does 1/2 cord in a 8ft bed sound right?

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trailblaze

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Aug 20, 2008
318
South West PA
found a guy selling cherry and locust, delivered in a 8ft pickup truck bed for 60 bucks. slightly rounded above bed sides.

he thinks i'll get 1/2 cord.

does this sound right?


i figure for 120 bucks (2 loads) i should be close to a cord.... unless i am totally off on how much wood can fit in the bed.
 
LxWXH If you figure 8x4x2 you get 64, 64x2 you'll have 128. Sounds close to right depending if it's split or not and how tightly it's loaded.
 
Yes, you'll get a cord out of it. I bought two truck loads (Chevy Silverado full bed) of 18" rounds last fall and it split up to over a cord. That said, I'm pretty sure I violated the truck's weight limit. Oh well. Some in this forum are pretty touchy about weight limits. It is a safety thing, and could hurt your vehicle.
 
Cherry is 3120lbs per seasoned cord and Locust is 3890lbs. I would say that you should be pretty close to 1/2 cord per load as long as the truck is squatting pretty well. Around here a cord of wood is between $250-300 for good hardwood. So that would be a deal even if it only came to 3/4 cord for two loads.
 
That sounds like a pretty good deal for C/S/D, provided he packs the bed tight. Cheapest around here this winter was $115 for a cord, without delivery.
 
ok!! sounds like i'm going to drive out and look at the wood. if it looks seasoned and he has some split and some rounds i'll be set. i was payin 160 a cord for nice wood (delivered)..... so if i can get some hardwood delivered for 120 a cord i'll be really happy!

i'll tell him to load it till she's squatting!!!
 
trailblaze said:
ok!! sounds like i'm going to drive out and look at the wood. if it looks seasoned and he has some split and some rounds i'll be set. i was payin 160 a cord for nice wood (delivered)..... so if i can get some hardwood delivered for 120 a cord i'll be really happy!

i'll tell him to load it till she's squatting!!!

but the key is make sure it is neatly packed
if he just throws it in you will be short
 
Don't count on it being seasoned. Seasoned is really relative.
 
My favorite calc is to measure the wood in question in inches, multiply that out and then divide by 1728 to convert to cubic feet. Thus, a cord is 48x48x96 = 221,184/1728 = 128 ... that way you can measure odd sized stacks of wood and get a pretty accurate idea of cubic feet.
As far as the 'truckload' measure I've always figured it like so... tightly stacked in the bed just above the level of the bed... for a full size bed it's half a cord, mid-size bed it's a quarter cord. If the wood is loosely stacked then it needs to be a rounded hump that's pretty close to cab height at it's highest point. I've got a Ford Ranger with a canopy, six foot bed, so I'll order a half a cord and it'll be two trips with each load loose and pretty darn full up, canopy required.
 
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