Lot of good answers to the question here, but regarding stacking too tight - my father was always the same way, fill in every little hole with scraps, reverse the pieces to fit them tighter, etc. Not doing any favors that way, it doesn't dry properly. I assume we are talking already dried wood but I will repeat something I heard as a kid "stack it loose enough for the mouse to run through it but tight enough that the cat can't follow".
i do t. oh look, a chicken! Seriously, ive got all three and some others that my shrink has yet to identify!
I delivered a half cord on Thursday from one of my measured half cord racks Yawner and counted the splits/rounds. It was just over 400. Some of these were small so i either counted as half or didnt figure it in. I think one of my "average" splits is a bit smaller than most on here based on what ive seen. 700-750 pieces per cord seems a safe number. I had about a face cord of fresh cut rounds i split yesterday. I had a rack that held face cord. Counted the splits as i chopped to satisfy my own curiosity (and OCD). About 250 plus a few splits too big that needed noodling. Stacked em and all didnt fit. Keep in mind these are 16" lengths so longer splits would be fewer per cord.
delivered another measured half cord yesterday. 95% red oak. Around 375 pieces Yawner. A lot of these were more gnarly than my typical splits. Have another going later today and will count that too.
I've often wondered, who decided there were "X" number of pounds of a given wood to a cord? Did they stack tight or loose? Big pieces or small? But, since there are published numbers, one could hit the scales, then count, then have something of an official number for a given wood, but even then the split size would matter most. As an aside,I like some really BIG pieces for my stove and some much smaller, so I really try to randomize their size, seemingly opposite of many people.
More data for you Yawner . Pic is of the stacked white oak and hickory i split last week. 6.5'x 5' tall...face cord. About 250 splits. Have a few pieces to noodle to top off. second pic of the red maple half cord
Published weight of white oak per cubic foot, dry: 48 lbs 128 cubic feet per cord X 48 pounds per cubic foot = 6,144 pound theoretical weight (with no gaps for air) Standard published weight of a cord of white Oak = 5650 pounds. Therefore: 494 pounds are assumed “missing” when an actual cord is stacked. Volume “missing” = 494 / 48 = 10.29 cubic feet. 10.29 is 8.02% of 128 cubic feet. Therefore your stacks should include 8% air, to be fair. Is that a tight pack or loose? No freaking idea. And now we're almost there: at say, $200.00 a cord, 20.00 worth would then be 565 pounds of wood, or however many sticks are in 565 pounds. (at the same wholesale cord price) At an estimated 680 sticks to the cord, and 5650 pounds to the cord each split (on average) weighs 8.3 pounds. 565 pounds of wood (1/10th cord) divided by 8.3 pounds each is 68 pieces for $20.00 Of course, you could build a box that holds 1/10th of a cord, 12.8 cubic feet and it would be the same $20.00. That could be a box 24" X 48" X 19.2" Tall, and of course, would hold about 68 pieces. I'll wager the average person would jump at 565 pounds of wood for $20.00, but it's just not done that way. Coincidentally, that is almost the size of my own wood-box. I never thought about it holding 1/10th of a cord.
We need several confirmation studies and the requisite personal experiences which may or may not align with this latest mathematical observation.
