Falling wedges. What's good, what's not, and why?

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KiwiBro

Mill 'em, nails be damned.
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Got some big boys (by my standards) to drop and now's as good a time as any to learn what makes for a great felling wedge and what sizes to get.

I've a few small wedges and a bunch of holding wedges that I must admit to driving in but they don't last long doing that.

What do you use and why? I'm inclined to want to try a few that I can seriously drive in without them mushrooming beyond recognition. there are metal headed wedges. Any good for this, or should I just try and find a few old-school metal wedges and bring out the sledgehammer?

thanks in advance for any help.
 
I havent tried the metal headed wedges for a few years but I've heard they've improved.

I use stihl plastics, the ones with the teeth on one side. They do seem to stay in a bit better, but depends on what you're cutting. I've tried a few brands of the plastics, and some are very brittle. The stihl ones seem ok, and I get a good price on them at my local. I generally only carry a few 8's, but I don't do many big trees. You might want to go 10's or 12's. You can only stack them 2 high if you get the toothed wedges, one set facing up and the other set facing down.

On bigger trees you might want 4 or 6 wedges. I use a 2lb dead blow hammer to drive mine rather than the back of an axe. It does a lot less damage to the wedges and I like the way it doesnt bounce. I don't carry an axe. If it's too hard to drive a wedge, I just put another one in, and another.... until it gets easier, then hit them in sequence.

Shaun
 
Well, Kiwi, now you're in for the hard part of falling.
As far as wedges go Stihl wedges are as good as any. They seems to have the right mixture of hardness and toughness. Some wedges are too soft and when in a hard wedging situation tend to heat up and are very easy to take chunks out of. If you hit a Stihl wedge and aren't square on the head you can break them, especially if it's real cold out.
I use 12" wedges exclusively. If you take a look at the pics I've sent you can see that not all of my wedges are a full 12". The ones that are "used" a little I tend to use the most. In other words, the shortest wedge is the wedge that I'll put in the tree first. It's generally a little thicker as I've tended over the years to hit it with the chains taking off the fine edge. Now since it's shorter I use it first as it won't have that tendency to get hit by the chain as it's already thicker and makes contact with the wood sooner thereby giving me almost immediate lifting capacity. If I were to use the shorter smaller wedges they would sink in quicker and further and not give me that immediate lift. You have to take care of your wedges just like every other tool you use in the woods. As you can see by my pics my wedges are in good shape, even the shorter ones. I use a horseshoe rasp to make sure the recieving end of the wedge is square so I have a solid surface to hit. The 12" wedge also offers a larger target to hit with an axe.
Where you place your wedges in the tree is also going to make a big difference on how your job turns out. It can make the difference of losing a little bit of water to sweating a gallon. When your going to have to wedge a tree over it's lean, always place the wedges directly behind the undercut. This shocks the tree directly over the undercut. If you place them on one side or the other you're wedging against the hinge wood. When placing your wedges and have to use two of them, place them together. I see men place their wedges 12-18" apart in the backcut. This does no good and makes them have to move every time they're hitting the wedges. If you place them together your using more surface area and in the case of a heavy backleaner they don't have the tendency to cut into the wood as much. This also allows the wedger to stand in one spot and alternate one wedge and then the other. This is typically know as "walking" the tree over. Hit one wedge, give it a second for the top to move forward, and then hit the other wedge. If you wedge too fast your wedging against yourself by hitting the wedge when the top of the tree is moving back from the hitting of the first wedge.
I'll use my shorter wedges first to "set" the tree to keep it from sitting back on the stump. This allows me to use my "good" wedges for the tougher wedging later on. Look at the pics and you can see what I mean by shorter wedges.
If you use the smaller wedges they have a tendency on larger trees that have a heavy backlean to cut into the tree, thereby losing effectiveness. This is especially true on softwoods. The 12" wedges also have more lifting surface as far as width.
One of the most important items that you need to keep on hand is a decent falling axe. I've enclosed a few pics of my favorite axes accumulated over the years. At this point I use nothing less than a 5 lb axe and am very picky about the head. In the pics you'll notice the different heads. The one thing that each of these heads has in common is the striking surface. You'll notice that each one of them has a nice, square head with no sharp corners at all. Sharp corners are the nemesis of good wedges. You'll also notice that my axe handles are 36". You can use shorter handles and smaller heads but if you're in a real wedging situation that needs your attention the heavier head with longer handle properly used will save you a lot of sweat.
Well, as you might have guessed I could go on and on with this thread. You'll get a lot of good advice from some very good fallers on this site. Keep in mind I'm from SW Washington state in the Pacific NW. I'm used to falling softwood with the exception of maple and alder so pay attention to the type of wood you're cutting. This will make a difference in your wedging also. Hope this helps a bit.
I guess the pic of the 36" handles didn't upload. Too much info.
 
Thank you.

Thanks very much for the advice.
It's people like you guys that make this website so great.

12" wedges it shall be then. I've a good axe but never really needed it to muscle a leaner over. Always used snatch blocks and rope, pulling them over, using my little tomahawk axe to drive in smaller wedges for a little more leverage and insurance.

The bigger axe will need a bit of practice with sacrificial wedges, getting my eye in before I introduce the good wedges to the big axe head. I'll do this on a few predictable small trees before attempting the bigger ones.

Thanks again guys. It really is wonderful for us newbies to have such wise heads willing to share their experience.
 
Great info NW! I like the Stihl wedges myself and putting them next to my K&Hs I'm 95% positive they are made in the same place. Same casting marks and everything.

Yep the longer the wedge the slighter the taper (unless triple taper), which makes for smoother drive-abilty. You need an axe when doubling up so you can hit one at a time. In bigger wood distribute evenly until you can stack. Stacking more that 2 is not a great idea. You need more power at that point. Trim the bark off so you can pound farther in if you need too. Don't pound too close to the hinge or put excessive pressure on it. Backcut placement/drift can also give you extra work. Temperature (frozen-hot) and the type of wood can all play factors in how the wood moves and lifts. Clean up your wedges when you've beaten them hard so they drive staright and you can stack again. I've run mine on a belt sander, bench grinder, and cut them square with a bandsaw/cut-off saw/miter saw... Like NW said a guy could probably go on and on.
 
I started off with Stihl / Oregon plastic wedges then started some years ago using Stihl alloy wedges and have always used Stihl's Hilift alloy wedges. Had a standard alloy wedge a little to close to the chain and knocked a cutter off a brand new chain, so have now started back with Oregon / Stihl plastics again ! Sandvick used to do a very nice wedge, as NW says , that balance of hardness but ok to drive in without falling apart.
 
I have K&H, a few Hardheads but mostly Double Taper/Madsen's. The hardhead wedges I don't care for, driving them hurts my elbows. I use mostly 10" and 12" lengths but I have all sizes. I also have two narrow 10" wedges that drive where others won't. A 5lb axe works best but sometimes I can only use 3lb/20" axe.

Like John said set the wedges directly behind the center of the hinge and time your axe blows properly. As always, keep looking up!
 
Can't add anything. I used K&H for the most part, and no my don't look as good as NW Axe Man. I have one that started out about 15"-16" long and was cut down to 12". It was thicker than the K&H's. It helped to tip those "sky bound" 2nd growth cedars I was always running into:msp_rolleyes:
 
Always work with the hinge, never try to fight it. Trim up the hinge if needed but don't try to force the tree to fall where it doesn't to fall. Falling looks like an exercise in brute strngth but in reality it is a series of very fine moves and finesse applied in an environment of screaming saws, widow makers, and rotten trees. Even heavy pounding is done with care.
 
Always work with the hinge, never try to fight it. Trim up the hinge if needed but don't try to force the tree to fall where it doesn't to fall. Falling looks like an exercise in brute strngth but in reality it is a series of very fine moves and finesse applied in an environment of screaming saws, widow makers, and rotten trees. Even heavy pounding is done with care.

Well Said! Hows the cold coming along?

Just ran through your other thread, hows the flu coming along? That sucks man!
 
I carry three hard head wedges. The saw box has a lot of old cut down wedges for jacking trees over. Mostly use Stihl wedges. I find having a dozen wedges in three lengths will do most jobs. The three sizes I use are 6" , 10" ,12" . Wedges get chewed up they get trimmed up and go back to work. I find regular maintenance makes wedges last longer and they are less likely to fail at the wrong time.
 
I carry three hard head wedges. The saw box has a lot of old cut down wedges for jacking trees over. Mostly use Stihl wedges. I find having a dozen wedges in three lengths will do most jobs. The three sizes I use are 6" , 10" ,12" . Wedges get chewed up they get trimmed up and go back to work. I find regular maintenance makes wedges last longer and they are less likely to fail at the wrong time.

& if poster # 4 had said he threw them out as soon as they got a little ratty, I bet you would have said that you throw them out too LMAO
 
I have to correct myself, I now carry 3 12" k&h, one of them in good shape, and 1 7", used similarly as the blunt 12"ers but with additional and alternative advantage uses as well. It surprised me, but I like having it on me. Man it'll spit out on you though.
 
The only time wedges get discard is when they are shorter then 3" long. I use the wedges till they become unsafe. The 12" wedge are rarely used, mostly for heavy trees for extra lift. Had a few of my hard heads get chewed up by my Dad because he is not use to power of Stihl MS460:hmm3grin2orange: You can never have to many wedges.
 
r u mocking me? r u mocking me? r u mocking me?

I carry three hard head wedges. The saw box has a lot of old cut down wedges for jacking trees over. Mostly use Stihl wedges. I find having a dozen wedges in three lengths will do most jobs. The three sizes I use are 6" , 10" ,12" . Wedges get chewed up they get trimmed up and go back to work. I find regular maintenance makes wedges last longer and they are less likely to fail at the wrong time.

Not a spring chicken, but not ready for a pine box, but packing around that many makes me tired just reading the words. :msp_confused:

What's your packing rig look like ?
 
The only time wedges get discard is when they are shorter then 3" long. I use the wedges till they become unsafe. The 12" wedge are rarely used, mostly for heavy trees for extra lift. Had a few of my hard heads get chewed up by my Dad because he is not use to power of Stihl MS460:hmm3grin2orange: You can never have to many wedges.

:monkey:
 
Yeah I carry a 7"er too, plus 2 10"s and a 12". That little guy sure can lift in the right situations. These boys got roughed up on the last job I was on.


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On toothed wedges- I've only ever used the oregon ones and they hold fast in frozen wood, but forget about stacking them. They will not drive straight or at least I never could get them too. Also sometimes a little sawdust on smooth wedges will help them hold better when stacking.
 
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