Firewood Cord Calculator

Measure a stack of wood to find out how many cords you really have — handy when you're buying, selling, or planning for winter. A full cord is 128 cubic feet (a stack 4 ft high × 8 ft long × 4 ft deep).

Stack length (ft)

Stack height (ft)

Log length / stack depth (inches)

How long each piece is cut — 16 inches is the most common.

🪵 Your firewood

Volume—

Full cords—

Face cords (ricks)—

≈ Winters of heat*—

*Rough guide: a home heated mostly with wood often burns about 3–5 cords per winter, depending on climate, insulation and wood type. We used 4 cords as a typical winter.

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A "face cord" or "rick" is 4 ft × 8 ft by the log length — so with 16-inch logs it's about one-third of a full cord. Estimates assume neatly stacked wood; loose or rounded piles hold less. Planning estimate only.

How much wood a high-desert winter actually takes

At 6,000 feet, a wood-heated home in Concho or St. Johns typically burns somewhere between 3 and 6 full cords over a winter, depending on the size of the house, how well it's insulated, and whether wood is the only heat source or backing up propane. Homes that rely on wood as their primary or sole heat source generally land at the higher end of that range, especially during a cold, long winter.

Juniper vs. pine vs. oak

Juniper is the wood most people cut locally out here — it's plentiful, burns hot, but goes fast and pops more than denser hardwoods. Ponderosa pine is common in the higher country toward Show Low and burns cleaner but also quicker. If you can get oak, it burns longer and leaves better coals for overnight heat, but it's less common locally and usually costs more or takes more effort to source.

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Firewood Cord Calculator

🪵 Your firewood

How much wood a high-desert winter actually takes

Juniper vs. pine vs. oak

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