Measured a stack and got cubic feet? Enter it here to see what that is in bush cords — and what the same wood is worth as a cord.
Cubic feet · not legally definedBush cord · defined by lawRuns in your browser
Quick answer
1 cubic feet = 0.00781 bush cords
1 bush cord = 128 cubic feet
ConvertLive
Reading
0.00781
bush cords
1 cubic feet = 0.00781 bush cords · 1 ft³
What you are actually buying
Stack
—
Face is 4 ft high by 8 ft long. Depth is whatever the logs are cut to.
Volume
1 ft³
Stacked volume, including the air between the splits.
Share of a cord
0.00781 cd
A full cord is 128 ft³ — the legal benchmark to price against.
Legal standing
n/a
Only the cord is defined in statute in most states.
0 inTop-down view · 8 ft wide × 4 ft deep footprint48 in
Volume entered directly — 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$23,040.00
Per MMBtu$1,081.69
Seller B
Per full cord$700.00
Per MMBtu$32.86
Red oak carries 21.3 MMBtu per seasoned cord
Verdict · heat per dollar
3,191.4%more heat per dollar from Seller B.
Seller A
$1,081.69 /MMBtuSeller B
$32.86 /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
Start from a measurement rather than a name and the ambiguity disappears. Every 128 ft³ you enter is one bush cord, stacked 4 ft × 8 ft at 48 in deep. A bush cord is the full 128 ft³ — the same legally enforceable quantity, under a regional name.
Useful mainly to Canadian and northern-border buyers working from a measured stack. Divide your cubic feet by 128 and you have bush cords; if your figure started in cubic metres, multiply by 35.3 first. The bush cord being a full legal cord is what makes the result worth quoting back to a seller.
Worked example
You measure a delivered stack at 8 ft long, 4 ft high and 18 in deep: 48 ft³, or 0.375 bush cords. Rounding that up to "one bush cord" on the invoice would cost you 62.5 percent of the wood.
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
My seller quoted cubic metres. How do I get to bush cords?
+
Multiply cubic metres by 35.3 to get cubic feet, then divide by 128. A 3 m³ delivery is about 106 ft³ — 0.83 of a bush cord, not the full one it may have been sold as.
Why do Canadian quotes and US quotes feel so different?
+
Because one side of the border prices in stacked cubic metres and the other in cords. Converting both to cubic feet is the only way to see the actual gap — 1 m³ is 35.3 ft³, and a bush cord is 128.
How many bush cords is a cubic foot of firewood?
+
One cubic foot is 0.00781 of a bush cord, since a bush cord is fixed at 128 ft³. A bush cord is the full 128 ft³ — the same legally enforceable quantity, under a regional name.
I measured a stack. How do I turn that into bush cords?
+
Multiply height × length × depth in feet to get cubic feet, then enter that above. A 4 ft × 8 ft × 4 ft stack is 128 ft³, which is 1 bush cord.
Is a bush cord a safe unit to buy in?
+
Yes — it is the safest one available. "Bush cord" is used across Canada and the northern border states — Maine, Vermont, Michigan, Minnesota — to mean a full cord. The prefix distinguishes it from the face cord, not from the legal cord.
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