Wedges! No more for me.

[777funk]

I got a free wedge with a wood stove years ago. Been using it the past couple weeks and it's working fine. Once in a while it's been deflected a few feet but I didn't think much of it. Today I nailed it with my 10# sledge and it flew right into my shin leaving about a 3/4-1 inch gash. Thinking back, it was just a matter of time. I probably should have chucked the wedge. Maybe that's why it came free with the stove!

Bruised and bloodied shin, butterfly bandages, and a lesson learned.

 

[TreePointer]

+1

I also quit wedges. The wayward wedge plus the wear & tear on my body from swinging axes and mauls made me move to an hyrdraulic splitter.

 

[CTYank]

I'll bite. What kind of wedge are we talking? Steel splitting wedge, or plastic felling/bucking wedge.

I'd suggest not driving a splitting wedge without starting an opening for it, like with maul or chainsaw noodling. More control, driving them with 6 or 8 lb maul, vice 10 lb. All in all, way safer than just flailing and bailing.

Good idea to always keep felling wedges handy whenever felling or bucking tree. Like, a bunch of them, in a pouch, on yer belt. 5" & 8".

 

[Lakeside]

When something is free , that's when to watch-out.

 

[777funk]

This is a steel splitting wedge. Just sharpened it razor sharp and the first few splits before the accident split like butter.

 

[DickRussell]

This is a steel splitting wedge. Just sharpened it razor sharp and the first few splits before the accident split like butter.

Why sharpen it? It's a wedge, meant to drive between wood fibers, driving them apart. It isn't suppose to be an axe head, meant to cut across fibers.

 

[777funk]

I got the idea from the Fiskars X27 (their popular supposedly fast splitting axe). A few reviews on it pointed out that it worked a lot better sharp.

All I know is that the wedge seemed to get more one hit splits after the mirror edge. But I only had a handful to test with before the gash in my shin. If I use it again I'll be wearing a face mask and shin guards. Even at that there are a lot of open areas for ricochets (i.e. groin wouldn't be a fun day).

I think I will pickup a maul or the Fiskars mentioned. Even at that I remember splitting with an axe as a teen and things going wrong when tired from hits at bad angles. After this small accident I'm rethinking how to do this safely.

 

[highanddryinco]

Regular chopping and splitting axes = Sharp
Wedges and Mauls = Not so much (clean ground steep angle okay to help get a wedge started and holding)

 

[777funk]

I just looked at my pant leg and it's cut clean. Must have been the sharp end that got me. I figured just the blow could create a gash in the skin.

I noticed that before the sharpening it still flew out of the log at times and especially so with a bad hit.

 

[xman23]

I can't recall having a splitting wedge fly toward me from a bad hit. But my method is, I stand on the wide side of the wedge. I think it's more likely to fly left or right, away from you if you are standing on that side. The obvious is make good consistent swings that hit the target.

That said I haven't done a lot of hand splitting since I got a splitter 10 years ago.

 

[Jags]

I figure that a maul is more safe than wedges simply for the fact that the heavy sharp part is attached to a handle that I am holding away from myself. I don't like wedges.

Full disclosure - I am a hydro boy now (for years). Ain't swinging at wood no more.

 

[777funk]

That's what I was thinking. You can't hold the wedge and it'll go where the hammer angle and wood tell it to after the hit. There's no real way to control that thing.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I've heard of chips coming off wedges- causing serious injuries or death from severed femoral artery.

Banging 2 hammers together- I think the warning there is BS. Swinging a sledge at a wedge- I would buy that as a danger.

 

[777funk]

I've heard of chips coming off wedges- causing serious injuries or death from severed femoral artery.

Banging 2 hammers together- I think the warning there is BS. Swinging a sledge at a wedge- I would buy that as a danger.

I've heard the same thing about the chunks coming off of wedge mushrooms (the part where the hammer mushrooms the end of the wedge). I've had a few break off and head somewhere (didn't feel them so it wasn't into me). I've heard it's a good idea to keep the mushrooms cut/ground off of the wedge for the femoral artery's sake.

 

[Jags]

I've heard it's a good idea to keep the mushrooms cut/ground off of the wedge for the femoral artery's sake.

Yes - they should be dressed as to have no mushroomed steel. Same for chisels or any other metal tool struck with a hammer.

 

[TreePointer]

I never got hit by a regular wedge, but I did get nailed by one of those grenade type splitters. Last I checked, the grenade and three simple shaped wedges were in the back of the barn covered in dust and cobwebs.

I do foresee using the simple wedges again if I ever have to make some split rails, but not until then.

 

[bassJAM]

Once I got the x27 I never used my maul again. Occasionally I did use my wedges and a sledge for really knotted or twisted rounds when I didn't feel like firing up the saw to noodle them. I left the wedges dull, and like to start them with a 2 lb hammer first. I might have had one pop out of a log a couple times after whacking them with a sledge, but never had any fly at me (or any direction). Either way, I'm in hydraulic heaven now.

 

[fossil]

Yes - they should be dressed as to have no mushroomed steel. Same for chisels or any other metal tool struck with a hammer.

Yeah, one time my mom was standing outside watching my dad bust out some concrete with a hammer & chisel, and sure enough one of those little mushroomed projectiles came flying off and embedded itself in her leg...like all the way in, so on the surface you just saw the "entry wound". Trip to the emergency room to get it removed. Keep the striking end of those tools (wedges, chisels) dressed. Rick

 

[Mad Tom]

I've heard of chips coming off wedges- causing serious injuries or death from severed femoral artery.

Banging 2 hammers together- I think the warning there is BS. Swinging a sledge at a wedge- I would buy that as a danger.

I had a chip about the size of a bb shoot into my arm. Must of hit a vein because it squirted blood like a water pistol. Had to have it pulled out by the Doc. Eye wear, jeans and a long sleeve shirt can help alot.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

'd suggest not driving a splitting wedge without starting an opening for it, like with maul or chainsaw noodling. More control, driving them with 6 or 8 lb maul, vice 10 lb. All in all, way safer than just flailing and bailing.

I don't agree with much that is posted here but this is on point: 10lb maul is too heavy for accurate swinging, set your wedge.

 

[mike van]

I've heard of chips coming off wedges- causing serious injuries or death from severed femoral artery.

Banging 2 hammers together- I think the warning there is BS. Swinging a sledge at a wedge- I would buy that as a danger.

Years back 2 guys here were pounding a maul in with a sledgehammer, there was a whine like a bullet shot off a rock, and a good size chunk of the maul head was gone. A wedge is soft on top, meant to deform. 2 hammers of the same hardness you're asking for trouble. All these tools can be dangerous, to do it for a lifetime without a scar somewhere, that would be quite an accomplishment.