Turn a wood stack into full cords, face cords and ricks, work out how many cords a winter takes, and compare the heat output of each species — with the moisture and stacking assumptions shown, not hidden.
Most firewood BTU charts give one number and never say what moisture content or how tight a stack they assumed, which is why they disagree. Here you set the moisture mode and the solid-wood fraction, and every figure recomputes — from public-domain wood-density data, with the formula in plain view.
Units
A face cord (rick) is 4 ft × 8 ft, one log deep. The depth is whatever you set here.
In MMBtu. Don't know it? Get a figure from the BTU calculator (room sizing) or the heat loss calculator (whole-home), then add up the heating season.
Open fireplace ~10–25%, older stove ~50–65%, modern stove ~70–80%.
Tap a column heading to sort. Tap a species row to load it into the winter and stack modes.
Show / edit the assumptions
A cord is 128 ft³ stacked; only part is wood. Tight straight splits ~0.80–0.85, rounds or crooked wood lower.
Heat content: ~8,600 BTU per oven-dry pound, reduced for combustion and flue losses, then less the energy used to boil off the water at the moisture content above. Density = species specific gravity × 62.4 lb/ft³.
A planning aid. Species density, seasoning, how you stack and how your stove runs all move the real numbers, so treat cords-needed and BTU figures as estimates rather than guarantees. Not affiliated with any wood seller or stove maker.
A cord of wood is a fixed volume — 128 cubic feet of stacked wood, the familiar 4 ft high × 8 ft long × 4 ft deep. The stack mode of this cord of wood calculator measures whatever pile you have and divides by 128, then also reports face cords and ricks for the log length you set.
full cords = stack volume (ft³) ÷ 128
face / rick = 4 ft × 8 ft × (log length) — depth follows the log
How much firewood do I need for a winter
This is the question behind most searches, and it is just one division once you know two things: how much heat your home needs over the season, and how much usable heat a cord of your wood actually delivers. The winter mode does it for you.
cords for the season = heat demand (MMBtu) ÷ (heat per cord × stove efficiency)
For example, a 58 MMBtu season burned in a 75%-efficient stove on seasoned hickory (about 29.7 MMBtu per cord here) works out to roughly 2.6 full cords. Swap to a lighter species or wetter wood and the same house needs more. A well-insulated home heating chiefly with wood commonly lands somewhere around 2–4 cords a season, but climate, house size and wood density swing that widely.
Firewood BTU chart by species
The chart below is a real, sortable table — not an image — computed live for the moisture mode you choose, so you can compare a hardwood BTU chart against softwoods on the same basis. It is the kind of btu chart for wood that names its assumptions: every value comes from the species’ published oven-dry density and the heat-content formula above, recalculated when you change the moisture content or the solid-wood fraction. Use the print button for a clean firewood BTU chart you can keep by the wood stack (a printable, PDF-style view).
Heat per cord rises with wood density, which is why the heavy oaks, hickory and black locust sit at the top of any btu wood burning chart and the light softwoods like white pine sit near the bottom. Seasoning matters just as much: the same species rated green can deliver a third less usable heat than it does seasoned, because so much energy goes into boiling off water first.
Face cord vs full cord (and what a rick is)
This trips up more firewood buyers than anything else. A full cord is defined by volume; a face cord is defined by how it’s stacked, so the two only line up at one specific log length.
Term
Dimensions
Volume
Share of a full cord
Full cord
4 ft × 8 ft × 4 ft
128 ft³
1
Face cord / rick (16″ logs)
4 ft × 8 ft × 16 in
~42.7 ft³
~1/3
Face cord / rick (24″ logs)
4 ft × 8 ft × 24 in
64 ft³
1/2
Half cord
4 ft × 8 ft × 2 ft
64 ft³
1/2
Quarter cord
4 ft × 8 ft × 1 ft
32 ft³
1/4
Because a face cord (or rick) has no fixed legal definition, the first question to ask a seller quoting one is always how long the logs are: a face cord of short 12-inch wood is a quarter of a full cord, while one of 24-inch wood is half. Where you can, buy by the cord, half cord or quarter cord — volumes that don’t depend on stacking style.
[ Ad slot — replace with AdSense / Ezoic code ]
Frequently asked questions
Why do firewood BTU charts disagree with each other?
Mostly because each one hides a different moisture and stacking assumption. The same wood at 50% green, 20% seasoned and 12% kiln-dried gives very different heat per cord, and a tight stack holds more wood than a loose one. Charts that quote a single number rarely say which they used. Here both are shown and adjustable, so you can see exactly where a difference comes from.
What is the difference between a face cord and a full cord?
A full cord is 128 ft³ of stacked wood (4×8×4 ft). A face cord, or rick, is one row 4 ft high by 8 ft long, only as deep as the logs are long — about one third of a cord with 16-inch logs, half a cord with 24-inch logs. Always ask the log length before comparing face-cord prices.
How much firewood do I need for the winter?
Divide your seasonal heat demand by the usable heat per cord: cords = demand (MMBtu) ÷ (heat per cord × stove efficiency). A well-insulated home heating mainly with wood often runs roughly 2–4 cords of seasoned hardwood, but climate, house size, insulation and wood density move that a lot. The winter mode here does the division and lets you pull a demand figure from another calculator.
How is heat output per cord calculated here?
From physics and public-domain data, not a copied chart. Oven-dry density is the species specific gravity × 62.4 lb/ft³. Solid wood per cord is 128 ft³ × the solid-wood fraction (default 0.80). Multiply for weight per cord, then by ~8,600 BTU per oven-dry pound reduced for losses, then subtract the energy used boiling off water at your moisture content. The results land in the same range as university-extension figures because the inputs are the same.
Does seasoning firewood really change the heat output?
Yes, a lot. Green wood near 50% moisture spends much of its energy boiling off water before it can burn, so usable heat per cord drops and the fire runs cooler and dirtier. Seasoned wood around 20% is the practical target; kiln-dried near 12% gives a little more. Switch the moisture mode to see the same species rated green, seasoned and kiln-dried.
Is a rick the same as a face cord?
Usually yes — in most regions they mean the same thing: a stack 4 ft high and 8 ft long, one log-length deep. Neither is a standardised volume, so a rick of 16-inch wood and one of 24-inch wood differ by half again. Buy by the full, half or quarter cord where you can, since those are defined by volume.