Cord of Wood Calculator

This cord of wood calculator will help you figure out how much firewood you've got stacked up in the yard using the standard (US and Canada) unit - the cord - as well as the smaller face cord of wood unit. Give this tool your local firewood price per cord, and it will also let you know how much that stack of firewood is worth.

Don't worry, we'll also tell you exactly what the dimensions of a cord of wood are if you're unfamiliar with this unit of volume.

OK, so what is a cord of wood, exactly? It's a unit of volume that is used to measure the amount of firewood and pulpwood in a stack of uniform lengths, with minimum gaps between the logs. One full cord is 8 feet (2.44 m) long, by 4 feet (1.22 m) wide, by 4 feet (1.22 m) high. These dimensions gives a total volume of 128 cubic feet (3.62 m³). To better understand this calculation, check the explanation provided by our volume of a rectangular prism calculator.

The name "cord" probably derives from the piece of cord or string that was used to measure stacks of logs.

May different length and volume units may appear in the computations related to cords of wood. If in need, do not hesitate to visit the following tools:

• Length converter
• Volume converter

The formula to convert a set of length, width, and height measurements of a stack of wood in feet to the number of cords of wood is as follows:

number of cords = (length (ft) * width (ft) * height (ft)) / 128 ft³

or, if you wonder how much is a cord of wood using SI units (meters):

number of cords = (length (m) * width (m) * height (m)) / 3.6246 m³

Let's say we measure a big stack of wood in a forest that is 15 feet long (4.57 m), 6 feet deep (1.83 m) and 7 feet high (2.13 m). Plugging in those numbers into the formula would give:

number of cords = (15 * 6 * 7) / 128 = 4.9 cords

If the stack consists of standard 16 inch long logs, and the stack is only one log deep, we call it a face cord of wood. So a face cord is 8 feet (2.44 m) long, 16 inches (40.6 cm) deep, and 4 feet (1.22 m) high, which is about the amount you'd see stacked up against a log cabin, ready for a long winter. A face cord is one third the amount of wood in a full cord.

The formula for a face cord of firewood is very similar to the cord formula, except the width is fixed to 16 inches (1 ⅓ feet):

number of face cords = (length (ft) * 1 ⅓ (ft) * height (ft)) / 42.67 ft³

or, equivalently in SI units:

number of face cords = (length (m) * 0.406 (m) * height (m)) / 1.208 m³

For example, outside our log cabin we stack some standard length firewood, whose length is 7 feet (2.134 m), and height is 4 feet (1.219 m). The number of face cords is:

number of face cords = (7 * 1 ⅓ * 4) / 42.67 = 0.875 face cords

The cord of wood calculator will guide you step-by-step to determine what is a cord of wood for you. Just follow the below points:

• If you have the length, width, and height measurements, enter them into the first three rows of the calculator. If you have the measurements in another unit, other than the one displayed, go ahead and click on the unit to change it to a unit that matches your measurement.
• Alternatively, if you already know the volume, you can enter it directly into the volume field of the calculator.
• The calculator will then display the number of full cords of wood, along with giving the amount as a percentage of one full cord.
• For a face cord, the calculator will accept any width measurement, but to be correct, change the units of the width row to inches and enter the number 16.
• The calculator will then display the number of face cords of wood, along with the amount as a percentage of one face cord.
• To show the total cost of your stack of wood, enter a price per cord.