need some help dropping them where I want them

[Locust Cutter]

Poindexter,
The wedges are handy when bucking when the trunk isn't perfectly straight (or the ground isn't level) and serve to keep the kerf from closing on the bar in the cut. I used to try to roll the log and still sometimes do, but on th bigger nasty ones (30"+ and NOT perfectly round) it's a lot easier on the back than rolling them.

 

[ash man]

If your cu tting big logs that can't be manipulated not to pinch your bar, wedges make life extremely simple while bucking.

 

[slowp]

I just don't get using a wedge for bucking. No offense, I just haven't needed one. I do, to be fair, try to stick to logs with butt ends under 16" or so in diameter. Those I can buck maybe 2/3 of the way through, rotate with a cant hook and finish. So far.

You must be able to plan your cuts well. I'll use wedges frequently when bucking. It saves my bar from getting pinched when the log is buried in the ground and I can't underbuck it. I've gotten my saw stuck in small diameter logs. Wedges are necessities for me.

The plastic sled would be a heck of a lot less expensive than that bar thingie. But that's how I think and work, not everybody else.

 

[MrWhoopee]

I definitely recommend the sled. I use mine for hauling from the stacks to the house. As much work as it is just walking from the cut to the truck, it makes sense to haul 3 or 4 rounds instead of carry 1. The sled is also great for hauling your gear to and from the cut site. Get one of the 2 person molded plastic ones.

I hate to mention this, but you'll want to pack the escape route for each tree you fell. It's hard to run when you're up to your waist.

Working in snow that deep and soft makes everything 4 times harder. I have 2 pairs of snowshoes, the big ones (30 in.) for the unpacked snow, the little "bably seals" (with apologies to Frank Zappa) are for conditions like you describe, when the snow still won't support you after packing with the big shoes.

 

[CTYank]

You must be able to plan your cuts well. I'll use wedges frequently when bucking. It saves my bar from getting pinched when the log is buried in the ground and I can't underbuck it. I've gotten my saw stuck in small diameter logs. Wedges are necessities for me.

The plastic sled would be a heck of a lot less expensive than that bar thingie. But that's how I think and work, not everybody else.

Ditto that idea. Besides just keeping the kerf from closing while bucking, wedges (plural) can let the rounds on either side slide past each other, not just try to grind the b&c. IOW they provide bearing surface for sliding, separately from keeping them apart. This is when the two sides of the stem are supported unevenly. I've learned to carry a pouch of wedges. Saves a lot of downtime.

Seems the sled, and snowshoes, would be the way to go.

 

[Dalmatian90]

You want to learn how to use felling wedges and the gunning sight on the saw and stop itching to spend more money for a limited purpose gadget.

Wedges give you instant feed back what's happening -- include them in what your eyes are constantly scanning (looking up the tree, looking at the notch and back cut, look at the bar and gunning site, look at the wedge, keep repeating). They'll hopefully stop the tree from pinching your bar if they lean back. If you see the wedge loosening up it can let you know the tree is leaning in the direction you wanted, and could be an early warning the tree is starting to fall faster than you expected and it's time to get away.

I just see the bar becoming a distraction where you're putzing away pulling on it instead of looking at how everything is going. It's seems better to me to tap the wedge with a small axe and take a look at how everything is going, tap, look, tap, look.

A plumb bob (or just a string you can tie whatever weight you have with you, like a scrench) can help gauge lean. The "stick method" is handy for measuring height. Just for practice I like to plan out where my tree top will land and mark the spot with a rag, wedge, or X in the snow, or something just to see how accurate I can get.

"To Fell a Tree" by Jeff Jepson is a good reference book to get.

 

[Mad Professor]

Google up BC faller training. Can be downloaded in two PDF files. I have the files but too large to post here

 

[Poindexter]

I got a PM to OlsenofAlaska, I am probably driving by where he is cutting on the way to where I am cutting. I have learned the hard way that when an opportunity to learn something the easy way presents itself, take the easy way. Hope to hear from him.

I did pick up four wedges and a lever today. I looked at sleds, both logging ready and cheap plastic. I am passing on a sled for now, but I know where to go if I decide to get one.

Maintenance today and cut tomorrow after work, stay tuned.

 

[jerry quinn]

I was famous for having a 360 degree chance of where a tree would go. Broke the windows out of a cat 9500 loader, took out the radiator on our big chipper. etc. they never went where I wanted. So last year I started burning wood full time, I better learn something. So after many many days of reading and watching videos. It is actually starting to work. Every tree so far this year has gone right where I wanted. These were mostly 20-24in. ash. I use wedges and ropes if needed. I am surely no expert. But learn and then apply that learning.

 

[unclemoustache]

Well I'm probably going to show my ignorance here, but I'm a bit confused. I would think a properly lined-up notch would be the most important factor in the direction of a tree's fall, yet I keep hearing everyone talk about wedges. Can someone help me out here?

 

[MrWhoopee]

Well I'm probably going to show my ignorance here, but I'm a bit confused. I would think a properly lined-up notch would be the most important factor in the direction of a tree's fall, yet I keep hearing everyone talk about wedges. Can someone help me out here?

The notch is absolutely the determining factor of the fall line. However, that provides 2 possible lines of fall, the one you intended and the line at 180 degrees. The wedges ensure that the tree doesn't sit back (pinching your saw), or worse, fall in exactly the opposite direction you planned. They can also coax the tree over if it doesn't want to fall on its own. I ALWAYS drive in a wedge as soon as the back cut is deep enough to permit. It is possible to slightly adjust the line of fall by tapering the hinge and/or using wedges to push the tree off line, but those are definitely advanced techniques.

 

[Dalmatian90]

The notch is absolutely the determining factor of the fall line. However, that provides 2 possible lines of fall,

I would say it is a factor.

An important one. If you don't make a proper face cut, the tree may kick back or spin on the stump causing to fall in the wrong place.

But the notch (face cut) alone doesn't determine where the tree will land. A heavy side lean could overcome it easily, especially if you don't compensate in the back cut.

A poorly executed back cut -- in the wrong location (too high or too low), or not "even" (unless you intend to leave a wider hinge on one side to help swing the tree towards the wider hinge as it falls), could cause things to go wrong.

Or a defect in the wood you didn't anticipate could cause a barber chair or other pants changing event to occur.

As I've cut more trees and learned more, for me setting and adjusting wedges give me is a better sense of control, forces me to re-evaluate what I'm doing as I'm setting them and tapping them back in as they loosen up a bit, and a chance to adjust what I'm doing. Much more than when I first started cutting trees and would make a notch in the direction I thought it would fall, and then cut the back as fast as possible.

I especially like on bigger trees when instead of cutting the back as fast as possible with my legs ready to run (as another poster put it earlier in this thread) like a little girl out of the danger zone...I now can go put my saw safely away and come back and drive in the wedges to tip the tree into a fall THEN run like a little girl, but now without a saw in my hands. Lets me hear the wood cracking, and overall better sense of what's happening in those critical moments. Once in a while I have a tree my gut says the safest thing is to cut the back as fast as possible (say a marginal barber chair situation), and I do, but I don't like it when I have too.

The trees too small to put wedges in are probably the most dangerous ones I cut now.

I'm not saying putz around forever under a half-cut tree...but taking little bit extra time to use the wedges and see how things is going as I set them gives me a lot more control.

 

[mainewoods]

I carry a come a long and a length of rope with me. Persuaded many a tree to go the opposite way it wanted to go. Saved quite a few trips back to the house, when my saw got pinched and I wasn't carrying a spare

 

[dancan]

I use felling levers , wedges and a sled .

Makes my life easier when scrounging wood over there .

I think I should have gotten a longer sled so the load is spread out more but that'll have to wait till next year after this one has paid for itself .
I've tipped over a lot of trees with the lever and can say that it is very efficient in the right circumstances but like any tool , there is a learning curve and it may not be for some , I have a long and short , always with my gear when I go cutting along with wedges .
I am on the hunt for a Tirfors to add to the tools LOL

 

[mainewoods]

Always wondered how rugged those levers were and if they work well or not.

 

[slowp]

I think it is time to repost my long wedging video. It was the last tree of the day, traffic was slow or non-existant, so the two fallers decided to work a while on a tree to keep it from hitting the road. The guy talking is a retired logger faller who is probably one of the top two in our area. He was flagging traffic. They used their wedges to do an advanced move--don't try it unless you have somebody who understands how to do it with you, and swung the tree around. The logging equipment was not handy.

 

[zogger]

I think it is time to repost my long wedging video. It was the last tree of the day, traffic was slow or non-existant, so the two fallers decided to work a while on a tree to keep it from hitting the road. The guy talking is a retired logger faller who is probably one of the top two in our area. He was flagging traffic. They used their wedges to do an advanced move--don't try it unless you have somebody who understands how to do it with you, and swung the tree around. The logging equipment was not handy.

If I am seeing this correctly, the tree pivots some then slides off the direction intended? And the wedges act as a pivot, or..I dunno.

Rather than a fall and twist, which is the only way I have steered one, letting gravity pull one way and the holding wood pull it another, giving it a twist. But that happens well on the way down, this vid I think shows it twisting then falling?

 

[northmanlogging]

The notch is absolutely the determining factor of the fall line. However, that provides 2 possible lines of fall, the one you intended and the line at 180 degrees. The wedges ensure that the tree doesn't sit back (pinching your saw), or worse, fall in exactly the opposite direction you planned. They can also coax the tree over if it doesn't want to fall on its own. I ALWAYS drive in a wedge as soon as the back cut is deep enough to permit. It is possible to slightly adjust the line of fall by tapering the hinge and/or using wedges to push the tree off line, but those are definitely advanced techniques.

Before this gets read as the gospel truth.

The face cut is where you "want" the tree to go, most times where it will go. However, it is by all means not the only determining factor to directionaly falling, hold wood or the hinge has as much effect as the face cut, saw one whole side off and the damn thing could go sideways on ya, or backwards or forwards. Making a blanket statement the likes of the tree will only go one of two ways, just exposes your ignorance. I'm not trying to be mean here, its just the facts. Many more factors decide where the tree will land then just the face cut alone, such as lean, limb weight, wind, dutch cuts, varied hold wood width, where you stick the wedge to some extent, if the hold wood is sufficient to hold the tree to the stump before severing. I've had trees go sideways that were leaning the way I wanted the to go, I've had hold wood just snap off and then the tree was up to the wind and gravity...

Point is, even with the best cutting, and an experienced faller. Trees fight back... they don't want to die anymore then you or me, every once in a while, they win one.

 

[bitzer]

Wedges for bucking?

Notches are for belts.

This is funny.

That small of timber you are going to have to back cut first to get a wedge in. Then face it up. Easy as pie when you've done it a hundred times or so.

 

[slowp]

Wedges for bucking?

Notches are for belts.

This is funny.

That small of timber you are going to have to back cut first to get a wedge in. Then face it up. Easy as pie when you've done it a hundred times or so.

Yes, wedges for bucking. Much easier than taking the bar off, when I get stuck. And I do get the bar stuck. I'll admit it. I also have to demonstrate that I know how to use wedges to keep up my bucking certification.