Amount of wood dumped into a trailer

[Firewood fanatic]

I am thinking about starting to deliver firewood in a dump trailer in around one full cord increments. I'm going to be dumping wood into the trailer with a skid loader sometimes but also by hand. I have zero desire to try to stack every load of wood into the dump trailer to try to figure out how many cords are there, I just want to know how to measure how many loose, not stacked cords of wood can be in the dump trailer, at any given time. Thank you

[doc henderson]

Well if you are just getting started, you may want to stack a few cords on pallets, then dump into the trailer and see how full it is.  loose takes up more volume than 128 cu/feet.  It may also vary based on how small it is split and how long the wood is.  You have to know the weight limit of the trailer and the weight of the wood per cord and therefore must have an idea of the MC of the wood to estimate the weight.  That will vary by species.  It is prob. good business to have a little over vs a little under.  eventually you will want to handle the wood the least as possible.  If you stack the wood for customers you should charge for that, but then you can double check that they are getting what they pay for.  dump trailers are great.  If you give a little extra that will be made up for by the fact that you did not hand stack every load into a a cord the load it into a trailer to deliver.

[doc henderson]

some would say 140 cubic feet of loose wood is a cord, others maybe 180.  you should see for yourself.

[barbender]

Figure out your volume in cubic feet, and divide by 180 (that number varies depending on the size and length of splits).

If, for example, your trailer measurements were 2'x7'x14'=196 cubic feet. Divide that by 180, 1.08. So if you load it loose thrown to flush with your trailer sides, you'll be just over a cord.

140 will never come out a stacked cord, Doc😊

[doc henderson]

I agree, I gave a range.     I would stack a few perfect cords in dump it in and see.

[SwampDonkey]

You have to sample the loaded trailer 2 or 3 times, that means stacking the cord and tossing it into the trailer later. A cord of firewood is a lot of wood. I gather mine in the woods after I buck and split and toss trail side. It takes me 10 stacked buggy loads to get a cord of 20" wood. I'll be a little over a cord, but not by a lot. I figure about 13 cu feet per buggy load, so 130 cu feet. I usually cut about 12 cords of wood to heat house and wood shop. I've loaded the buggy enough times that I can estimate how much wood is in my trail side piles, as in how many buggy loads. I'm never under on my estimates, bang on or an extra load full. There is always someone claiming they have 3 cord on their trailer hauled by their pick up truck and they might have 1-1/2 on a good day. I have a 12 foot x 6 foot x 20" side railed trailer that I only load 5 buggy loads onto. That fills the bed up to the rails and rounded a little in the middle toward the front half of the trailer and not as deep on the back end. Half a cord. The trailer is not designed for a heavier load and would never fit a cord on there anyway if it had higher specs unless stacked tight. A cord of green wood of the species I burn is 5000 lbs. Green maple-beech-yellow birch would be 500 lb heavier and oak closer to 1000 lb heavier in a cord. Maple is the standard firewood species up here, it grows like weeds. We have very little oak in our woods of any kind. I burn what most people wouldn't touch, but that's not my problem. I've got mountains of wood and she all burns. :D :D

[thecfarm]

As posted, stack up a cord of wood and dump it into the trailer.
I used to split wood and use a conveyor to load a trailer for a guy I worked for.
I did have to get into the trailer and lever the load to get to the paint marks in the corners. 

[TreefarmerNN]

If you have access to a scale, you can weigh empty, load it as full as you think it should be and weigh full.  Then use a table from the friendly internet to figure amount, considering the moisture and species.

Our local sand and gravel distributor will weigh "non customers" without hassle.  I'm not sure if they charge anything but if they do, it's very minimal.

[GRANITEstateMP]

I can't remember if its the University of VT or Maine, but one of them has a known measurement for a loose or "thrown" cord.  If you search it on the forum, you'll find the thread.  I do go more than 180cu ft when I'm doing 22-24in wood (more air gaps) vs 16 or 18in firewood.

[Firewood fanatic]

I have in mind right now that I will offer to stack the wood for the customer if I charge $100 or so. But I mainly want to know if I throw the wood into the trailer, then dump it into the ground at the customers house without any stacking, how can a guy determine how many cords of wood are there. I have been reading up on this and a lot of the internet also is saying 180, but I really just wanted to get some really people who work with wood opinion, not just googles 

[Big_eddy]

I agree with the others. You need to stack a few cords and then load them into your trailer ( using whatever technique you plan to use normally) then take note of how full your trailer looks. My son did that a couple of times, then replaced his sideboards with new ones cut to the right height so now he just fills to the top of the boards. Others paint a line around the trailer at the right height.

One caution. We load our trailer by dumping a measured cord of wood off the tractor bucket. We have a frame on the bucket that we fill 6 times. Even though we measure the wood in every time, the trailer fill does not look the same every time. It depends how it falls. Hence the need to repeat the process a few times before drawing your line.

Regardless, better to be over rather than under. Our measured frame gives us ~ 10% over and we're good with that, as are our customers. We have never had a customer call saying he's short, but we've heard from several about how they have been shorted in the past. The customer only figures it out later (sometimes much later) when they stack it and they are not happy. You might not hear about it, but you might never hear from them again either.

[Big_eddy]

I have in mind right now that I will offer to stack the wood for the customer if I charge $100 or so. But I mainly want to know if I throw the wood into the trailer, then dump it into the ground at the customers house without any stacking, how can a guy determine how many cords of wood are there. I have been reading up on this and a lot of the internet also is saying 180, but I really just wanted to get some really people who work with wood opinion, not just googles 

$100 to stack a cord???
If you can stack without carrying, one person can stack a cord in 30-45 mins. $30 seems to be the going rate around here.

Back the trailer to the pile, tilt it up, lift off the tailgate straight onto the pile. The closer the better.

[barbender]

I would never get a whole cord stacked in 30-45 minutes, and I'm a fairly robust and hard working guy. There's no way I'd stack a whole cord for $30.

If you stack a cord and then dump it into a trailer, it won't be the same as tossed or off of a conveyor, it will likely still be tighter stacked. The only way you can really know, is to stack up what you have loose thrown in your trailer. 

The conversion numbers for loose thrown wood were developed in some cases by actual weights and measures departments, so there is no reason for guessing or by gosh and by golly estimations. The reason there are a range of conversion numbers is due to variety in size of splits, and length. 16" long, 6" diameter splits use 175-180. 20" long, 8" diameter would be 200 or more.

[beenthere]

I am thinking about starting to deliver firewood in a dump trailer in around one full cord increments. I'm going to be dumping wood into the trailer with a skid loader sometimes but also by hand. I have zero desire to try to stack every load of wood into the dump trailer to try to figure out how many cords are there, I just want to know how to measure how many loose, not stacked cords of wood can be in the dump trailer, at any given time. Thank you

Sell/advertise it as  "dump trailer load of split wood" and then let your customers decide. 

Or just stack one dump trailer load and know what one is. Knowing that, from then on sell as "about xx cord delivered in a dump trailer" and don't try to pin it down any more than that. Avoid any stacking except for the one load. 

By weight, depends on density and moisture content. Both can vary a fair amount but maybe easier to sell. 

[Magicman]

I have read on here somewhere that in some states it has to be by a measured amount i.e. a cord.  Advertised and sold as a truck or trailer load won't work.

[beenthere]

MM
I understand that if it is sold as a cord, in some states it must measure up to be the State's definition of a cord according to the commerce description in that state. May only apply if a dispute ends up in court. 

[SwampDonkey]

In Canada we have Weights and Measures Canada that says only cords or cubic meters or parts there of will be used for firewood. No other volume measure is allowed except cubic decimetres for packaged wood. No face cords, apartment cords, trailer loads and other lingo will pass the requirement. They have a couple pages on their site dedicated to firewood specifically. This keeps the requirements to a national standard.

[JJ]

Here is some useful laws and requirements for firewood sales in New England.

https://www.bythecord.org/a-cord/

You can get in trouble in some states like Maine for advertising bulk firewood volume in anything other than cord.

https://www.bythecord.org/a-cord/maine/

       JJ

[Firewood fanatic]

$100 to stack a cord???
If you can stack without carrying, one person can stack a cord in 30-45 mins. $30 seems to be the going rate around here.



Back the trailer to the pile, tilt it up, lift off the tailgate straight onto the pile. The closer the better.

Well the way I look at it is one hour total. Between 45 minutes to just stack it, and then sweeping up any mess and most likely chatting with the customer, that's another 15 minutes. And maybe you are right, 100 bucks is high, maybe more like 75, but it's going to be a cold day in heck before I charge 30 bucks for all of that. Firewood isn't the only thing we do, if I charge even 50 dollars for stacking, I'm going to be loosing money and wasting time when I could be doing something else, that would be making me more money. The way I look at it is 75-100 dollars for stacking makes it worth my time.

[barbender]

I charge $100 for stacking a cord and hope no one wants me to🤷

[Magicman]

I agree.  If it is a job that you do not want to do, double your price.  

If they still want you to do it, double it again.