Weight of wood

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sparksalot

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Aug 21, 2006
37
Montana
I apoligize ahead of time but i searched for this answer and could not find it....I am trying to figure out the weight of a cord of Doug Fir and Spruce split and dry..so i can size a trailer accordingly...someone mentioned that a cord of softwood weighs between 3000 and 4000 lbs but i don't know if that is dry or not...thanks...
 
Why is it every time I see a new one of those firewood btu tables they differ? Which one is correct? For example, this table bruce linked to us shows white oak has higher btu's than black locust and hickory. On most others it's the opposite. Is there that much variation depending on which area of the country the trees are in? I guess it doesn't really matter that much, but I just wish there was one standard.
 
Todd said:
Why is it every time I see a new one of those firewood btu tables they differ? Which one is correct? For example, this table bruce linked to us shows white oak has higher btu's than black locust and hickory. On most others it's the opposite. Is there that much variation depending on which area of the country the trees are in? I guess it doesn't really matter that much, but I just wish there was one standard.

Unfortunately, they don't seem to make tree's to one standard, and their QA department just quit... ;-P However, I'd be willing to bet that most of the variations are within one or two places on the list, and really only involve minor differences in the numbers of BTU's/unit. I wouldn't sweat the minor differences, just stick with the major categories and don't worry about it. I doubt the stove will be able to tell that much difference between kinds of wook in the same class.

Gooserider
 
The weight of fir also can vary dramatically between old growth and new. If you pick up a new fir 2 x 4 and have an old one to compare it with, you'll see the old growth weighs a whole lot more. Old growth has a lot tighter tree rings as compared to new farm grown.
 
Also be aware that those are green wood weights. If you're cutting fir especially in the pacific NW, you should be cutting standing dead or downed dead trees which will have a lot less moisture. Figure shaving 750-1200 pounds off that number for wood with 25% moisture.
 
There's a lot of green wood down this year due to the severe windstorms. Best to err on the heavy side when planning I would think.
 
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