Felling wedges. What to look for?

[JustWood]

Stick with steel till you better your felling technique. You'll turn those plastic into mushrooms pounding all the way to Hong Kong!

I don't think that I'm all that warm to the idea of using a splitting wedge around a chainsaw chain . Plastic is just better as a falling wedge.

He wont have plastic wedges if he repeats his last felling episode. He'll have mushrooms.

;-)

Ouch! Jay, you pickin' on me, too?

I wasn't picking Ken. I'll rephrase. I woodn't waste money on plastic wedges till you can make good hinges arond 10% of the DBH of the tree. I'm guessing by the pics you had a 5-6" hinge on a 20" at stump tree. Thats Too much wood to break trying to lift with a wedge. Stick with steel (at least till your technique improves) wedges because plastic will break/shatter pounding that hard.

 

[Kenster]

Stick with steel till you better your felling technique. You'll turn those plastic into mushrooms pounding all the way to Hong Kong!

I don't think that I'm all that warm to the idea of using a splitting wedge around a chainsaw chain . Plastic is just better as a falling wedge.

He wont have plastic wedges if he repeats his last felling episode. He'll have mushrooms.

;-)

Ouch! Jay, you pickin' on me, too?

I wasn't picking Ken. I'll rephrase. I woodn't waste money on plastic wedges till you can make good hinges arond 10% of the DBH of the tree. I'm guessing by the pics you had a 5-6" hinge on a 20" at stump tree. Thats Too much wood to break trying to lift with a wedge. Stick with steel (at least till your technique improves) wedges because plastic will break/shatter pounding that hard.

I see what you're saying, Lee. The hinge was only about one inch on one end but it turned out to be about three inches on the other (as seen after the tree fell.) I just didn't recognize the uneven hinge and was afraid (rightfully so, I think) to further cut into what I thought was a one inch hinge. Assuming that I had a consistent one inch hinge I figured it would be easy to just wedge it on over. The very slight lean was in the direction I wanted it to fall. Virtually all of the remaining limbs were on the 'fall' side. The wedge cut and hinge were properly placed. If the hinge hadn't been too thick on one end, I'm pretty sure it would have gone on over.

I learned a lot from that tree. Thanks for your input!

 

[golfandwoodnut]

I got some plastic ones on Ebay that have held up well. Sometimes the plastic ones come in handy when cutting a down tree to prevent pinching and when I cannot get the saw underneath. I have a metal one that I occassionally use on a round to split and it comes it handy when the plastic ones are not big enough and you have to do some pounding. I really do not want the saw in the tree when the metal one goes in.

 

[mecreature]

Just sounds like a little tough love to me.. :zip:

 

[smokinj]

Stick with steel till you better your felling technique. You'll turn those plastic into mushrooms pounding all the way to Hong Kong!

I don't think that I'm all that warm to the idea of using a splitting wedge around a chainsaw chain . Plastic is just better as a falling wedge.

He wont have plastic wedges if he repeats his last felling episode. He'll have mushrooms.

;-)

Ouch! Jay, you pickin' on me, too?

I used metal for a few years. Nothing wrong with it at all. Its a little more work but its safer! Still do on big ones or hollow.

 

[Kenster]

Smooth or barbed? Does it make much difference?

Pretty much any tree I might drop will be in the 12" to 24" range. Would an assortment of sizes be good or would a few 5 1/2 inchers work for the most part?

 

[JustWood]

Depends. If your gonna cut trees with back lean the barbed will keep you from yelling "Mary, mother of god" and keep your drawrs unsoiled.
The smooth work ok even on back leaners if you use several or more and pound them in , in order. 1 hit on#1, 1 hit on #2, 1 hit on #3, 1 hit on #4 then repeat starting at 1. I've used as many as 15 on some KONG wood in residential areas.
The smooth will sometimes bounce out on back leaners. That's when Mary and soiled Hanes come in.
I laugh my a** off at those nimrods beating the snot out of their wedges on Axmen or one of the other like shows. The top of a tree will not travel as fast as the rise they are putting on at the base of the tree. Slow and steady wins the race and keeps your drawrs clean.
If I remember correctLEE ,,,, at 70 ft the top of a tree has to travel 5-6 ft horizontally for every 1" of lift on the leaning side at the base.

 

[CTYank]

This summer I got some 5.5" long wedges from Labonville for $3 each.
Much better price than Stihl wedges nearby. Admittedly shorter than the Stihl,
but much less likely to be hit by saw.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

I use the plastic ones. Normal use is the wedge cut, then a plunge cut from the wedge into the center of the trunk to exit on the back side. This leaves strong support on the sides of the trunk to prevent any fall. Drive in a wedge on the back side into the new exit cut, continue the cuts into the sides from the back side, drive the wedge in further to keep pressure on the trunk, fell the tree. Plastic is good because if the saw chain hits the wedge, no damage. Of course, many trees to be felled do not need any wedges at all.

This is done to have better control on the anticipated laning area? So doing this you won't be back cutting just above the hinge as usual?

That method is used on smaller diameter trees so that a wedge can be inserted without the saw bar being in the back cut. Essentially your making a cut through through the center of the notch and tree out the back leaving large pie shaped "ears" as a hinge. The wedge is inserted through the bar width plunge cut on the back side and the "ears" are cut to the hinge point. This allows the wedge to travel all the way through the hinge on trees that have excessive back lean. The use of this cut is not recommended for amateurs with no experience plunge cutting as it real easy to cut off the hinge.

Lee it seems, from your description, that using this method it would be tricky to avoid touching the metal wedge with the tip of the saw as you cut off the ears of the hinge, would it not?

 

[Flatbedford]

A friend of mine picked up a bunch of Stihl wedges. I think I gave him $20 for 6 of them. I always keep a couple in my pocket when I am cutting. I consider them to be an expendable item. I very rarely fell a tree, but wedges are also very handy when cutting up felled trees.

 

[JustWood]

I use the plastic ones. Normal use is the wedge cut, then a plunge cut from the wedge into the center of the trunk to exit on the back side. This leaves strong support on the sides of the trunk to prevent any fall. Drive in a wedge on the back side into the new exit cut, continue the cuts into the sides from the back side, drive the wedge in further to keep pressure on the trunk, fell the tree. Plastic is good because if the saw chain hits the wedge, no damage. Of course, many trees to be felled do not need any wedges at all.

This is done to have better control on the anticipated laning area? So doing this you won't be back cutting just above the hinge as usual?

That method is used on smaller diameter trees so that a wedge can be inserted without the saw bar being in the back cut. Essentially your making a cut through through the center of the notch and tree out the back leaving large pie shaped "ears" as a hinge. The wedge is inserted through the bar width plunge cut on the back side and the "ears" are cut to the hinge point. This allows the wedge to travel all the way through the hinge on trees that have excessive back lean. The use of this cut is not recommended for amateurs with no experience plunge cutting as it real easy to cut off the hinge.

Lee it seems, from your description, that using this method it would be tricky to avoid touching the metal wedge with the tip of the saw as you cut off the ears of the hinge, would it not?

No, cut each side individually leaving a center over or under the wedge. Clear miss.

 

[woodmiser]

I picked some up at http://www.arborist.com/search.jhtm in West Chester, Pa.

 

[Shmudda]

harbor junk seems a bit high!! Pat http://www.harborfreight.com/felling-wedge-66264.html

You are paying for all that great QUALITY.......

 

[wkpoor]

I make my own from dry Hickory & Hophornbeam. Less than 5 minutes each for pennies including spray paint.

Thats a big +1 for me too. Mine or all just Oak and some have lasted for many yrs. Just bandsaw them right out of a piece of firewood. Some solutions are just too easy.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

I use the plastic ones. Normal use is the wedge cut, then a plunge cut from the wedge into the center of the trunk to exit on the back side. This leaves strong support on the sides of the trunk to prevent any fall. Drive in a wedge on the back side into the new exit cut, continue the cuts into the sides from the back side, drive the wedge in further to keep pressure on the trunk, fell the tree. Plastic is good because if the saw chain hits the wedge, no damage. Of course, many trees to be felled do not need any wedges at all.

This is done to have better control on the anticipated laning area? So doing this you won't be back cutting just above the hinge as usual?

That method is used on smaller diameter trees so that a wedge can be inserted without the saw bar being in the back cut. Essentially your making a cut through through the center of the notch and tree out the back leaving large pie shaped "ears" as a hinge. The wedge is inserted through the bar width plunge cut on the back side and the "ears" are cut to the hinge point. This allows the wedge to travel all the way through the hinge on trees that have excessive back lean. The use of this cut is not recommended for amateurs with no experience plunge cutting as it real easy to cut off the hinge.

Lee it seems, from your description, that using this method it would be tricky to avoid touching the metal wedge with the tip of the saw as you cut off the ears of the hinge, would it not?

No, cut each side individually leaving a center over or under the wedge. Clear miss.

Lee is there some way you can sketch a diagram or make a video, I'm haveing trouble visualising what you are describing.

 

[raygard]

I don't think that I'm all that warm to the idea of using a splitting wedge around a chainsaw chain . Plastic is just better as a falling wedge.

They do spark quite a bit when the chain hits

 

[NH_Wood]

Yes - I think Lee should make a few vids for posting. Lots of folks would like to learn some of these techniques and it'd be fun to watch. Cheers!

 

[Lumber-Jack]

So it's agreed then, Lee should open a youtube account and make some instructional videos for us to watch.
I'm looking forward to watching them.
Thanks Lee