Any guess-timates on how many cords in this pile??

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
  • Hope everyone has a wonderful and warm Thanksgiving!
  • Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here
Status
Not open for further replies.

JRHAWK9

Minister of Fire
Jan 8, 2014
2,081
Wisconsin Dells, WI
I just got done hauling my stash in from the woods. I now have to start splitting/stacking. The pile measures 30'x27' and has a height of ~7' across the top. The base measures 90' in circumference at the ground. Photos seem to make it look smaller than it looks in person w/o any frame of reference.

Side view:
[Hearth.com] Any guess-timates on how many cords in this pile??

Front view. Stacked in back are ~18 cords.
[Hearth.com] Any guess-timates on how many cords in this pile??

My guess is somewhere between 10-15 cord........??
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Osagebndr
A lot ! you lucky dog !
 

Attachments

  • [Hearth.com] Any guess-timates on how many cords in this pile??
    1233983_10204208070259081_6599152821102084789_n.webp
    217.2 KB · Views: 317
  • Like
Reactions: JRHAWK9
I would guess 15-20 unless my math is wrong.

yeah, I did some rough math as well, but I don't have much experience converting randomly thrown piles of wood to split/stacked wood. I don't think 128 CF of a pile of wood just thrown on the ground equals 128 CF of split/stacked wood.
 
yeah, I did some rough math as well, but I don't have much experience converting randomly thrown piles of wood to split/stacked wood. I don't think 128 CF of a pile of wood just thrown on the ground equals 128 CF of split/stacked wood.

It doesn't. So I did 27x30x4 (figured 4 to be average height) which is 3240 cu. ft. Divide that by 128 and you get 25 cord which is going to be high because of the rounds not being stacked tightly. I bet you're right around 20 cord there, nice pile for sure. You have a good splitter with a 4 or 6 way?
 
It doesn't. So I did 27x30x4 (figured 4 to be average height) which is 3240 cu. ft. Divide that by 128 and you get 25 cord which is going to be high because of the rounds not being stacked tightly. I bet you're right around 20 cord there, nice pile for sure. You have a good splitter with a 4 or 6 way?

I did (27*30/2)/180. Which gives me right around 15 cord. I used 180 to factor in the stack vs pile; right, wrong or indifferent. It's more of a roundish pile, so using the area of a square isn't correct either. The 27x30 is the exteme limits as well.

I have a 4way for my Speeco, but I actually prefer to use the normal wedge, depending on the wood size. I can control my size of splits better. I'll start splitting on/off now until it gets too warm and then I'll pick it up again in fall. The plan is to have everything s/s by this coming winter. I have two winters worth of wood stacked in another area not pictured, so I won't get to burning the stuff stacked behind the pile for 3 years. It will be c/s/s for 4 years when I do get to it. I also have a few cords of pine/pople which I use in spring/fall.

When I was hauling this past weekend, I realized something. At this time last year there was NOTHING in that area pictured above. It wasn't until April of '14 when a local forum member stopped by and cut down two large oaks which led to the start of stacking wood in this area.
 
22.3 cords.

What does the person with the closest answer win? Surely you can spare a cord as a prize? :cool:

;lol

I'm guessing a drive from Washington state to here and back would cost you more in gas than what a cord of wood is worth. :)
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: iamlucky13
I don't know much about figuring cords either but you have about 3x what I had and I got 7 cords out of it CSS so maybe 20-21.by the way I'm jealous also;lol
 
I'll start splitting on/off now until it gets too warm
Hey, I used to live up there in WI. Very seldom will it get too warm; Keep hittin' it 'til it's stacked, then post pics. ==c If you've got Oak in there, you're in a race against the rotting sapwood as well...
 
Hey, I used to live up there in WI. Very seldom will it get too warm; Keep hittin' it 'til it's stacked, then post pics. ==c If you've got Oak in there, you're in a race against the rotting sapwood as well...

lol...I'm not a fan of heat/humidity....mid 50's is perfect working weather for me. It's also the mosquitoes. Last year I let about 10 cord sit in a large pile until fall and everything was fine when I split it. It's mostly all red/white oak. Although this year I got off to a very early start, so I may be able to get most of it split before summer. Last year I was still gathering well into May/June I believe.
 
I think I see a lot of ASH in there. What's the stuff without bark? Locust?

You got a lot of splittin to do!:)
 
I think I see a lot of ASH in there. What's the stuff without bark? Locust?

You got a lot of splittin to do!:)

that's all oak, at least it looks like oak when I 1/4'd the big stuff up in order to lift them into the ATV trailer. The bark fell off on some of it when I was splitting the larger pieces by hand. There is some limited amount of oak that was sitting down for a decent amount of time where the outside got a bit punky, but the heart wood is all good yet (see third photo from last, the trees laying on the ground in the distance). We have a ton of red/white oak around us.

Below are pics where about half of the wood came from.

[Hearth.com] Any guess-timates on how many cords in this pile?? [Hearth.com] Any guess-timates on how many cords in this pile?? [Hearth.com] Any guess-timates on how many cords in this pile?? [Hearth.com] Any guess-timates on how many cords in this pile?? [Hearth.com] Any guess-timates on how many cords in this pile?? [Hearth.com] Any guess-timates on how many cords in this pile?? [Hearth.com] Any guess-timates on how many cords in this pile?? [Hearth.com] Any guess-timates on how many cords in this pile?? [Hearth.com] Any guess-timates on how many cords in this pile?? [Hearth.com] Any guess-timates on how many cords in this pile??
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: CenterTree
I'm going to say it's more like 10-12 cords.....but keep us updated. When do you think you will be done splitting and stacking that? Anyways it's a great batch of wood and you obviously have the space to store it....
Congrats....
 
Wow - that might be what we call the mother load
 
I'm going to say it's more like 10-12 cords.....but keep us updated. When do you think you will be done splitting and stacking that? Anyways it's a great batch of wood and you obviously have the space to store it....
Congrats....

Good question. I will be starting to chisel away at it soon.
 
I just got done hauling my stash in from the woods. I now have to start splitting/stacking. The pile measures 30'x27' and has a height of ~7' across the top. The base measures 90' in circumference at the ground. Photos seem to make it look smaller than it looks in person w/o any frame of reference.

Side view:
View attachment 156211

Front view. Stacked in back are ~18 cords.
View attachment 156212

My guess is somewhere between 10-15 cord........??
Isn't this about a 10-12 year supply for the Kuuma?! !!! ::-) >>
How's it do burnin rotten wood?! ;lol
 
Isn't this about a 10-12 year supply for the Kuuma?! !!! ::-) >>
How's it do burnin rotten wood?! ;lol

lol.....I want to be on the 5-6 year plan. I currently have 28.5 cords of hardwoods and another few cords of shoulder wood c/s/s. What's in that pile will add to that. I plan on burning 5-6 cords a year.

I seem to have an issue letting downed trees turn into dirt.....I see that as wasted BTU's. There are still a lot of recently downed/standing dead oaks out where I was cutting. I plan on saving them until next year though as I have enough to split as it is.
 
Worst case: 27' diameter pile (ignore the corners) x average 4' tall across the full width = approx 2300 cubic feet @ 128 cf/cord = roughly 18 cords. Not bad. Wish I had that pile sittin' out back my house.
 
It's too much. You can't hoard that much wood. It will rot on you.:)
 
Worst case: 27' diameter pile (ignore the corners) x average 4' tall across the full width = approx 2300 cubic feet @ 128 cf/cord = roughly 18 cords. Not bad. Wish I had that pile sittin' out back my house.

I guess the absolute worst case would be a volume of a cone, 27' in dia and height of 7'. This comes out to ~10.5 cords, by volume. So I'm pretty much guaranteed to have more than 10.5 cord sitting there.

A co-worker mentioned he could come out and topo it for me. I would then just take those shots and create two surfaces and do a quick volume calc comparing the two surfaces. This would give me a very accurate volume of the pile. lol Although it would be neat to compare calculated cords to actual cords, I told him I'd just wait till it get it all stacked and then see what I have.
 
It's too much. You can't hoard that much wood. It will rot on you.:)

I don't consider it hoarding though, I consider it cleaning up the woods ;)
 
lol...I'm not a fan of heat/humidity....mid 50's is perfect working weather for me. It's also the mosquitoes. Last year I let about 10 cord sit in a large pile until fall and everything was fine when I split it. It's mostly all red/white oak. Although this year I got off to a very early start, so I may be able to get most of it split before summer. Last year I was still gathering well into May/June I believe.

I also have quite a bit of red oak. Do you wait a full 3 years for oak like some people swear by on here? Did you any negative experiences with wood with some higher moisture content this year? Thanks, I'm trying to fine tune my wood rotation.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.