People have used a cord of wood as a measurement since way back in the early 1600’s. It gets its name from the cord that was used to tie the wood bundles together back in the old days. But just how big is a cord of wood?
How big is a cord of wood?
A cord of wood is officially defined as having the dimensions of 4 feet x 4 feet x 8 feet (or any other equivalent dimensions). It assumes that all the pieces of wood are tightly stacked so they’re parallel and touching. This means the volume occupied by a cord of wood is 128 cubic feet. This is equivalent to 3.62 cubic meters. It also means that a cord of wood contains a lot of wood!
A cord of wood is 128 cubic feet, which is 3.62 meters.
Of course, no matter how you try, you can never stack the pieces of wood so that there is no wasted space. There will always be some air between the pieces. And this means that the actual volume of wood in a cord is somewhat less than this. The typical volume is about 85 – 90 cubic feet, with the rest of the space being taken up with the air.
How much does a cord of wood weigh?
How much a cord of wood weighs will obviously depend on the type of wood. For example, a cord of hardwood will weigh significantly more than a cord of softwood. It will also depend on the amount of air between the pieces of wood, as well as the water content of the wood.
Typically, a cord of wood will weigh somewhere in the range of 4,700 – 6,000 pounds. For example, a cord of red oak will weight about 5,700 pounds. And a cord of beech will typically weight about 4,900 pounds.
