How to determine how many cords of wood are in log form

[Firewood fanatic]

Hello everyone, we have a lot of log piles around here and I always wondered how many cords of firewood are in the logs in log form. We've always been able to just try to guess it, but I wonder if any of you guys know of an equation or some sort of system to figure out how many cords are in log form approximately. Any help is appreciated!!

[beenthere]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum. 
Do you want it from measurements of individual logs ??

[Firewood fanatic]

No, I want a way to see roughly how many cords of firewood I have in the logs pile I have. I don't want individual log measurements, I want measurements of an actual log pile that has hundreds of logs.

[beenthere]

If the logs are the same length, and stacked in a row, then just measure the height of the stack and the length of the row. The face measurement (height x length) will give you the area of the log ends, and times the log length to give you cubic feet, divide by 128 and you should have the number of cords. 

[Firewood fanatic]

Yes, that is how you measure stacked and split firewood, but not actual LOGS, like poles, like 20 foot logs that are going to be processed. How do you measure how many cords of wood are in pole form that are going to be split?

[Jeff]

The same way. Get an average height, width and length of pile / 128.

[Ljohnsaw]

So there is no adjustment factor that split wood will likely pack tighter than logs? Or is it the industry standard that a cord of logs is a little different than a cord of firewood?

[doc henderson]

I have heard a difference of loose thrown vs stacked.  the airspace between the logs is larger between the logs, but no airspace inside the logs.  I do not know the answer, but it is a measurement.  It may or may not convert exactly from one to the next.

[TreefarmerNN]

One way would be to tally the logs and build a file of the board feet of each species.  Convert that to weight.  Then divide by average weight of a cord, again by species.

This gives some idea of the weight of a cord:
https://measuringly.com/how-much-does-cord-of-wood-weigh/

[GAB]

Dear Firewood Fanatic:
I read an article many moons ago where the factor that was mentioned for going to log form to firewood was from .75 to .85 depending on various factors.  The article was either on this FF or in the sawmill magazine IIRC.
Some factors such as: how large or small are you splitting, how long are the firewood pieces, how tight are you stacking, (according to my lawyer neighbor it should be loose enough for the chipmunk to pass through and tight enough that the cat can't), etc.
GAB
  

[beenthere]

FF
Measure your stack of logs, then split and stack (or throw) the split firewood. And then you will have your ratio of your logs to your split wood. 

[Firewood fanatic]

Thanks everyone for your help! I just I I just watched an "In The Woodward" YouTube video which is him and his brother going up to a pile of roughly 8 foot long logs, that was piled an average of 5.8 feet tall, that was 52 foot long. So the calculation he did was 5.8 multiplied by 52, divided by 16 to get 18.85 cords of firewood, that are in log form approximately. That equation makes sense, except for the fact that he divided by 16, I wonder why he divided by 16, and he didn't even use that fact that they are all 8 foot logs in his equation. Does anyone know why he did this?

[Ljohnsaw]

Well ...

If you multiply L x W x H (52x8x5.8) = 2,412.8

Take cu-ft and divide by 128

2,412.8/128=18.85 cords.

He took 128 cu-ft / 8 width = 16 used in his calc.