Within the last 30 minutes I saw 2 different ads of people either blatantly lying or have no clue what a cord of wood is. Whenever I see these ads I want to inform them of their error and tell them how much an actual cord is. But me being "The Redneck Yankee" as my coworkers from NC call me. I can not come up with a way to tell the guy selling a 6'× 4'× 20" wood rack won't hold half a cord, or the guy selling "true cord" when he has a 6' × 10' landscape trailer of loosely thrown wood would have to be piled 3 ft high across the entire length to equal a cord without sounding like a complete a**h***.
Yep, I know what you mean. I hate the smug CL ad that says, "True cords," "Huge cords!" or the like, when it is obviously NOT a full cord. But, well there is nothing I can do about it, so ....
My 5'X10' holds 1/3 cord slightly mounded above the 12" rails loose thrown. That 6X4X20" is just under 1/3 cord. Now, up here, most folks refer to what you and I know is a 1/3 cord as a cord. Pretty silly, eh? The question then becomes.....what's the price of their "cord". Up here, someone advertising a "cord" for up to about $65 is actually what we know as a 1/3 cord. Clear as mud. It's actually pretty easy, but not for some folks. I had the convo with one of my firewood guys who said...."Oh, I don't do all that math".
They just have to math it. My friend just told me he had 11 cord split and stacked. Hmm.. what size are your cords? 4' x 4' x 4' tall, or close to it. Yeah, he was a bit bummed when we mathed it together. A true cord of wood is, well,... a lot of wood. People don't realize the actual physical size of a true cord.
Around my neck of the woods nobody advertises a cord for sale. The ads all say, "Rick of wood" or "Ric of wood". When I ask how much that is I get various answers. Drives me nuts too. Luckily I don't buy wood.
What really gets me is here in Ohio as I believe in most states there are only 2 legal ways to sell split firewood. By the cord or fractions of a cord. Which is clearly spelled out as 128 cubic ft of neatly stacked wood. Or it can be sold bundled. There are other things you must follow but but they're not related to volume.
"I saw 2 different ads of people either blatantly lying or have no clue" ... for a second I wuz sure this was gonna be a political post... It's buyer beware for sure, when it comes to firewood... and, it seems these days, its... anything ...
I look at marketplace ads about once a week to see if there's anything I need. and it seems the firewood sellers are coming out of the woodwork here. They often post a pic of a loaded dump trailer or a wood pile or a log splitter and put a price of 123456...or some other number that doesn't seem to represent the picture... like $1 or free***. its sometimes just an ad or a misleading post otherwise known as clickbait.
This is what a "FULL" cord of firewood looks like on a trailer which is 14' x 7' x 1.5'. It was hand loaded and was a row 4' high x 1.3' wide x 25' long.
The most common thing I hear from my new customers is wow that’s a lot of wood! Or, how much of that truck load is mine? Um, all of it!
Good to know. Last week at the in-laws farm I stacked my 7-14 cargo trailer about 3 feet high. Figured it was about 2 cords. Must have been really close!
It drives me nuts too. I also wonder if this is how people get the idea that their little pile of wood is worth so much. Perhaps they've seen a cord of wood for sale for $300 or more but then they see an actual pile of wood someone says is a cord but is in fact just a partial cord. Confusing for those who do not know the truth. Seems the first I remember of people selling what they claimed was a cord but in fact a face cord was during the 1970's when oil and gas prices skyrocketed. Then lots of folks started burning wood and naturally many started selling. Suddenly people were claiming a face cord to be a cord. Another thing is those people who are selling or stacking a chord of wood rather than a cord...
What is a cord vs a chord of wood? I always figured it was a different spelling like color and colour.
I gave up and ignore them, I believe they just are taking advantage of people who don't know any better. They can answer for their crimes when the time comes..