If you've ever bought firewood in the Ashland area or the Ohio Valley, you've probably heard terms like cord, rick, and truckload thrown around like they mean the same thing. They don't. And if you don't know the difference, you could end up paying full price for half a load of wet, green wood that'll smoke up your house and leave you cold.
We've been splitting and selling hardwood in Greenup County for years, and we've seen folks get burned — sometimes literally — by sellers who play fast and loose with measurements. Here's what you need to know to buy firewood like someone who's been doing it their whole life.
Know Your Measurements
Firewood gets sold in a few different units, but only one of them is actually standardized. Here's the breakdown:
Full Cord
Face Cord
Rick
A full cord is the only legally standardized firewood measurement. It's a stacked pile 4 feet wide, 4 feet tall, and 8 feet long — 128 cubic feet of stacked volume. That includes normal air gaps between pieces, which is expected. Actual solid wood content runs about 70–90 cubic feet depending on how uniformly the pieces are split and stacked.
A face cord (sometimes called a short cord) is a stack 4 feet tall and 8 feet long, but only one piece deep — typically 16 inches. That works out to about a third of a full cord. Around here, it's the most common retail unit. Some sellers will try to pass a face cord off as a full cord. Don't let them.
What About a "Rick"?
In this part of Kentucky and Ohio, rick usually means the same thing as a face cord — and a lot of longtime buyers use the terms interchangeably. The problem is there's no legal definition. A rick might be a face cord, or it might be a loosely piled half-stack. If someone quotes you a price per rick, ask for the exact dimensions before you hand over cash. If it's not 4 × 8 × 16 inches deep, do the math yourself.
Truckloads: The Wild Card
A truckload is exactly what it sounds like — wood piled into the back of a truck. The problem? No two truckloads are the same. One seller might give you a heaped bed of tight-stacked splits. Another might give you a half bed with a bunch of air and small sticks tossed on top.
Ask for a weight estimate. A full truckload of dry hardwood should weigh at least 3,000–4,000 pounds depending on species. If you're paying for a cord, insist on measured cord dimensions — don't let them dump a truckload and call it even. And watch for filler: pine cones, bark scraps, and small branches aren't firewood.
Reference Weights by Species (per full cord, seasoned)
If someone sells you a "cord" of dry oak that weighs under 3,000 pounds, you're either getting shorted on volume or it's not seasoned. Either way, you're not getting what you paid for.
Why Seasoned Wood Matters This Much
The hardwoods we grow in the Ohio Valley — oak, hickory, black locust, maple — burn hotter and cleaner than softwoods like pine or poplar. But only if they're properly seasoned. Freshly cut hardwood typically carries 45–60% moisture content. That means most of the heat from burning it goes into boiling water out of the wood instead of heating your home.
| Wood Condition | Moisture | Usable Energy | What You Get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green / Fresh Cut | 45–60% | ~4,500 BTU/lb | Hard to light, heavy smoke, creosote buildup |
| Partially Seasoned | 25–35% | ~6,000 BTU/lb | Burns unevenly, moderate smoke |
| Properly Seasoned | 15–20% | ~7,800 BTU/lb | Lights fast, burns hot & clean, minimal smoke |
That's up to 73% more usable heat energy from the same amount of wood — just by burning it dry. It's not a small difference. It's nearly twice the heat output, and it's the difference between a stove that heats your house all night and one that smolders out by midnight.
If you're using wood for smoking meat, moisture matters even more. Green wood produces dirty, acrid smoke that'll ruin your cook. Dry hardwoods like hickory, oak, and cherry produce the clean, thin blue smoke that gives you real flavor — not a campfire aftertaste.
How to Spot a Good Seller
Not all firewood sellers are created equal. Here's what separates the operations that take it seriously from the ones that'll leave you with a pile of wet sticks:
- They sell by the cord or face cord — measured, not eyeballed
- They know their species and can tell you what you're getting (white oak vs. red oak vs. hickory)
- They split their wood to consistent sizes — unsplit rounds take months longer to dry and burn poorly
- They stack it properly, off the ground with airflow between rows
- They can tell you exactly how long the wood has been seasoning — and ideally, prove it
- They sell by "truckload" only, with no actual measurement
- They can't tell you the species or the moisture level
- They dump it in a pile and drive away
The One Thing Most Sellers Can't Do
Almost every firewood seller in the tri-state will tell you their wood is "seasoned." Very few can prove it. That word doesn't mean much without a number behind it.
At Phoenix Nest, we test every batch with a professional Lignomat moisture meter — the same equipment commercial lumber operations use — with a slide-hammer probe that reads deep into the wood, not just the surface. Every load we sell is verified under 20% moisture content. ✓ Verified <20%
When your wood stove manufacturer tested for that 80% efficiency rating, they used wood at 20% moisture. That's what we deliver. When you buy unverified "seasoned" wood sitting at 35–40%, your stove can't perform the way it was designed to.
Phoenix Nest Firewood — Greenup, KY
Verified seasoned hardwood, measured and delivered within 75 miles. Oak, hickory, and specialty smoking woods — tested with professional Lignomat equipment, guaranteed under 20% moisture.
Whether you're heating your home through January or firing up the smoker for a weekend cook, you'll get exactly what you paid for. No truckload guesswork. No mystery moisture levels.
If you've ever bought firewood in the Ashland area or the Ohio Valley, you've probably heard terms like cord, rick, and truckload thrown around like they mean the same thing. They don't. And if you don't know the difference, you could end up paying full price for half a load of wet, green wood that'll smoke up your house and leave you cold.
We've been splitting and selling hardwood in Greenup County for years, and we've seen folks get burned — sometimes literally — by sellers who play fast and loose with measurements. Here's what you need to know to buy firewood like someone who's been doing it their whole life.
Know Your Measurements
Firewood gets sold in a few different units, but only one of them is actually standardized. Here's the breakdown:
Full Cord
Face Cord
Rick
A full cord is the only legally standardized firewood measurement. It's a stacked pile 4 feet wide, 4 feet tall, and 8 feet long — 128 cubic feet of stacked volume. That includes normal air gaps between pieces, which is expected. Actual solid wood content runs about 70–90 cubic feet depending on how uniformly the pieces are split and stacked.
A face cord (sometimes called a short cord) is a stack 4 feet tall and 8 feet long, but only one piece deep — typically 16 inches. That works out to about a third of a full cord. Around here, it's the most common retail unit. Some sellers will try to pass a face cord off as a full cord. Don't let them.
What About a "Rick"?
In this part of Kentucky and Ohio, rick usually means the same thing as a face cord — and a lot of longtime buyers use the terms interchangeably. The problem is there's no legal definition. A rick might be a face cord, or it might be a loosely piled half-stack. If someone quotes you a price per rick, ask for the exact dimensions before you hand over cash. If it's not 4 × 8 × 16 inches deep, do the math yourself.
Truckloads: The Wild Card
A truckload is exactly what it sounds like — wood piled into the back of a truck. The problem? No two truckloads are the same. One seller might give you a heaped bed of tight-stacked splits. Another might give you a half bed with a bunch of air and small sticks tossed on top.
Ask for a weight estimate. A full truckload of dry hardwood should weigh at least 3,000–4,000 pounds depending on species. If you're paying for a cord, insist on measured cord dimensions — don't let them dump a truckload and call it even. And watch for filler: pine cones, bark scraps, and small branches aren't firewood.
Reference Weights by Species (per full cord, seasoned)
If someone sells you a "cord" of dry oak that weighs under 3,000 pounds, you're either getting shorted on volume or it's not seasoned. Either way, you're not getting what you paid for.
Why Seasoned Wood Matters This Much
The hardwoods we grow in the Ohio Valley — oak, hickory, black locust, maple — burn hotter and cleaner than softwoods like pine or poplar. But only if they're properly seasoned. Freshly cut hardwood typically carries 45–60% moisture content. That means most of the heat from burning it goes into boiling water out of the wood instead of heating your home.
| Wood Condition | Moisture | Usable Energy | What You Get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green / Fresh Cut | 45–60% | ~4,500 BTU/lb | Hard to light, heavy smoke, creosote buildup |
| Partially Seasoned | 25–35% | ~6,000 BTU/lb | Burns unevenly, moderate smoke |
| Properly Seasoned | 15–20% | ~7,800 BTU/lb | Lights fast, burns hot & clean, minimal smoke |
That's up to 73% more usable heat energy from the same amount of wood — just by burning it dry. It's not a small difference. It's nearly twice the heat output, and it's the difference between a stove that heats your house all night and one that smolders out by midnight.
If you're using wood for smoking meat, moisture matters even more. Green wood produces dirty, acrid smoke that'll ruin your cook. Dry hardwoods like hickory, oak, and cherry produce the clean, thin blue smoke that gives you real flavor — not a campfire aftertaste.
How to Spot a Good Seller
Not all firewood sellers are created equal. Here's what separates the operations that take it seriously from the ones that'll leave you with a pile of wet sticks:
- They sell by the cord or face cord — measured, not eyeballed
- They know their species and can tell you what you're getting (white oak vs. red oak vs. hickory)
- They split their wood to consistent sizes — unsplit rounds take months longer to dry and burn poorly
- They stack it properly, off the ground with airflow between rows
- They can tell you exactly how long the wood has been seasoning — and ideally, prove it
- They sell by "truckload" only, with no actual measurement
- They can't tell you the species or the moisture level
- They dump it in a pile and drive away
The One Thing Most Sellers Can't Do
Almost every firewood seller in the tri-state will tell you their wood is "seasoned." Very few can prove it. That word doesn't mean much without a number behind it.
At Phoenix Nest, we test every batch with a professional Lignomat moisture meter — the same equipment commercial lumber operations use — with a slide-hammer probe that reads deep into the wood, not just the surface. Every load we sell is verified under 20% moisture content. ✓ Verified <20%
When your wood stove manufacturer tested for that 80% efficiency rating, they used wood at 20% moisture. That's what we deliver. When you buy unverified "seasoned" wood sitting at 35–40%, your stove can't perform the way it was designed to.
Phoenix Nest Firewood — Greenup, KY
Verified seasoned hardwood, measured and delivered within 75 miles. Oak, hickory, and specialty smoking woods — tested with professional Lignomat equipment, guaranteed under 20% moisture.
Whether you're heating your home through January or firing up the smoker for a weekend cook, you'll get exactly what you paid for. No truckload guesswork. No mystery moisture levels.
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