Wood chip weight?

Can anyone point me in the right direction...Specifically how much a cord of wood chips would weigh(4'x4'x8' 128 cubic ft)...I know it's going to vary based on species and green or dead wood being chipped but a ballpark would be nice...I ask because I am trying to figure out the load carrying capacities of my truck...I know with the added leaf springs I can comfortably hold a cord of unseasoned red oak in the 8'bed inside the box which measures 4'x4'x8'...I guess what im asking is for example if you fill a 4'x4'x8' box with stacked unseasoned(green) red oak would it be more or less than a box with the same dimensions completely filled with the same red oak chips...

Thanks Steve Baker
 
Chips weigh between 500-550# per cubic yard.

There has to be weight charts for cords of wood.

But...the key...how much fluff or air is in a pile of chips v. a tight stacked load of firewood?

YOu can find out for yourself. Fill your gas tank, load up the truck as full as you want and head to a scale. Look for a truck stop weigh station. some state weigh stations leave the scale on even when no one is there. You could drive across on and peek in the window. Then go dump and do the math. if you want to get really accurate you could account for how much gas you burned driving from one place to another. If you start with a full tank the difference will be small compared to the total load.

Rough idea...your 4.4.8, filled with chips would weigh about 2,600#.

Be sure to check the drivers door column to see what the GVW is so that you don't overload.

You can do your own woodchip weight calculations like I did a few years ago. I put in new knives in my chipper so that the chips were nice and uniform. then I used five gallon buckets for sampling. We would stack some logs aside and then blow them into the box. Then I'd scoop up a bucket of nice clean 'wood' chips without brush and leaves. I did this with some oak, ash, elm to get the heaviest chips. Weigh the buckets of chips, subtract the weight of the buckets, do the math. My sampling used five buckets on 4-5 days. That gave me 4-5 averages. When I did the math they all came out soooo close. Even when measuring less dense wood. 500-550#/cubic yard is what I found. YMMV :)
 
I've taken my truck to a scale (before and after) a large Cottonwood job. It averaged to the 500-500lb range Tom stated.

I haven't weighed hardwood chips, but I can feel the difference on the truck when we do a large Locust tree removal job.

And there are firewood charts, which include weight. <<< Click here.
 
I would think the chip in the same cubic space would weigh more due to less 'air space' as in thrown in wood
 

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