Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How much firewood…

…do you use in a typical season?

What type of application are you using firewood for?

We have an older (original house was 1890) home that has been added on, about 1900 sq ft now. Heated exclusively with a wood stove. We burn 4 or so cord a season.

1970s Brunco coal/wood stove
Seasoned hardwood
(Very dry pine is sometimes used in fall or spring)

NW PA

ETA: for reference, I am referring to a “full” cord, as in 128 cu/ft of wood. The classic 4x4x8 stuff.

Woodstove only for heat. 3 cords per year

3 truck loads fisher woodstove in the basement

Propane heat now.

Old house, woodstove/furnace.

10 cords of seasoned birch, per winter.

Man, that sounds like a lot of work. And a ton of ash to toss out. I feel for guys using softwoods (including the softer-hardwoods)

We use gas central heat at night, wood stove during the day. Still burn 3.5 to 4 "face" cords* a year.
We could probably save a little money if we used LPG only, but NOTHING heats like a good wood stove!

* - a "cord" used to be 4'×4'×8'. A stack of wood 4 foot wide, 4 foot tall and 8 foot long.
Now, firewood sellers work on a "face cord".
That stack of wood 1'×4'×8'. ...and seldom is a face cord more than 16 to 18 inches wide. My supplier apparently lost his tape measure! LOL!
"Stove" wood should be 12 inches long.
Fireplace wood should be 24 inches long.

2000 square feet, 1.5 cords a winter.

Ah yes…face cord, bush cord, rick, rack…there are too many ways to do it!

For my intentions, I am referring to 128 cu/ft as a cord.

My stove can handle 22” pieces. But I cut them under 18” usually. But I get a lot of tree service wood and it can vary wildly in lengths so I burn what I have!

Yep, tons of work, but it was vital too !

Often;



About a months worth;



+ some utterly brutal;

Dam🥶🥶

Wood ashes are good fertilizer.

Briiiiiiiiiii!

We put it on the driveway, dust for chickens and in the flower beds. Also works well to clean the glass.

1850 +/- sq. ft. - Treemont free standing wood stove (in use 35+ years) going 24/7 - Southern Michigan - 12 - 14 face cords oak & cherry per season.

I burn a cord or so, depending on how much time is spent in the shop, on projects. I never heard of face cord until a few years ago on campfire. It was always a cord or rick of wood. Rick being 16”x 4’ x 8’. Three rick make a cord.

Don't know what part of the country you live in...but all that is news to me. I sold wood as a sideline of me and my son's logging biz.
A cord here, is the usual 4x4x8 yes, but it is 3 rows, called tiers, of 16" unless a customer wants a custom length , 3 times 16" is 48" which is the width of a cord.(which fits all stoves made in the west). I never saw the term 'face cord' ever. My son and I occasionally purchased salvage wood from an active timber sale we had, and a couple times the Forest Service audited our salvage loads, bought and paid for by the thousand board feet...they could care less about cords...although private wood permits issued by them are per 1/4 cord, described as a 'well stacked unit of wood 4x4x8'. No length specified because so many combinations will equal 128 cu ft. An old southerner around here refers to a 'rick' of wood..lol...I don't have a clue. But he sure knows how to smoke bacons and hams. So I bring him a 'rick' of seasoned maple now and then and he doesn't complain.

1800sf mainly wood heat but we did put a wall mount NG heater in the kitchen to supplement. Wood burner is a small “The Earth Stove” from the 70’s.

When it’s cold we keep it going round the clock and burn right at a Rick a week. Thankfully we only get a few weeks of really cold weather a winter on average. We usually use about 2 1/2-3 cord a year.

Prefer to burn Red oak, blackjack oak, black locust, black walnut, and red elm in that order. Will slum Ash or pecan if we have one that needs to be cut up anyway.

Well I heat with a wood pellet stove. How many pellet's are in a cord? :-)

When I lived in Ne Pa. I used to stacked 8-10 cords of seasoned hardwood a year. We had an Englander wood furnace with a huge blower assembly, It was cold and very damp on our ridge and this heated 2500 sq ft plenty fine. Mostly tried to burn hard maple and oak for the ease of processing. Beech and other less straight and knotty woods used as trees fell . Since I have moved to Wyoming , cheap natural gas has spoiled me and my back thanks me...........

A lot of good ash wood since the beetles killed them.

About 5 cords, mixed hardwoods
HeatMor outdoor wood ‘boiler’
3100ft sqft

Only really fire the furnace from about Thanksgiving to Mid February.

Northwest TN

Other sources suppliment

2500 sq foot house, we only turn on the central heat if we are leaving town. So far this year i have burned 7 truck loads of hickory.

Full Cord, Standard Cord = 4' x 4' x 8'

Face Cord is 4' x 8' 16" - 20" cut length, never heard the term "rick".

Was using the term face cord back in the 70s and 80s when Dad and his buddies were in the wood business.

Around here nobody knows or cares what a cord is. It's bought/sold by the truck or trailer load. 6 foot bed, 8 foot bed, single axle dump load, double axle dump load, tri-axle, etc. 6 foot trailer, 8 foot trailer, 12 foot trailer, etc. Level or heaped is a good question to ask over the phone when calling on it.

Most around here cut their own though, and just get up a pile as big or bigger than used in previous winter's. Some do bother to stack it pretty and neat. Usually 4 ft high, and as long as it needs to be.

A ton of pellets is about 1.5 cord.

3-4 cords per year. Going on three years not running our geothermal heat pump.
Mostly ash and beech this year and the pile is being consumed much faster than the last couple. Need to get more elm put up next year.

Dang, I miss a wood stove. Reading this makes my back start hurting just thinking about stacking wood. After a couple zippers in my lower back, I can't hack it anymore. I do like a nice fireplace in winter evenings.

3000ft2 with a Central Boiler 6048.

Burning it for 11yrs now and I’m still waiting for a year where I’m not burning a lot of what I call garbage wood (spruce, red pine, cottonwood, box elder) to see what the minimum I can get away with is. There usually a 50/50 mix of hardwood (oak, hard maple, locust, cherry, walnut) along with the softwood species. That said, I’m usually burning 7-10 full cord (4x4x8) per year depending on the severity of the weather.

This year as a gift my wife bought me 6 face cord of oak slab wood from a mill which was noticeably less effective than proper, cured firewood but it burned all the same and it put us in that much better shape for next year. It was the thought that counted. ☺️

7-10 cord with a central boiler seems about average here, too.

Slabs seasoned for a year or two are comparable to any other cord wood IME. you do have to Tetris them in the firebox though to minimize airspace and surface area. At least that is how I use them, when I have them.

Any have an outside furnace?

Read the thread moron and stop putting people on fàggie ignore. Then you’d know

most people sell face cords around here but they conveniently fill up the back of a pickup truck, a face chord goes for about $120 with a delivery fee if you don't pick it up.

I have a local kid that has the dead ash tree market cornered, started out doing it all by hand 3 years ago, now he has a gas powered splitter and brings in about 2000 a week in the fall.

We cut firewood for two houses. Both houses were built over 100 years ago, but have been renovated. They both have the same crown royal outdoor stove. With average winter weather, we fill it at night, then throw a few logs on in the morning. It's nice because you don't spend has much time splitting or checking the fire. A pick up truck load(not stacked) will last about a week

I stack em 4' high and double wide 16" cuts. i need an inch over 12' long to make a full cord.
Mostly ash and oak.

I have 36' of this , which is just a hair under 3 cords of split seasoned.

I also have about 3/4 cords of unseasoned "crap" wood that I scrounge from wherever along the way. Its set up on pallets in front of my good stuff.

I've burned through all of the crap (3/4 cord) in the fall through most of Dec and maybe 1/4 cord of the good stuff from late Dec till today.

5 bedroom split level. I turn the heat fully off until December. Turn it off again in march. So it ends up being about 50% of heating in the coldest months and 100% of heating in the shoulder seasons.

I suspect I'll use just shy of 3 cords by late spring. More than I have to, but I like to burn it, enjoy a fire, and do it for exercise as well. I'm about 300 years old.

Lopi insert. Medium.

Northern NJ.

Probably do 4 cords this year. Propane furnace primary with EPA freestanding stove in basement and EPA insert in living room. Insert is burned whenever anyone's awake, and basement stove burned whenever working down there.

I built a woodshed with a 11' x 12' stacking area, so 1 foot of stack height gets me about a cord. I started with it full, stacked a little under 8' high, minus part of one row. We'll use half the stack, reload that half over the summer, then use the other side next winter. Should be nice and dry.

Lots of alder around here which is meh for heat value, but it works. Nice to have the odd maple or cherry mixed in with it.

No clue, I usually burn 4 gal of gas through my chain saw when I'm cutting. My wood pile is prob 20x40x8'. Have never burnt the entire pile in one winter. Nice to have some if I ever need it. Add on wood stove/furnace in a 2200sq' home. NW/Pa.

Same. Feel for those that have never burned "hedge"/Osage Orange.

Burn 6.5 to 7 full cord of wood a year in northern Wisconsin. Have a built in Cozy Heat fireplace with glass doors. We enjoy the wood heat and like the ambiance of a burning fire. Store a minimum of 3 years of wood covered and stacked. 50% poplar and the rest a mix of maple, red oak and a little white birch. Our home is relatively new with tall vaulted ceilings but very well insulated. Have a propane furnace, two gas ovens/stoves and a gas water heater. Typically use 225 +/- gallons of propane August to August. I love cutting and splitting firewood. The stacking part is a pain but it helps keep me in shape!

Mainly burn locust and oak mixed with some ash

About 4 cords, maybe a little more.

Many times we had a big potbelly in my buddy’s dad’s barn glowing orange with scraps of bo’dark from cutting bow staves. Probably a good thing that old stove was right out in the middle of the concrete floor in that barn or we’d have burned something down for sure.

Two ton, by the size of the pallets Of pellets, I purchase. 🤔

Two ton of pellets would equate to about 3 full cord of wood.

I have seen a few stoves glowing from it.

The stuff will definitely get too hot if one doesn't know how to burn it.

Ter corn burners are pretty much out?

very weather dependent here.

hit 50F today, was 39F when I got up. Decided to see how things went. Electric furnace comes on at 66F inside. Might have run a dozen times so far today? Saving wood for when it gets cold tonight perhaps.

Routine the last week or so was to have a fire set for my wife to light when she gets up. burn until early afternoon usualyy. house gets to 72-74F. let house cool down from that point. Furnace set at 52F from 9:30p to 5:00A.. heater usually doesn't even run.

Coldest winters maybe 4-4.5 cords (cords as defined, because that's what a cord is) juniper and lodgepole. This season if the Pineapple Express keeps up we might get by with 3 total.

Sq ft of house??? 1300 for a reasonable guess. 2x6 walls with good insulation there, ceiling, and under the floor.

Quadra fire stove. 16" max length for wood. Rather efficient compared to a couple other stoves we've used over the years

When pellets came in 50 pound bags, they are 40 pounds now, like every thing but real feed, I have never burned more than a pallet an a half, even when -22 for two weeks three years ago, I still think it is much cheaper and easier than when I burned two or more cords of wood, and they bring pallets to ranch, unload with tractor straight in barn , very interesting subject.

Don't have wood as primary heat anymore. Just a fireplace for a little warmth in the evenings and because it looks nice. Might burn 2 loads a year here , 2 more at the camp. Mostly oak with hickory, locust and some cherry mixed in

🤦‍♂️🤣

Five full cords, on average.. Stove is an Osburn 2400, sits on a pad between LR and DR. Fuel oil furnace for backup, but 200 gallons of oil lasts me two years or more..

Wood is all mixed hardwoods..

1300 sq ft.... we only burn about 2-3 cords a year in a Fisher Honeybear woodstove.... usually 100% Almond wood which is a really hard wood with very little ash.... sometimes get some live oak from the hills about 30-40 miles away and also got some free cherry this year from a guy who tore out an orchard.....it ain't nowhere as good as the almond though. We have hundreds of thousands of acres planted in almonds here..... never ending supply and cheaper than propane.

I'm not even sure of our SF(1200?) and we don't burn wood inside.

And the wood we do have is cottonwood and ash.


But.... I did just burn a piece of gourmet hickory out in the BGG.

I burn 6-7 full cords a season. Usually, I burn from November 1 through about April 1. I am fortunate that I only burn Red Oak. We have a natural gas furnace for backup, but it rarely if ever goes on. I always keep ahead by at least 2 years, so the wood I burn is well seasoned.

WS

Burn 2-3 cords per year in an old Earth stove. Mix of hardwoods including ash, bur oak, Osage, hackberry and elm if I have to.
Also have propane which is primary heat source, but try to keep the thermostat on furnace low enough that it doesn't run much.

Best part of burning wood is that it actually heats ya up about 5 times by the time it turns to ash.

It's a volume measurement. Two 4 x 4 pallets = 4 x 4 x 8, isn't that how wood is measured?

A cord is 4'H X 4'W X 8'L. Or any other arrangement of the same H x W X L that comes to the same total.

Two 4x4 pallets may or may not get you there. Put together they are 4'W X 8'L, but how high?

I'll burn about three cords, in a typical winter. If there is much -20 or colder weather, I might burn a little more. The wood is a combination of red fir, larch, and lodgepole pine. I have a small pellet stove which I use overnight sometimes. Both it and the woodstove are in the basement. The house is only about 1000 feet on the main floor, with a loft. Log construction. GD

Volume wise, sure, a ton of pellets is nowhere near a cord of wood…more like a face cord (or rock or 1/3 cord). But energy wise, a ton of pellets is equal to approximately 1.5 cord of wood. This translates well, IME, as my parents now burn pellets in their place and have gone from 4 cord of wood a year to about 2.5 ton of pellets.

I feel so used

Know where to buy coal?

I burn 3.5-4 cord. I get slab wood with a lot of blocks in it from the Amish mills. Cost me $375 for 6.5 cords. Woodstove is in basement and it's where I do all my cooking in winter.

Maybe a cord with fireplace and fire pits

Guess we are the only one's burning Mesquite, 6--8x16 trailer loads a year fire places and two out door fire pits and cooking. Rio7

Well by-golly

Since we’re now counting, fire pits, outdoor rings, campsites, fish camp, chimineas and hog smokers….

Put me down for another cord to my above

4-ish cords here annually.

Mixed hardwood[oak, hickory, locust, cherry].

Maybe 50gl of propane along withe above.

2 Heat pumps sit idle in winter.

Heating 2500sqft plus another 1500sqft[basement where stove is].

No fire pits......

I need to clean my flu

We have used an Amish "School House Size" Wood Circulator for the last 25 years. It is 28" Wide X 36" Tall Minus the Shaker Grate and Ash Pan, and 17" Deep. Never really tracked the wood usage real close. I would say normally 5 Cord of Hard Wood, Mainly Oak. With both of us retired and home most of the time we may be using a little more than 5 Cord these days. This Winter we have been burning Six Oak trees blown over last Winter, with a Cherry thrown in. About half White Oak and Half Red. I cut and split almost all of it myself. We have a Gasoline Wood Splitter. Through the Blue Cold Weather we just had, with temperatures going below zero. The front room thermometer stayed between 70 and 72. The bedroom on the far end of the house was 68 - 70. Normally we shut the stove down at night, this last week and a half we ran it 24/7 without shutting it down. It has warmed up slightly above freezing this morning, and the front room thermometer is on 76. I am not sure of the square feet of the house. My guess would be around 2500 sf.

I would really hate to keep the house as warm as we do burning Gas or with Electric Heat.

Bob R

Don't leave a chicken on the counter, hot enough around there to bake it without using the oven.