What Does A Cord Of Wood Weigh – Dry Firewood And Fresh Cut (Green) Weights

[treehuggerprepper]

I am currently in the market for a trailer sized right to haul the yard brush and wood used to heat my home. I know wood can be pretty heavy, but just how heavy it is, and whether or not a trailer will be able to haul a full cord of wood is the bigger issue.

The first thing I need to know… How much does a cord of wood weigh?

The dimensions of a standard cord of wood are 8 feet long by 4 feet wide and 4 feet high; with the wood stacked neatly and not thrown in willy-nilly.

A cord of green, fresh cut wood will typically weigh twice as much as dry wood.

A full-size pickup with a standard bed can hold about a half of a full cord, or 64 cubic feet of wood, when loaded. Random loading will decrease this amount further, and small pickups hold much less.

Some important storing and burning tips:

Because dry wood will give you more heat output, you’ll want to store the cut wood outdoors for at least 6 months in a dry area that receives good sunlight and has ample air circulation. READ FULL ARTICLE

[Toepopper]

I use madrone exclusively because it produces more BTUs than any other wood in the Coast Range or Cascades. It takes at least 2 years to dry out enough to burn properly. I have several blow down trees, one oak and 3 Doug Firs that need to be cut up and split. Fir is good to burn in the morning when you are trying to coax the fire back from smoldering all night. It gives off heat fast but has less duration than hardwoods. Fir will also clog up your chimney faster than madrone due to it being more resinous. I try to cut down the trees in December when the sap and pitch is down in the root system of the tree. It will dry out sooner than a tree that was cut down in the spring when the pitch and water is being pumped back up into the tree.