Firewood calculator: how many cords of firewood are in my stack?
1 cord
128 cu ft stacked · 3.62 cubic meters · a cord is 128 cu ft (NIST Handbook 130) · for a stack 8 ft long and 4 ft high of 48 in pieces
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3/8 or 10' 6".
1 cord
128 cu ft stacked · 3.62 cubic meters · a cord is 128 cu ft (NIST Handbook 130)
Source: NIST Handbook 130-2026, Uniform Regulation for the Method of Sale of Commodities, section 2.4 Fireplace and Stove Wood, read October 16, 2026. Read the source
A stack of firewood 8 ft long, 4 ft high and 4 ft deep is 1 cord, the 128 cubic feet of tightly stacked wood that NIST Handbook 130 sets as the unit for selling firewood, with its fractions and the cubic meter.
A worked example
Filling two firewood racks 11 ft 6 in long and 5 ft 3 in high with 18 in pieces needs 1.42 cords. Each rack holds 11.5 × 5.25 × 1.5 ft = 90.6 cubic feet, 181.1 for the two. Divided by 128 cubic feet a cord that is 1.42 cords, a little under 1 1/2.
How much is a face cord of firewood?
A face cord has no set size. NIST Handbook 130, the model rule states adopt for selling firewood, says face cord, rack, pile and truckload are not to be used when selling wood for fuel, so the word alone does not say how much wood you get. Ask for the length, the height and the piece length: a stack 8 ft long and 4 ft high of 16 in pieces is 42.7 cubic feet, one third of a cord.
What are the dimensions of a cord of wood?
A cord is 128 cubic feet of wood stacked tight, pieces in rows, touching and parallel. The usual picture is a stack 4 ft high, 4 ft deep and 8 ft long, but any stack whose length × height × depth makes 128 cubic feet is a cord: two rows of 16 in pieces, 12 ft long and 4 ft high, is 128 cubic feet too.
What else it is called
Firewood is also sold as cordwood, fireplace wood or stove wood. A half cord is 64 cubic feet and a quarter cord 32. The cubic meter, the other unit the handbook allows, is 35.3 cubic feet, about 0.28 cord. Bundles under 1/8 cord, 16 cubic feet, are labeled in liters.
Cords by stack size
| Stack 4 ft high | 12 in pieces | 16 in pieces | 18 in pieces | 24 in pieces | 48 in pieces |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 ft long | 0.13 | 0.17 | 0.19 | 0.25 | 0.50 |
| 8 ft long | 0.25 | 0.33 | 0.38 | 0.50 | 1.00 |
| 12 ft long | 0.38 | 0.50 | 0.56 | 0.75 | 1.50 |
| 16 ft long | 0.50 | 0.67 | 0.75 | 1.00 | 2.00 |
| 20 ft long | 0.63 | 0.83 | 0.94 | 1.25 | 2.50 |
| 24 ft long | 0.75 | 1.00 | 1.13 | 1.50 | 3.00 |
Cords of 128 cubic feet, one row of pieces deep, stacked tight. Two rows of 24 in pieces are the same as one row of 48 in.
Where the numbers come from
- The cord: NIST Handbook 130-2026, Uniform Laws and Regulations in the Areas of Legal Metrology and Fuel Quality, IV.B Method of Sale of Commodities, section 2.4. A cord is the amount of wood in a space of 128 cubic feet when the wood is ranked and well stowed, pieces in a row, touching, parallel and stacked compactly (2.4.1.2). Firewood is sold only by the cord and its fractions or by the cubic meter (2.4.3), and the terms face cord, rack, pile and truckload are not to be used when selling it (2.4.4). Handbook 130 is the model regulation that state weights and measures programs adopt. Read October 16, 2026. NIST Handbook 130-2026 (PDF)
- The stack is geometry: length × height × piece length, the depth of a one-row stack, in feet, times the number of stacks. Cords are the cubic feet divided by 128; cubic meters are cubic feet × 0.0283168, the exact definition of the foot.
Measure the wood stacked, not loose: the cord is defined for wood ranked and well stowed, so a pickup bed of thrown wood cannot be read in cords with a tape until it is stacked. For a stack with a crooked top, measure the height at a few points and use the average.
By Javier Miralles · Last updated . How this site is made.
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