A cord is 128 ft³, fixed by law. Enter what you were quoted to see how many ricks that comes to at the standard cut.
Cord · defined by lawRick · not legally definedRuns in your browser
Quick answer
1 cord = 3 ricks
1 rick = 0.333 cords
ConvertLive
Reading
3
ricks
1 cord = 3 ricks · 128 ft³
What you are actually buying
Stack
4 × 8 × 48″
Face is 4 ft high by 8 ft long. Depth is whatever the logs are cut to.
Volume
128 ft³
Stacked volume, including the air between the splits.
Share of a cord
1 cd
A full cord is 128 ft³ — the legal benchmark to price against.
Legal standing
Yes
Only the cord is defined in statute in most states.
0 inTop-down view · 8 ft wide × 4 ft deep footprint48 in
48 in of 48 in depth — the shaded band is the depth you get; the rest of the 4 ft footprint is what a full cord would fill.
Signature tool
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).
Seller A
Per full cord$180.00
Per MMBtu$8.45
Seller B
Per full cord$2,100.00
Per MMBtu$98.59
Red oak carries 21.3 MMBtu per seasoned cord
Verdict · heat per dollar
1,066.7%more heat per dollar from Seller A.
Seller A
$8.45 /MMBtuSeller B
$98.59 /MMBtu
Enter a price for both sellers. The comparison normalises to a full cord, then to dollars per million BTU for the species you chose.
How this conversion works
A cord is a fixed 128 ft³. Dividing it into ricks means slicing that 4 ft × 4 ft × 8 ft block into 3 slabs, each 16 in deep. A rick and a face cord describe an identical stack; the word simply travels with the region rather than the wood.
A common situation in the lower Midwest: you want to buy a cord, and every seller you call prices by the rick. Converting first tells you how many ricks to order, and — more usefully — what the cord-equivalent price is once three separate rick charges are added together.
Worked example
A cord and a half arrives: 4.5 ricks at a 16 in cut. If the seller stacked to 20 in instead, the same wood is only 3.6 ricks — fewer units, identical firewood.
Heat by species · MMBtu per cord
Black locust
26.8
Hickory
25.4
White oak
24.0
Sugar maple
21.3
Red oak
21.3
Yellow birch
20.3
Green ash
19.9
Cherry
18.4
Tamarack
17.1
White birch
16.5
White pine
13.3
Seasoned to 20 percent moisture, per full cord. Figures follow US Forest Service and state extension tables and are approximate.
Common log lengths against a 4 ft × 8 ft face. Your pair is highlighted.
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
Frequently asked questions
Is ordering three ricks the same as ordering a cord?
+
Only if all three are cut to 16 in. Sellers who cut ricks to different lengths across a season can deliver three ricks that fall well short of 128 ft³, so specify one cut length for the whole order.
Will a seller deliver a full cord as ricks in one trip?
+
Usually yes — three ricks is one cord and one truckload. Ask for it that way and the price per rick often drops, since the seller makes a single delivery rather than three.
How many ricks are in a cord?
+
One cord equals 3 ricks at the standard 16 in cut. A cord is a fixed 128 cubic feet; a rick is 42.7 ft³ of that.
Is a rick always exactly a third of a cord?
+
Only at a 16 in cut. At 12 in it is a quarter, at 24 in a half. A rick and a face cord describe an identical stack; the word simply travels with the region rather than the wood.
Which unit should the price be quoted in?
+
The cord. The cord is the only firewood measure most states will enforce. NIST Handbook 130, which nearly every state weights-and-measures office adopts, fixes it at 128 cubic feet of ranked and well-stowed wood. Ask for the quantity in cords on the receipt. That is the wording a state inspector can act on.
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