Firewood is sold in a bewildering alphabet of units: cords, face cords, ricks, cubic metres, trailer loads, scoops, tonnes. Some are precise, some are regional, and some are deliberately vague. Here’s the translator — and the one measure that can’t cheat you.
The Units, Decoded
- Cord (full cord): 128 cubic feet of stacked wood — a 4ft × 8ft × 4ft pile. The classic North American unit; roughly 1.5–2 tonnes of hardwood depending on species and stacking.
- Face cord / rick: a single row of a cord, usually 4ft × 8ft × one-log-deep. Watch this one: “cord” shortened to “face cord” quietly cuts the quantity ~two-thirds.
- Cubic metre (m³): the metric stacked-volume unit. A tonne of dense hardwood ≈ 2 loose-stacked m³, less when hand-stacked tight.
- Trailer load / scoop / “load”: unregulated and unrecommendable. A trailer’s volume changes with how loosely it’s thrown in — 20%+ variation is trivially easy.
- Tonne (weight): 1,000kg of actual wood, weighed. No stacking tricks, no air gaps, no interpretation.
Why Weight Wins
Volume measures can all be gamed: shorter pieces stack with more air, loose loading inflates apparent volume, and “heaped” trailers are mostly sky. Weight can’t. When we load a tonne of ironbark, calibrated loader scales confirm it and the docket shows the number — which is why our buying checklist puts weight-first pricing at the top. (One nuance: compare like with like — a tonne of dense ironbark packs more heat than a tonne of lighter species, the topic of our species comparison.)
Converting for Price Comparison
To compare a cord price against a tonne price, you need that seller’s species and moisture — a “cord” of green softwood might be barely 1.2 tonnes of actual wood fibre. Rule of thumb for dense seasoned hardwood: 1 cord ≈ 1.5–2 tonnes. If a cord costs more than 1.5–2× our tonne rate, the tonne wins — before you even account for the guaranteed weight and moisture.
Sizing your order instead? See how much firewood you need for winter, or browse this season’s loads.