than 2/3cord.