Ask the supplier as it varies by material. A yard of crushed stone is 1.5-1.8 tons. A yard of feathers is a lot less. I imagine shells are somewhere in between.

Do ask the supplier.

My question is why don't they just sell it all by the yard? Everything I've needed that has been sold by the ton, I've had to convert the cubic yard to the correct number of tons. Isn't it all about the amount of area you are covering and not how much it weighs. I realize the trucks can only hold so much but surely they can figure out if their trucks will hold the yardage requested...just grumbling since this is a pet peeve of mine.

aloha - I grew up working for my brother in an area in which everything was sold by the yard. At 20 I had no idea what a yard weighed or how to convert it. Rather than math it out, my brother's answer was "have the operator at the quarry load you till the leaf springs go flat. If the tires are bulging too much, shovel some off. And never take the state highway with the weigh station." I would have LOVED a place that sold by the ton.

Yeah the bulging tires would likely be a good indicator of too much!

Why not just have a conversion chart for the supplier instead of making every customer do the conversion.

steve I think the answer to your question is typically from my experience when suppliers are selling things by the ton, it doesn't cover nearly as much as a yard does. You need to check though.