This is what a cord looks like

This is what a cord looks like in rounds…roughly stacked 4 ft high 24 ft long and 16 inch wide…we cut twice the amount in the same time when working with bigger logs…jbsawman gathered some old logs so we could cut a cord for a mutual friend

 

Id be curious as to what it stacks up to once split.

 

Right!???!! Take out that empty space in between the rounds!

 

I'm thinking it'll stack out to a good bit more than a cord once split. Even if he's a good, tight stacker.

Once a round is split, even just in half, its never the same size again. They always grow if split.

 

On the other hand, more spaces (because more pieces) even if they are smaller.

It'll depend on whether the grain is straight; if twisted you'll end up with more air between the splits. If not, flat against flat will decrease the empty space.

 

It's like crushing rocks, more pieces makes the pile smaller.

Nobody knows if that is a cord until is is split and stacked.

 

I'm not sure that analogy works here.

Take one round and build a tight box around it. Now split that round into burnable sized peices and try to fit them back into the box.

Volume increases once split.

 

Spot on! We’ve tested the theory here before. Not sure where the thread is, but definitely been tested. Big part of why I hauled in rounds instead of splits when I removed a fencerow a couple years ago. Fewer trips for sure

 

To a point... a chipper makes smaller pieces from large.

 

I'm sure that's where that analogy can be used. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

But this will also depend on the size of the box,given the wasted space at the edges.

 

Find a round that will just barely fit into a 5 gallon bucket. Then split the round into pieces and try to put them back in the bucket.

 

Like a swedish torch ?

 

My point is that a bucket experiment is a poor reflection of a cord experiment; all edges have air/wasted space because the bucket imposes how the splits go. A stacked cord has only such limitations at its outer edges.

 

I can tell you that I can load a heaping load of rounds, loose thrown into my dump trailer. Then dump them out and split them and throw the splits back in the trailer. The splits won’t fit. Have done it several times and always end up with a small pile of splits that won’t fit back on the load.

 

Well I had some time and got the splitting done to fill the truck with a cord the truck bed is 10ft x7'6"and the sides are 20inches I did go above the sides a little so it is a good cord the second picture is all that is left of the pile that we (Rickyblazin) and I cut on sunday there was not much left the truck is stacked JB