The invitation to bid

[Holmes]

  The invitation to bid  said [1] 375,000 bf of lumber [100,000 is hardwood 275,000 is softwood],, [2]cordwood/ pulpwood, 510 cords of hardwood , 400 cords of softwood. So far, more than 4,000 tons of chips have been harvested. My calculations say that  "volume wise" more chips have been harvested than the total  tonnage  that was purchased. I calculate the volume to be between 2600 tons and 3200 tons. Am I missing something here?   Holmes

[WDH]

I do not know the weight to volume relationships for the timber in your area, but using some standard type factors, I believe that your tonnage estimate is quite low.  To clarify, it there are 375 MBF of sawlogs and 910 cords of pulpwood, then I calculate a number more in the 5000 ton range.  But again, I may be using conversion factors that are appropriate to my experience, and I have no experience in your area.

[SwampDonkey]

I calculate 3600 tons based on maple/birch/beech and white pine/spruce. If there is a high volume of oak the hardwood could be 250 tons more and if the softwood is red pine it could be another 600 ton of softwood.

[Ron Wenrich]

Are they whole tree chipping or are the tops being left lay?  A lot of times there is no volume calculations for top wood.

[Holmes]

 Whole tree chipping.  I did not take into consideration the amount of the tree that is left after the saw logs are taken off. I think that would double the tonnage for  saw logs from about 800 tons to 1600 tons, putting my FF toolbox estimate up to 4,000 tons.