CHAPTER 27 



Measures and yields of 

 products and residues''' 



27-1 UNIT OF MEASURE 



Wood-using industries employ a variety of units to measure southern hard- 

 wood trees and logs. Pulpwood dealers have historically used etacked mea- 

 sure — the cord or related unit; lumber manufacturers have preferred the board 

 foot. As the industry has moved toward whole-tree utilization, however, mea- 

 sures of total or bark-free volume (cubic feet) and of weight (pounds) have 

 become irt^reasingly popular; this trend is likely to continue. 



Since wb^od is a variable material, and much of it is produced in irregular 

 shapes, all units provide more or less imperfect approximations of intrinsic 

 value. Applicability of measuring systems to specific situations must often be 

 determined by experience. Even more variable are estimates of wood yield, 

 which are additionally affected by factors specific to individual sites, stands, and 

 processes. The data on product and byproduct yields are presented as best 

 available approximations — yields in specific situations can be determined accu- 

 rately only by local studies. 



THE CORD 



A standard rough cord occupies 128 gross cubic feet and is defined as 

 comprised of 4-foot-long rough (bark in place) roundwood stacked into a pile or 

 rick 4 feet high, 4 feet wide, and 8 feet long; a rick of any dimension that 

 contains 128 cu ft of wood, bark, and airspace, however, is considered a 

 standard cord. The word cord, if it appears unmodified in this text, refers to the 

 standard rough cord of 128 cu ft. 



Because pulpwood is commonly cut about 5 feet in length, numerous wood 

 procurement programs in the South are based on non-standard units. The most 

 prevalent of these are defined as follows: 



1. The 160-cu-ft long cord comprised of 5-foot rough bolts stacked in a 

 rick 4 feet high and 8 feet long. 



'Acknowledgement is due M. E. Lora who prepared the first draft of this chapter. 

 ^For convenient reference, all tables are grouped at the end of the chapter; for metric conversion 

 data, see the last table in the chapter, i.e., table 27-154. 



^Some abbreviations are used throughout the chapter as follows: 



Mbf — Thousand board feet. 



dbh — Tree diameter at breast height, i.e., 4.5 feet above ground outside bark. 



dob — Diameter outside bark. 



dib — Diameter inside bark. 



Scaling diameter — Log diameter inside bark at small end. 



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