A rick and a face cord are two names for the same 42.7 ft³ stack. Enter a quantity to confirm it, and see what it is worth in cords.
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).
"Rick" is the Midwestern and Southern name for the same 4 ft × 8 ft face, common in Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Oklahoma. The word comes from ricking — the old term for stacking hay or wood in the open. A face cord names the same stack: 42.7 ft³ on a 4 ft × 8 ft face at a 16 in depth. The ratio between them is 1, which makes this page less a conversion than a translation.
Treat this one as a dictionary entry rather than a calculation. Firewood ads in Missouri, Kentucky and Oklahoma quote ricks; ads in Michigan, New York and Wisconsin quote face cords; the stack behind both is identical. The conversion exists so a buyer reading listings from both regions can put them on one line.
A seller quotes 3 ricks; a neighbour quotes 3 face cords. Both are 128 ft³ — the same 1 of a cord. Whichever is cheaper is cheaper on price alone, not because one unit is bigger.
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 |
No — the terms are synonymous, so search engines treat them as one topic. The listings are comparable directly, provided both state a cut length.
Rarely — regional supply drives that far more than the unit does. Hardwood ricks in the Ozarks and face cords in upstate New York can differ by half at identical volume, so compare local quotes rather than national averages.
Yes. Both describe a stack of 42.7 cubic feet, so the conversion is 1:1 and the number you enter is the number you get back. "Face cord" is the most common informal term in firewood listings across the Northeast and Great Lakes states. It names only the face of the stack — 4 ft high, 8 ft long — and says nothing about how deep it goes.
Regional habit, mostly. "Rick" is the Midwestern and Southern name for the same 4 ft × 8 ft face, common in Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Oklahoma. The word comes from ricking — the old term for stacking hay or wood in the open. The wood is identical; the vocabulary travels with the seller.
It does. Neither term is defined in statute, so an inspector has nothing to enforce against either one. Convert any rick price to a cord price before comparing it to a quote from out of state.