Firewood Quantities:

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Cords, ricks, face cords, and bundles/bushels are all terms used to describe firewood quantity.  A cord is a measure of volume.  A cord is a stack of firewood that equals 128 cubic feet.  Typically the stack measures 4' tall, 4' deep, and 8' long, equaling 128 cubic feet of wood, but it can be any combination of length, width, and depth as long as it comes out to 128 cubic feet.   This is typically represented by 3 rows of firewood if they are cut to the typical length of 16-18".  If you loaded a stacked cord of wood into a dump truck and then dumped it out again, the cord of wood is approximately 6 cubic yards loose like this.  

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A rick, or face cord is usually 1/3 of the amount of a full cord.  I say usually because the 16" length is not an industry standard, just more of a commonly used length.  So if someone is selling a rick/face cord, you should expect to get a stack of 16" long firewood that measured at 4' tall by 8' long or 32 sq. ft. of face area.

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A bundle of firewood varies greatly among suppliers because they all bundle in different sizes.  We use a 1'x1' rack to bundle pieces of firewood approximately 16" long.  So our bundles contain approximately 1.3 cu. ft. of wood.  

 

All our wood is sold and measured using the volume or area method.  It is the most consistent way to sort and sell the wood.  When we sell a full cord, you are getting approximately 128cu ft of firewood, 64 cu ft in a half cord, 43 cu ft in a third of a cord, and so forth.

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Firewood Terminology:

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Seasoned firewood is simply firewood that was split and allowed to air or kiln dry to bring the moisture content of the wood into an acceptable range.  Different species of wood require different lengths of time to season, but you typically see 1 year as the ideal amount of seasoning.  If your firewood is not seasoned enough, you won't get as much heat from your fire as you should.  The energy of the fire is being used to convert the moisture in the wood to steam, thereby not allowing you to get the proper temperatures needed for proper heating.  This can lead to creosote buildup in your chimney and other issues.  All the wood we sell is properly seasoned and ready to use!

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Different species of wood provide different amounts of btu's.  BTU's are a measure of thermal energy.  The higher the btu the more heat produced.  See below for a list of common wood types and their associated btu range.  Keep in mind that you can burn any type of wood, you get your most bang for the buck when you buy hardwood firewood.  Folks in Alaska burn a lot of pine and spruce and other evergreen wood because that is what they have in abundance.  Here in the Midwest we have access to oak, ash, maple, hickory, locust, cherry and other hardwoods that will give you more btu's.  Our firewood is a hardwood blend that contains no pine, spruce, or other softwood species.