The Somerset reporter., 1909-05-06
A Cord of Wood is a Variable
Quantity.
When is a cord not a cord?

When is cord not cord?
To the farmer harvesting his small
woodlot and to the man laying in logs
for the large fireplace OF his country
or seaside home; to the paper manu-
facturer buying pulpwood and to the
proprietor of the ordinary city wood
ward. to all OF these men this question
has an important dollar and cents
meaning.
Queer to say, and contrary to the
belief of most people, there are many
times when a cord is less than a cord,
and many conditions when it is more.
School arithmetics say that cord of
wood is 1913 cubic feet, or the contents
of pile eight feet long, tour feet high
and four feet wide. Wood Is mar
keted on this basis. A pile whose
length, breadth, and height multiplied
together gives this number OF cubic
feet fills this requirement, no matter
whether the sticks are long or short,
straight or crooked, round or split,
unless there is an understanding to the
contrary. Neverless, cord, though
it comes up to legal measurements, is
an uncertain quantity, even when the
seller is honest and the buyer satisfied.
A lumberman may have tract of
pulpwood which he sells to paper
mill at IS cord, for as many cords as
it will make. 1t is in the contract that
he shall cut and stack it. He cuts it
in 12-foot lengths, and when the job
is complete, it measures 2OO CORDS,
and he receives 81 900 dollars for it.
Would he have made or lost by cut
ting 4-foot lengths instead of IL?
he would have lost i'll the first place
from the additional labor required TO
cut A. foot wood, but his principal loss
would have resulted from greatly
diminished number of cubic feet, due
to the fact that short sticks lie closer
Together than large.
Measurements and experimental
tests have been made to ascertain
exactly how much actual wood Is in
cords of different lengths, sizes, shapes
and species.
Had the 200 cords of 12-foot wood
been cut in 4-foot lengths, there would
have been only 176 cords, and the
owner would have received for it $3.50
instead of $1,000. 1t was, therefore,
clearly to his advantage to cut 12-foot
lengths, but it would have been to
buyers advantage to have it cut in
4.foot lengths. He would have re-
ceived the same actual quantity of
wood for S120 less.
1t also makes considerable differ
ence to the seller whether wood is
chopped or sawed. IT chopped, the
chips are lost. Where the logs are
large this loss amounts TO no small
total In cord of 4foot wood, with
sticks inches in diameter, the chip
loss is from six TO eight per cent; and
Of course, the shorter the sticks are
cut the greater the lose. If the wood
Is sawed, the sawdust loss is scarcely
the half of one per cent.
The difference due to spaces be-
tween the sticks of course depends
very much on the shape and size OF
the sticks. Straight, smooth sticks
lie close together, and cord con-
tains more wood and less air. For
given lengths. sticks of softwoods are
usually straighter and smoother, and
when stacked lie closer together.
But whatever the kind, cords of long
sticks are pretty sure to contain more
empty space than cords made of
short pieces. Likewise, cords of split
wood contain less than cords of round
sticks. The finer the wood is split,
the more it makes. Hence wood
dealers are often willing to sell
kindlings, all sawed and split, for the
same price per cord as unsplit wood.
They get back the cost Of labor in the
Increased bulk.
A cord OPS cubic feet) of 4-foot
hardwood usually contains about SO
cubic feet of solid wood; a cord Of
S,foot wood averages S34 cubic feet;
OF 2-foot wood, "a feet, and of 1-foot
20 feet. The conifers, softwoods, con-
tain 80 to SO cubic feet. Thus the