Firewood Cord Calculator — Stack Dimensions & Face Cord Conversion
Work out how many cords a stack of firewood is from its length, width and height — or convert 'face cords' (a.k.a. ricks) of a given log length into standardized full cords, since a face cord's size always depends on how the logs were cut.
Result
A "cord" is one of the few pieces of everyday folk measurement that actually has a precise legal definition in the US: a stack of firewood measuring 4 feet high by 4 feet wide by 8 feet long, which multiplies out to exactly 128 cubic feet. That's the only number this calculator treats as fixed. Enter any stack's length, width and height — in feet or meters — and it multiplies them into a volume and divides by 128 to tell you exactly how many cords you have, whether that's a full 128 cubic feet, a half cord at 64, or an oddly shaped pile that comes out to 0.87 of a cord.
The much trickier, and much more useful, real-world problem is the "face cord" (also called a rick, a furnace cord, or a third cord depending on where you live). A face cord keeps two of the full cord's dimensions — 4 feet high, 8 feet long — but its depth is simply whatever length the logs were bucked to, commonly 12, 16, 18 or 24 inches. That means a face cord is never a fixed fraction of a cord; it's exactly (log length in inches ÷ 48) of a cord, because 48 inches (4 feet) is the depth a face cord would need to actually equal a full cord. Stack the identical 4x8 face with 16-inch logs and you have 1/3 of a cord; stack it with 24-inch logs and, despite looking like "the same pile," you actually have 1/2 of a cord — 50% more wood for the same footprint, purely because the logs are longer.
This is exactly why a face cord's conversion isn't a separate formula bolted onto the calculator — it's the same volume-divided-by-128 arithmetic as the dimensions mode, just applied to a 4 ft x 8 ft x (log length) stack instead of a fully custom one. Because "face cord" and "rick" are colloquial, unstandardized terms that always hinge on a log length nobody writes down consistently, the only number worth trusting on a receipt or a classified ad is the full cord in cubic feet — everything else is an estimate until you know exactly how long the logs are. Enter your stack's real numbers here and get both: the honest cord count, and, if you're working from a face-cord quote, the full-cord equivalent it actually represents. Everything runs locally in your browser; nothing you enter is uploaded or stored.
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Accepted Formats & Rules
- Stack-dimensions mode: length x width x height in feet/meters, converted to cubic feet and divided by 128 for the legally standardized cord count
- Face-cord (rick) conversion mode: N face cords of a chosen log length turn into equivalent full cords via the exact same volume ÷ 128 arithmetic, not a separate rule of thumb
- Preset log lengths (12/16/18/24 in) plus a fully custom length in inches or centimeters, since face cord size is defined entirely by how long the logs are cut
- Honest disclosure that 'face cord' terminology is regional and non-standardized — only the full cord (128 cu ft) is a consistent, legally defined unit
Key Benefits
Use Cases
- • Check how many cords a stack of split wood in the yard or shed actually is, using its real length, width and height instead of eyeballing it.
- • Convert a firewood seller's quote of '2 face cords of 16-inch logs' into standardized full cords before agreeing on a price per cord.
- • Compare what the same 4 ft x 8 ft face is really worth at 16-inch logs versus 24-inch logs, to see how much log length alone changes the wood volume.
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