Cord weight by species, green vs seasoned
A full cord is 128 cubic feet of stacked wood, and its weight depends on the species and the water still in it. The table gives both weights for 20 common woods, heaviest seasoned cord first. The seasoned ranges draw on extension tables from Nebraska, Minnesota, Virginia Tech and Utah State. Each green weight comes from a single table, and four species have no sourced green figure.
| Wood | Seasoned, lb per cord | Green, lb per cord |
|---|---|---|
| Osage orange | 4,728 | 5,120 |
| Hickory | 3,952–4,327 | 5,104 |
| Black locust | 4,016–4,200 | 4,616 |
| White oak | 3,800–4,200 | 5,573 |
| Red oak | 3,528–3,757 | 4,888 |
| Sugar maple | 3,680–3,757 | 4,684 |
| American beech | 3,757–3,760 | — |
| White ash | 3,472–3,689 | 3,952 |
| Yellow birch | 3,689 | — |
| Black walnut | 3,192 | 4,584 |
| Paper birch | 2,992–3,179 | 4,312 |
| American elm | 2,872–3,052 | 4,456 |
| Douglas-fir | 2,970 | 3,319 |
| Black cherry | 2,880–3,120 | 3,696 |
| Red maple | 2,752–2,924 | 3,904 |
| Lodgepole pine | 2,610 | — |
| Ponderosa pine | 2,336 | 3,600 |
| Aspen | 2,160–2,295 | — |
| Eastern white pine | 2,236–2,250 | 2,780 |
| Cottonwood | 2,108–2,272 | 4,640 |
Ranges span the extension sources. Heat is gross heat in air-dried wood, before stove losses. A dash means no sourced figure.
Seasoned, the heaviest cord here is osage orange at 4,728 lb (2.36 tons) and the lightest is cottonwood at 2,108–2,272 lb, just over a ton. Hickory, white oak and black locust all weigh 3,800 lb or more. Red oak, sugar maple, white ash and beech land between 3,472 and 3,760 lb, about 1.7 to 1.9 tons. The pines, aspen and cottonwood stay under 2,700 lb.
Face cord, half cord and pickup-load weights
A face cord is a stack 4 ft high and 8 ft long, one piece-length deep. With 16-inch pieces that’s a third of a full cord, so it weighs a third as much: 1,176–1,252 lb of seasoned red oak, or about 1,629 lb green. With 12-inch pieces a face cord is a quarter of a cord, and with 24-inch pieces, half.
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Full cord
4 × 4 × 8 ft · 128 cu ft
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Face cord, 16 in wood
4 × 8 ft × 16 in · 42.7 cu ft · 0.33 cord
Half a cord of seasoned red oak weighs 1,764–1,879 lb, and 2,444 lb green. Extension sources put a pickup load at 0.2–0.5 cord, which in seasoned red oak comes to about 706–1,879 lb. To weigh any amount, enter it in cords in the Weight tab above; a face cord of 16-inch wood is 0.33. To find how many cords a stack holds, measure it with the firewood calculator.
Can my pickup carry a cord of wood?
Rarely in one trip, and payload is the number to check. Federal rules require a tire and loading placard on the driver’s side door pillar of vehicles up to 10,000 lb gross weight rating, and it states the most that occupants and cargo together may weigh. Ford’s 2026 F-150 spec sheet tells owners to read that label, because payload changes with configuration and accessories. Take your own weight and your passengers’ off the placard figure, and what’s left is for wood.
As an example, the 2026 Ram 1500 Tradesman (4x2 Quad Cab, 6′4″ box) lists a payload of 2,360 lb. The table shows how much of a cord that covers:
| Wood | Seasoned cord | Share of a cord in 2,360 lb | Green cord | Share of a cord in 2,360 lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hickory | 3,952–4,327 lb | 0.55–0.60 | 5,104 lb | 0.46 |
| Red oak | 3,528–3,757 lb | 0.63–0.67 | 4,888 lb | 0.48 |
| Sugar maple | 3,680–3,757 lb | 0.63–0.64 | 4,684 lb | 0.50 |
| Red maple | 2,752–2,924 lb | 0.81–0.86 | 3,904 lb | 0.60 |
| Eastern white pine | 2,236–2,250 lb | 1.05–1.06 | 2,780 lb | 0.85 |
By weight alone, a seasoned cord of any of the four hardwoods takes two loads in this truck, and green hickory or red oak takes three. Light woods fill the bed before they reach the payload: Ram lists the 6′4″ box at 61.5 cubic feet, less than half a cord, so even seasoned white pine needs at least three trips if it’s stacked no higher than the sides. The Truck load tab works out how much fits in your bed, stacked or thrown in loose.
Worked example: half a cord of red oak
Half a cord of seasoned red oak weighs 0.5 × 3,528–3,757 lb = 1,764–1,879 lb. Against the Ram’s 2,360 lb payload, that leaves 481–596 lb for the driver and anyone riding along. The same half cord cut green weighs 0.5 × 4,888 = 2,444 lb, which is 84 lb over the payload before anyone gets in. Half a cord is also 64 cubic feet, more than the box holds level with its sides, so it means stacking above the rails or making two trips.
Why green wood weighs more
The gap between the two columns is water. A green cord of red oak weighs 4,888 lb and a seasoned one 3,528–3,757 lb, so 1,131–1,360 lb of water dries out of it as it seasons. University of Maryland Extension puts freshly cut wood at up to 50% moisture.
Species hold very different amounts of water. Green cottonwood weighs 4,640 lb, more than twice its seasoned 2,108–2,272 lb and close to green sugar maple at 4,684 lb, so a fresh-cut load of a light species can still be heavy. Green white ash, at 3,952 lb, is only 263–480 lb heavier than seasoned.
How the weights are estimated
The weights come from extension tables that multiply the solid wood in a cord by the wood’s density at a given moisture. The University of Minnesota’s table, for example, assumes 85 cubic feet of solid wood per cord at 20% moisture. A real cord holds anywhere from 50–100 cubic feet of solid wood depending on the size of the pieces, as the cord of wood guide explains, so the cord you buy can weigh more or less than the table says.
Density sets the order: the USDA Forest Service’s Wood Handbook gives hickory a specific gravity of 0.72 at 12% moisture and eastern white pine 0.35, and a seasoned hickory cord weighs 1.8 to 1.9 times as much as a white pine one.
Wood that’s partly dry falls between the two columns, so treat any cord weight as an estimate. The calculator shows the median in tons, with the full source range in pounds and kilograms.