Firewood cord calculator
Cord, face cord, rick — converted.
A cord of wood is 128 cubic feet, fixed by law in most states. Everything else — face cord, rick, stove cord — is a seller's word with no legal definition. Enter what you were quoted and see what you are actually buying.
Which quote is actually cheaper?
Two sellers, two units, two species. Price per cord is not enough — oak carries nearly twice the heat of white pine. This compares dollars per MMBtu (one million British Thermal Units — a fixed unit of heat, not a brand or a volume).
How much does a cord of wood cost?
A cord of wood commonly costs anywhere from about $200 to $600 or more, depending on species, region, season, and whether it's delivered and stacked. That wide range is exactly why price alone is a poor way to compare quotes — a cheaper cord of a light species can cost more per unit of heat than a pricier cord of a dense one. Enter two real quotes into the price comparator above to see the actual cost per million BTU, or check the firewood BTU chart to see how much heat a given species delivers per cord.
Quick reference
Common log lengths against a 4 ft × 8 ft face. Depth is the only variable that changes the volume.
| Sold as | Stack | Cubic feet | Cords | Defined by law |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cord | 4 × 8 × 48″ | 128 | 1.000 | Yes |
| Bush cord | 4 × 8 × 48″ | 128 | 1.000 | Yes |
| Stove cord, 16″ cut | 4 × 8 × 16″ | 42.7 | 0.333 | No |
| Face cord, 16″ cut | 4 × 8 × 16″ | 42.7 | 0.333 | No |
| Rick, 16″ cut | 4 × 8 × 16″ | 42.7 | 0.333 | No |
| Face cord, 12″ cut | 4 × 8 × 12″ | 32 | 0.250 | No |
| Cubic feet (1) | Any | 1 | 0.00781 | n/a |
How the calculation works
Every unit on this site resolves to cubic feet of stacked wood. A cord is fixed at 128 ft³ — a stack 4 ft high, 8 ft long and 4 ft deep. A face cord keeps the 4 × 8 face and replaces the 4 ft depth with the actual log length, so its volume depends entirely on how the seller cut the wood.
At the common 16 in cut, a face cord is 42.7 ft³ — one third of a cord. At 12 in it is a quarter. At 24 in it is a half. Rick and stove cord are regional names for the same idea and carry no fixed depth at all. That is the whole reason this page exists: two sellers can quote "a rick" and deliver volumes that differ by 50 percent.
A seller quotes $180 per rick of red oak, cut at 16 in. That is 42.7 ft³, or 0.333 cords — $540 per cord. Red oak carries 21.3 MMBtu per cord, so you are paying $25.35 per million BTU. A second seller wants $700 per cord of green ash at 19.9 MMBtu — $35.18 per MMBtu. The rick is the better buy by 39 percent, despite the vaguer unit.
What is MMBtu, in plain English?
MMBtu stands for one million British Thermal Units. A single BTU is a tiny amount of heat — roughly what one wooden match gives off. "MM" is an old way of writing "million" (the Roman numeral M means 1,000, so MM means 1,000 × 1,000). Put together, MMBtu just means "a million units of heat" — it is not a brand, a volume, or a type of wood. It is a fixed measurement, like a gallon or a mile, so it is the one number that lets you compare heat from completely different fuels or species fairly.
To make it concrete: a cord of red oak holds about 21 to 24 MMBtu. That is roughly the heat in 150 to 175 gallons of heating oil, or what a typical mid-size home furnace burns through in three or four cold days. A cord of white pine holds closer to 13 MMBtu — a third less heat from the exact same size stack of wood. That gap is why the signature tool above prices by cost per million BTU instead of by cord: it is comparing what you actually get to burn, not just how much space the wood takes up.
- 1 BTU
- About one wooden match
- 1,000 BTU
- About 12 minutes of a small electric space heater
- 1 MMBtu
- ≈ 7.2 gallons of heating oil, or exactly 10 therms of natural gas
- 1 cord, red oak
- ≈ 21.3 MMBtu
Fuel-equivalence figures are approximate, based on published U.S. Energy Information Administration heat-content averages. See all data sources.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a cord of wood cost?
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It varies widely — commonly anywhere from about $200 to $600 or more per cord, depending on species, region, season, and whether it is delivered and stacked. That spread is exactly why a raw price isn't enough: use the price comparator above to convert two real quotes into cost per million BTU, the number that actually reflects how much heat you are buying.
What is a stove cord, and is it different from a face cord?
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Not in volume — "stove cord" is just another regional name for the same 4 ft by 8 ft face, cut to whatever length fits the buyer's stove. Like face cord and rick, it has no fixed legal depth, so always confirm the cut length before comparing a stove-cord price to anything else.
Does a cord of firewood weigh the same no matter the species?
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No — weight varies enormously by species and moisture. A seasoned cord of red oak runs roughly 4,200 lb, while a seasoned cord of white pine is closer to 2,000 lb for the same 128 cubic feet. If a seller prices by the ton, convert it to a cord-equivalent for your species before comparing to a per-cord quote.
What if a seller sells by the "pile" or "truckload" instead of a named unit?
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Treat it the same as an undefined unit: ask for the cubic footage, or measure the stack yourself (height × length × depth in feet). "Pile" and "truckload" carry no standard size at all — they vary more from seller to seller than even face cord or rick.
Does this converter change its answer for kiln-dried versus green wood?
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No — the unit conversions here are pure volume math and don't depend on moisture. Moisture only matters for the price-per-heat comparison above, since wetter wood delivers less usable heat per cord for the same stacked volume.
Can two deliveries both called "a full cord" actually differ in size?
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Only through stacking, not definition — a true full cord is fixed at 128 ft³ tightly stacked. A loosely thrown or round-stacked "cord" reads as more air and less wood, which is why restacking before you measure matters even for the one legally defined unit.
Do all six units on this site share the same 4 ft by 8 ft face?
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Yes — every unit here keeps that face and only changes the depth (or, for cubic feet, the depth disappears entirely and you enter volume directly). That shared face is what makes a straight cubic-foot ratio the right way to convert between any two of them.
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