Cord wood calculator
A stack 8 feet long, 4 feet high and 4 feet deep is exactly one cord, 128 cubic feet of wood and air. Measure your pile in feet, enter its length, height and depth, and get the number of cords it holds. Free in your browser.
- Free
- Runs in your browser
- No sign-up
- Your data stays on your device
Run — free
Worked example
- Length
- 8
- Height
- 4
- Depth
- 4
- Volume cu ft
- 128
- Cords
- 1
- Cord definition
- 1 cord = 128 cubic feet of stacked wood
A cord is the North American trade unit for stacked firewood: one hundred twenty-eight cubic feet of wood and air as the pile actually sits. The classic picture is a stack eight feet long, four feet high, and four feet deep, but any compact rectangle converts to cords once you have those three tape-measure readings in feet. Homeowners buying a winter supply, dealers writing a delivery ticket, and landowners clearing a lot all need that conversion from length, height, and depth rather than a guess from a photograph.
What a cord of wood is and why the stack is 128 cubic feet
In North American firewood trade a full cord is a stacked volume of one hundred twenty-eight cubic feet, the space taken by a rectangular pile eight feet long, four feet high, and four feet deep. Those three classic dimensions are only a picture of the unit: any compact stack converts to cords once you know its length, height, and depth in feet, because the cord is a volume measure, not a stick count and not a weight.
The pile includes the air gaps between pieces, so a neatly stacked cord and a loosely thrown heap that later occupies the same box are not the same amount of solid wood, but the commercial definition still uses the stacked rectangle. Searchers type cord wood calculator, how many cords of wood, firewood cord calculator, and wood stack cords when they have a tape and a pile, not a textbook. Dealers quote by the cord, municipalities regulate deliveries by the cord, and woodsheds are planned in cords.
A face cord or rick usually shows the same eight-by-four face but only about sixteen inches of depth, which is roughly one third of a full cord, and that naming mix-up is why a numeric conversion from three dimensions beats a handshake description. This landing answers the stacked-volume question only: multiply the three feet readings and divide by one hundred twenty-eight to get the cord count you can write on a receipt, a woodshed plan, or a delivery ticket without arguing about what someone meant by a rick.
How this calculator turns length, height, and depth into cords
Zero or negative dimensions also fail, because a physical stack cannot have a side of zero feet or a negative tape reading. Example: length eight, height four, and depth four is the classic full cord and yields volume one hundred twenty-eight cubic feet and cords equal to one. A pile sixteen feet long, four feet high, and four feet deep is two cords.
A face-style pile eight feet by four feet by sixteen inches (about 1.333 feet of depth) is about one third of a cord. There is no unit conversion inside the engine: if you measured in metres, convert to feet first.
Where a cord wood calculator earns its keep, and what it will not do
Use the free browser tool when you want an immediate cord count while checking a firewood delivery, planning how much a woodshed will hold, or comparing two quoted piles that were described only by tape measurements. Limits are intentional. The calculator does not weigh the load, estimate moisture, name the species, or convert British thermal units.
It does not treat a face cord as a separate official unit; send the three feet readings and read the fractional cord count. It does not convert inches or metres for you, though a sixteen-inch stick is simply 16 divided by 12 feet of depth.
What you can do with it
Check a firewood delivery against the tape
Measure the stacked length, height, and depth in feet after a drop-off and convert the pile to cords before you accept the ticket or argue about a short load.
Quote stacked wood you sell by the cord
Dealers and homesteaders turn a woodshed row into a fractional cord count so a price per cord can be applied without treating a face cord as a full cord.
Plan how much a woodshed or rack will hold
Use the interior length, stacking height, and stick depth of a shed or rack to see how many cords fit before you order the next winter load.
FAQ
How do I calculate how many cords are in a wood stack?
Send positive length, height, and depth in feet.
What size is a full cord of wood?
A North American full cord is 128 cubic feet of stacked wood. The classic picture is 8 ft long × 4 ft high × 4 ft deep, which this calculator reports as 1 cord.
Is a face cord the same as a full cord?
No. A face cord or rick usually has the same 8×4 face but only about 16 inches of depth, roughly one third of a full cord. Send the three feet readings to get the true fraction.
Does a cord measure only the wood or the air gaps too?
The air gaps too. A cord is the stacked volume of the pile as it sits, so a neatly stacked cord and a loosely thrown heap filling the same box do not hold the same amount of solid wood.
What if I measured the stack in inches?
Convert each reading to feet first, because all three dimensions are in feet. Sixteen inches of depth, typical of a face cord, is about 1.333 feet, which makes an 8 by 4 face roughly one third of a cord.
Related tools
For developers — API access
Everything on this page is available programmatically. This section is for teams who want to wire it into their own systems; everyone else can just use the tool above.
API endpoint
Prefer to automate it? One authenticated POST creates the task; the result comes back by webhook or a signed link. The same capability also runs here on the web, by email and from Telegram — and soon from our app too.
Call it from your stack
curl -X POST https://api.kit.forhosting.com/life/cord-wood \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $KIT_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"length":8,"height":4,"depth":4}'const res = await fetch("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/life/cord-wood", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.KIT_KEY}`,
"Content-Type": "application/json"
},
body: JSON.stringify({
"length": 8,
"height": 4,
"depth": 4
})
});
const { task_id } = await res.json();import os, requests
res = requests.post(
"https://api.kit.forhosting.com/life/cord-wood",
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['KIT_KEY']}"},
json={
"length": 8,
"height": 4,
"depth": 4
},
)
task_id = res.json()["task_id"]<?php
$res = file_get_contents("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/life/cord-wood", false, stream_context_create([
"http" => [
"method" => "POST",
"header" => "Authorization: Bearer " . getenv("KIT_KEY") . "\r\nContent-Type: application/json",
"content" => '{"length":8,"height":4,"depth":4}',
],
]));
$task = json_decode($res, true);body := bytes.NewBufferString(`{"length":8,"height":4,"depth":4}`)
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.kit.forhosting.com/life/cord-wood", body)
req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("KIT_KEY"))
req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)Example request
{
"length": 8,
"height": 4,
"depth": 4
}Example response
{
"task_id": "tsk_a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6",
"type": "life.cord_wood",
"status": "queued",
"_links": {
"result": "/tasks/tsk_…/result"
}
}The API is asynchronous: the call returns a task_id immediately and the result arrives by webhook. Polling is capped at 1 req/s per task.
Pricing
Published price — no tokens, no invented credits. A failed task is never charged.
Errors
| HTTP | Code | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
401 | unauthorized | Missing or invalid API key. |
402 | insufficient_balance | Your balance doesn't cover the task price. |
404 | unknown_type | That task type doesn't exist. |
429 | rate_limited | Too many requests. Use the webhook instead of polling. |
Technical notes
This cord wood calculator multiplies the three dimensions into cubic feet, divides by one hundred twenty-eight, and returns the cord count as structured JSON. Zero or negative dimensions fail with invalid_input because they cannot describe a physical stack.
How this calculator turns length, height, and depth into cords
POST a JSON body with three required finite numbers, all in feet: length for the long face of the pile, height from the ground to the top, and depth for how far the stack sticks out, which is often the cut length of the sticks. Each field may arrive as a JSON number or as a numeric string; length also accepts the aliases l and len, height accepts h, and depth accepts d and width. Missing fields, empty strings, Infinity, and NaN fail with invalid_input naming the problem. On success the body echoes the three validated dimensions, returns volume_cu_ft as their product, returns cords as that product divided by one hundred twenty-eight, and restates both the formula and the one-cord-equals-one-hundred-twenty-eight-cubic-feet definition so a receipt can show the arithmetic. Results are rounded to a stable decimal precision so the same three numbers always yield the same JSON across JavaScript engines, with no network, no clock, and no randomness in the path.
Where a cord wood calculator earns its keep, and what it will not do
Each successful request is one billable item at $0.002; failed validation does not consume balance. Pair the structured result with your own price-per-cord arithmetic if you sell wood: this endpoint returns volume and cords, not a dollar total, because price per cord changes with species, season, and delivery distance.
Technical questions
What happens if a dimension is zero or negative?
The task fails with invalid_input. Zero or negative length, height, or depth cannot describe a physical stack, so the request is rejected and is not billed.
What does the cord wood calculator cost?
The browser tool is free. API requests use prepaid KIT balance at $0.002 per successful call; invalid input is not billed.