The most commonly used dimension for a cord of firewood is 4′x4′x8′. But there are infinite cord of wood dimensions that could add up to a full cord. It doesn’t matter what the dimensions are as long as they add up to 128 cubic feet. We are talking about a full cord of wood and not face or fireplace cord.
A cord is a 128 cubic feet of tightly stacked wood. You get that by multiplying height width and length. This is much easier to do if all the sides and corners of the stack are square. If you have an unstacked pile of wood, measuring it will be more difficult.
You can estimate the volume of a lose pile of wood but it probably won’t be accurate. Since there is more air space between pieces in a loose pile, there is less solid wood per cubic feet. In this case there will be more like 180 cubic feet of loose wood per cord. But if you want an accurate measurement you will have to stack it.
Here are some common cord of wood dimensions.
16″x4′x24′
32″x4′x12′
4′x4′x8′
64″x4′x6′