122 STACKED OR CORD MEASURE 



substitution of surface measure reduces the cubic volume of short 

 cords, either the price must be reduced, or the full cubic contents of 

 a standard cord secured by requiring the cord to be two, three or four 

 ranks deep, or to have an additional length sufficient to make up 128 

 stacked cubic feet. A standard cord of 4-foot wood when cut into 

 stove lengths is considered a full cord, although in repiling it shrinks 

 from 8 to 13 per cent in stacked volume (§ 108). When the cord of 

 short wood is measured on this basis, the full dimensions of a standard 

 cord cannot be required on repiling. 



Wood is also cut longer than 4 feet. The term long cord usually 

 refers to a cord 4 by 8 feet in surface by 5 feet in depth and containing 

 160 cubic feet. The standard length of stick for hardwoods for dis- 

 tillation or acid wood is 50 inches, giving a cubic contents of 133| 

 cubic feet. Unless long cords are accepted by custom, stacks measur- 

 ing more than 4 feet in length of stack are reduced to their equivalent 

 volume in standard cords. When pulp wood bolts, ordinarily cut 4 

 feet long, are cut 8, 12 or 16 feet long, they are measured as standard 

 cords, a stack 4 by 8 by 8 feet containing 2 cords. 



99. Measurement of Stacked Wood Cut for Special Purposes. Stacked cubic 

 measure is commonly employed in measuring bolts or split billets intended for man- 

 ufacture into spokes, handles, staves for slack and tight cooperage, shingles and 

 similar piece products. Bolts measuring over 12 inches in diameter are usually 

 scaled in board feet. Billets, if split or rived into pieces each of which is to be 

 shaped into one finished article such a split staves, may be counted. 



Bolts intended for sawing are usually measured by stacked contents. The 

 lengths of the bolts sawed from the tree must correspond to the required length 

 of the product plus a small margin for trimming, or must be a multiple of this 

 length, to avoid waste. For spokes, 30 inches is a common length. Handles 

 require lengths of from 12 to 60 inches. Common lengths for staves for tight 

 cooperage are 19 inches and 38 inches. The demands of the market or purchaser 

 determine the length in every case. 



The measurement of shingle bolts is frequently by double cords, in lengths of 

 8 feet. On the West Coast, the bolts are cut in lengths equal to 3 shingles. For 

 16-inch shingles the cord is 4 feet 4 inches in depth, while for 18-inch shingles, 

 the length of bolt required is 4 feet 8 or 10 inches. Shingle bolts illustrate the 

 tendency to simplify and standardize measurements of products to save expense. 

 The bolts are not uniform in size, and one cord may contain from 16 to 40 bolts. 

 But it is common practice to first determine the average number of bolts in a cord, 

 and then measure the remainder by counting the bolts to avoid stacking. The 

 number agreed upon is used as a divisor to obtain the quantity in cords. 



Stacks measuring more or less than 4 feet in length of stick can thus be measured 

 in either of the two ways described above (§98). Surface feet or 32 square feet 

 equivalent to 4 by 8 feet may be taken as a short cord. But stacked contents 

 based on the standard cord of 128 cubic feet is just as commonly employed. For 

 instance, in cooperage it is a common custom to measure 36-inch stave bolts in 

 ranks 4 by 11 feet for one cord, giving 132 cubic feet or approximately a standard 

 cord. 



