Timber & Forestry

The standard measure for round timber, derived from Edward Hoppus’s quarter-girth formula of 1736 and still used in tropical hardwood trading.

1 hoppus foot = 1.273 true cubic feet = 0.036 cubic metres

Fifty hoppus feet, and the bulk unit in which round timber was shipped and invoiced.

50 hoppus feet = 63.7 true cubic feet = 1.8 cubic metres

One hundred and sixty-five cubic feet of sawn softwood, and the standard measure of the Baltic timber import trade.

165 cubic feet = 4.672 cubic metres

One hundred and twenty-eight cubic feet of stacked firewood, being a pile four feet high, four feet deep and eight feet long.

128 cubic feet = 3.62 cubic metres

One hundred and eight cubic feet of stacked wood, being the customary British firewood measure.

108 cubic feet = 3.06 cubic metres

A riven oak board shaped for cask-making, graded and traded by the size of vessel it was cut for.

Varies by grade; a hogshead stave typically 36–42 inches long

A bound bundle of brushwood or small branches, customarily three feet in length and twenty-four inches in girth.

Approx. 0.09 cubic metres per bundle

A sawn softwood plank of customary size, typically nine inches wide by three thick, and the basic trading piece of the Baltic import trade.

Typically 9 × 3 inches in section, in lengths from 8 to 21 feet

The customary cart-load of timber, being fifty cubic feet of squared baulks or forty cubic feet of round logs.

Squared: 50 cu ft = 1.42 m³. Round: 40 cu ft = 1.13 m³