Most wood in a cord: Split or in the round?

[turnkey4099]

No your example is wrong. A single layer of splits will only be half as thick as the layer of rounds is. You have to consider all three dimensions.
Saw logs are still scaled individually as they go by the board foot. It is pulp wood for paper mills that is sold by the cord or used to be . they are going to grind it up anyway. Anybody can measure a cord in the woods where scales are only at the mills and are now much more common then they once were.. An old law on a cord read" A stack of wood with the limbs clipped close neatly ranked and stacked four feet wide by four feet high and eight feet long shall be a cord." No leaving nots sticking out two inches creating an air space between the sticks. When I was a kid some mills only wanted poplar or spurce with the bark peeled off it. A lot of work doing that and a short season in the spring when you can do it.

A slice of carrot has thickness. You obviously didn't understand the demonstration. It clearly illustrates that you cannot cut something up and then put it back in the same space. If not satisfied with a single layer for the experiment feel free to add layers.

The modern definition of a cord that is almost universal in all Weights and Measures regulations is 4'x4'x8' of tightly stacked (my include split here) wood OR 128 Cu Ft. Many also go on the specifically ban face cord, load, etc. That there were older regs specifying log length has nothing to do with it. I do believe there may even be a few current regs specifying 4' lengths for "cord wood".

Bottom line remains. YOu get more wood by buying in the round if you are buying by the cord.

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

My understanding has always been that, although a cord is technically a content-agnostic unit of volume, a "cord of wood" was assumed to be split, loosely stacked wood. "Loosely stacked" means that it is stacked, but no specific effort is made to puzzle-piece the wood together to remove air gaps. This is relevant because air gaps are desirable to allow faster seasoning. I have never tested, but I've read that there's about 70-90 actual cubic feed of wood in a nominal 128-cubic-foot cord. The rest is air.

Most regulations specify it as "tightly stacked".

Harry K

 

[vtsnowedin]

Bottom line remains. YOu get more wood by buying in the round if you are buying by the cord.

Harry K

OK fine I'll gladly sell you your wood in the round by the cord or green by the ton. Now about the price......?

 

[stevieray]

Good morning from -25 Celcius Nova scotia . Firewood is always a interesting topic ...especially measurements . About the only way you gain is to buy the wood blocked ( not split ) ...then splpit it and pile . Thing of it this way ....take a blocked ( round) 16 inch stick . I will fit into the end of a 6 " opening ...use a piece of stove pipe, Now split block . Take the split pieces and try to fit them back into the 6 in pipe . They won't fit in ...