The vast majority of items in the game have weight 1 and bulk 1, so it's usually pretty easy to estimate how many you can carry. There are some exceptions, however, and it's useful to know about them in advance when planning long-distance trades or large construction projects. It's ever so awkward to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with insufficient carry food.
Weight is usually measured in debens. Bulk is sometimes measured in cubits (for example with thread), but it's unknown whether this is a unit of bulk or just of length.
Containers are limited only by the bulk of items stored in them; weight doesn't matter.
Item | Weight | Bulk |
Screwgear | 900 | 1 |
Sheep | 300 | 1 |
Large Gears | 120 | 1 |
any Beer | 100 | 1 |
Brass Plate | 100 | 1 |
Pinch Roller | 60 | 1 |
Angels Stone | 20** | 1 |
Medium Gears | 20 | 1 |
any quarried stone* | 20 | 1 |
Heavy Lead Bowl | 20 | 1 |
Tar | 20 | 1 |
Red Sand | 15 | 1 |
White Sand | 10 | 1 |
Medium Stones | 10 | 1 |
Sulphurous Water | 2 | 1 |
Water in Jugs | 2 | 1 |
(*quarried stone weights verified for Blue Pearl Marble, Island Blue Marble, Mountain Marble, Mud Granite, Oyster Shell Marble, Tiger's Eye Granite, and White Travertine.) (**confirmed)
Note: Sheep can't be stored in chests, regardless of bulk.
Item | Weight | Bulk |
Kettle Kit | 5 | 5 |
Brick Rack | 4 | 4 |
Malting Tray | 4 | 4 |
Item | Weight | Bulk |
any Barley | 0 | 1 |
any Malt | 0 | 1 |
thorns | 0 | 1 |
thread | 0 | 1 |
tadpoles | 0 | 0 |
any Patronage coupon | 0 | 0 |
Glowers (all colors) | 0 | 0 |
Gunpowder | 0 | 0 |
Some items have normal weight when you wouldn't expect them to, considering their components. For example, a gearbox usually has 60 to 120 debens worth of gears in it, and a clay dome is made of 400 debens of clay, but both of them weigh just 1 deben. This list is necessarily incomplete, so if an item surprises you, feel free to add it here.
Item | Weight | Bulk |
any gearbox | 1 | 1 |
Clay Dome | 1 | 1 |
Wet Clay Dome* | 1 | 1 |
Another interesting note, is that a firework mortar will take up 1 Weight/1 Bulk even if its armed with materials