How much does a cord of oak firewood weigh?
A full cord of seasoned red oak weighs roughly 3,587 pounds — call it 3,600 lb, or about 1.8 tons — assuming about 80 cubic feet of solid wood in the 128 cubic foot stack at 20% moisture. Freshly cut, the same cord is nearer 5,000 lb (4,954 lb).
How to work it out
- 8 ft × 4 ft × 4 ft (48 in) = 128 cu ft ÷ 128 = 1 cord
- Cords ÷ 100% (one face cord at this piece length) = 1 face cord
That is more than most half-ton pickups are rated to carry — a full cord of oak usually takes two trips, or a trailer. Check the payload sticker on the door jamb before you load.
The figure is for seasoned wood. Freshly cut oak holds a lot of water and weighs roughly 40% more, which is also a quick way to spot “seasoned” wood that isn’t: it feels heavy for its size. White oak and hickory run a little heavier than red oak; pine and other softwoods much lighter — pick another species above to compare.
Adjust for your project
More options: Seller’s price is… · Price (optional)
- Face cords (4 × 8 ft rows)
- 1 face cord
- Stacked volume
- 128 cu ft (3.62 m³)
- This face cord is … of a full cord
- 100%
- Rough weight, seasoned (about 20% moisture)
- 3,587 lb (1.79 tons)
- Rough weight if freshly cut (green)
- 4,954 lb (2.48 tons)
- Heat in a full cord of this wood (seasoned, before stove losses)
- 25.7 million Btu per cord
- At this piece length, one 4 × 8 ft face cord is 100% of a full cord. Always ask a seller what piece length their face cord uses.
- Loose-thrown wood takes more room than the same wood stacked: Maine law, for example, counts 180 cu ft of loose 12–16 in wood as one cord. Switch to “Thrown loose” to measure a truckload.
- Weight assumes about 80 cu ft of solid wood per cord at 20% moisture — typical seasoned firewood — using the Wood Handbook’s density method; treat it as ±25%.
- Heat uses the University of Missouri Extension figure of 8,600 Btu per ovendry pound. Your stove delivers only part of it: MU Extension puts an open fireplace at about 10%, a fireplace insert at up to 40%, airtight stoves at about 55% and advanced-combustion stoves at 60–72%.
Weight of a full cord by species (seasoned, ≈80 cu ft of solid wood)
| Species | Rough weight, seasoned (about 20% moisture) |
|---|---|
| Eastern white pine | 2,088 lb |
| Douglas-fir | 2,744 lb |
| Southern yellow pine | 2,944 lb |
| Black cherry | 2,894 lb |
| Soft maple | 3,143 lb |
| White ash | 3,464 lb |
| Red oak | 3,587 lb |
| Hard maple | 3,612 lb |
| White oak | 3,856 lb |
| Hickory | 4,075 lb |
What to know about the weight of a cord of oak
Two assumptions drive the number. The first is how much of the 128 cubic feet is wood: Virginia Cooperative Extension says a stacked cord generally holds 80 to 90 cubic feet of it. This page uses 80; at 90, the same cord of red oak would be closer to 4,000 lb. The second is moisture. The density here is for oak at 20% moisture, the usual target for seasoned firewood, worked out from the 12% figure with the USDA Wood Handbook’s specific-gravity method. Wood kept in a dry shed through a summer can end up a little lighter; wood left uncovered in the rain, heavier. University of Missouri Extension’s round figure for a cord of seasoned oak is the same 3,600 lb.
- Green oak is far heavier. The USDA Wood Handbook lists green northern red oak at about 80% moisture (of dry weight) in the heartwood and 69% in the sapwood. At the midpoint, a freshly cut cord comes to about 4,950 lb, and a load of wet heartwood more.
- Red oak dries slowly. Split, stacked off the ground and covered on top, it commonly needs a year or more — often two — to get below about 20% moisture.
- Plan the trips. A face cord of 16 in red oak is about 1,196 lb and a half cord about 1,794 lb. Passengers and a hitch count against payload too.
- Other hardwoods on the same basis: white oak about 3,856 lb, hickory about 4,075 lb and white ash about 3,464 lb.
- Weight is heat. A cord of seasoned red oak holds about 25.7 million Btu by University of Missouri Extension’s figure of 8,600 Btu per pound of dry wood; white oak about 27.6 million. Add a price above to see what you pay per million Btu.
The volume side of the answer is on How big is a full cord of firewood, and single rows on How much wood is in a face cord or rick. The per-board-foot figure for sawn, dry oak is on How much does a board foot of oak weigh, and a metric stack in kilograms on How much firewood is in a 4 m × 1.5 m stack of 33 cm logs.
Different size? Use the full Firewood Cord Calculator.
What you’ll need
- Wood moisture meterMid-range price
Tells you whether lumber is dry enough to build with and firewood dry enough to burn. Readings vary by species — check the meter’s correction settings.
See options on Amazon (opens in a new tab) - Splitting maulMid-range price
A heavy, wedge-shaped head that splits rounds rather than cutting them. Wear eye protection and keep your stance wide.
See options on Amazon (opens in a new tab) - Firewood log rackMid-range price
Keeps wood off the ground so it dries and stays measurable — an 8 ft rack 4 ft high is exactly a face cord.
See options on Amazon (opens in a new tab)
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Links to products are affiliate links — they cost you nothing extra and help keep these calculators free.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a face cord of 16 inch oak weigh?
Roughly 1,196 lb seasoned — a third of the full-cord figure, because a 16 in row is 0.33 cords.
How much does a cord of seasoned hickory weigh?
About 4,075 lb on the same 80 cubic feet of solid wood — hickory is one of the densest common firewoods.
How much does a cord of white pine firewood weigh?
About 2,088 lb — a little over half as much as red oak, which is also why pine burns quickly and gives less heat per cord.
Other common sizes
- How much wood is in a face cord or rick — 0.33 cords
- How big is a full cord of firewood — 1 cord
- How much firewood is in a 4 m × 1.5 m stack of 33 cm logs — 0.55 cords
- How much wood is in a half cord — 0.5 cords
Sources
- California Department of Food and Agriculture, Division of Measurement Standards — Firewood (opens in a new tab) — A cord is 128 cu ft of neatly stacked wood; in California firewood may be sold only by the cord or fractions of a cord, and “face cord”, “rack”, “pile” and “truckload” have no legally defined meaning.
- Maine Revised Statutes, Title 10 §2302 — Definitions (weights and measures) (opens in a new tab) — Fuel wood sold loose, not ranked and well stowed: a loose cord of 12 or 16 in wood is the wood, bark and air in 180 cu ft; of 24 in wood, 195 cu ft.
- Maine Forest Service — How is wood measured and sold? (Firewood facts, 2017) (opens in a new tab) — Thrown cord scale: 180 cu ft for 12 or 16 in bolts, 195 cu ft for 24 in; a stacked cord holds 80–90 cu ft of solid wood.
- University of Missouri Extension G5450 — Wood Fuel for Heating (reviewed 2025) (opens in a new tab) — About 8,600 Btu of available heat per ovendry pound of hardwood (9,050 for resinous softwoods such as shortleaf pine); air-dried firewood at about 20% moisture; about 80 cu ft of solid wood per cord; seasoned oak about 3,600 lb per cord; a standard pickup bed (about 5.5 × 8 ft, 20 in deep) loaded level holds about half a cord.
- Virginia Cooperative Extension 420-085 — Forest Landowner’s Guide to the Measurement of Timber and Logs (opens in a new tab) — A stacked cord generally contains about 80 to 90 cu ft of solid wood; the rest is air space.
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory — Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282), Chapter 4: Moisture relations and physical properties of wood (opens in a new tab) — Density at a given moisture content (eqs. 4-13, 4-14) and the average moisture content of green wood by species (table 4-1), used for the weight estimates.