THE BASIS FOR CORDWOOD CONVERTING FACTORS 



127 



106. The Basis for Cordwood Converting Factors. The value of 

 stacked wood depends upon the quantity of wood contained in the 

 stacked cord as well as upon its quality. It is just as consistent to 

 require a knowledge of the solid cubic contents of stacked cords as it 

 is to measure sawlogs for board-foot contents by a log rule. For this 

 purpose, converting factors are required, and these factors are deter- 

 mined by actual measurement of the solid wood in cords composed of 

 sticks of different diameters and degrees of straightness. 



Since a cord contains 128 cubic feet of space, the solid contents in 

 cubic feet may be expressed in terms of per cent; e.g., a cord containing 

 90 cubic feet of wood gives 70 per cent of stacked contents in wood. 

 A cord of theoretically perfect cylindrical sticks piled square gives 

 100.5 cubic feet, or 79 per cent (§ 102). This in actual practice is about 

 the maximum contents of stacked cord, no matter how the piling is 

 done, for losses caused by taper, crook and surface compensate for any 

 gain by hexagonal over square arrangement of sticks. Smooth pine 

 or white birch may give 102 to 107 cubic feet for large sticks, but the 

 attainable maximum solid cubic contents of cords can for commercial 

 purposes be set at 100 cubic feet. 



* Adolph R. von Guttenberg, in Lorey's Handbuch der Forstwissensehaft, Vol. Ill, 1903, 

 Chap. XII, p. 179, Tubingen. 



There is thus a choice of two methods of expressing converting 

 factors for indicating the solid or cubic contents of wood in a cord; 

 first, the number of feet of solid wood in a cord of 128 stacked feet; 

 second, the per cent of a stacked cord which this cubic contents repre- 

 sents. Of the two, the former is preferable for two reasons; first, it 

 is directly applicable to cubic contents of trees as a divisor or con- 

 verting factor to obtain cords; second, it indicates the comparative 



