RandyMac
Stiff Member
for some, the curve is a straight 90 degrees
Falling pics 11/25/09
- Thread starter Burvol
- Start date
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Well said. Good to see you back on here.
Bw, not trying to fuel the wedge debate though I agree with the mushrooming concerns nor do I want to unduly derail this falling picture thread, but your steel wedge looks thinner than the typical splitting wedge in my part of the world - is it a falling wedge?
After my last fiasco stacking wedges and the Stihl dealer raising the price to $12 on my usual plastic wedges that I beat to heck, I bought one of those fancy European alloy falling wedges. Haven’t used it yet. It is pretty heavy and real sharp. Not sure why it is so sharp. It could put a real hurting on you if you dropped it on your foot or hit yourself in the leg with it. Anyway, seeing the chunks out of yours is a little discouraging as I am hoping to get not only more lift but a significantly longer life out of the alloy wedge. Comments welcome.
Ron
After my last fiasco stacking wedges and the Stihl dealer raising the price to $12 on my usual plastic wedges that I beat to heck, I bought one of those fancy European alloy falling wedges. Haven’t used it yet. It is pretty heavy and real sharp. Not sure why it is so sharp. It could put a real hurting on you if you dropped it on your foot or hit yourself in the leg with it. Anyway, seeing the chunks out of yours is a little discouraging as I am hoping to get not only more lift but a significantly longer life out of the alloy wedge. Comments welcome.
Ron
I like how some folks go straight to the not in our timber blah blah blah.
Soft trees use more wedges, hard trees one will generally do. Heavy trees use a bunch of em, its not rocket science.
Folks also like to assume that all conifers are soft like pine never mind that doug fir is on par with maples, or that yew is rock hard, madrone for that matter...
And that west coast cutters have never seen a "real hardwood tree" yet one of the largest hardwood mills is in burlington wa.
Oaks are native here too...
As for wedges not holding up try lifting a 60" fir tree thats back leaning and 170' tall.
Soft trees use more wedges, hard trees one will generally do. Heavy trees use a bunch of em, its not rocket science.
Folks also like to assume that all conifers are soft like pine never mind that doug fir is on par with maples, or that yew is rock hard, madrone for that matter...
And that west coast cutters have never seen a "real hardwood tree" yet one of the largest hardwood mills is in burlington wa.
Oaks are native here too...
As for wedges not holding up try lifting a 60" fir tree thats back leaning and 170' tall.
KiwiBro
Mill 'em, nails be damned.
@Bwildered, got any pics of your mill please?
Now I see why you were suggesting 30" instead of 42" bars. That ground looks almost flat and those trees small.
Now I see why you were suggesting 30" instead of 42" bars. That ground looks almost flat and those trees small.
Skeans
Addicted to ArboristSite
I still say till they come play with some alder on a hill side they haven’t cut yet, besides it being chair prone they make great slides for a butt to come chasing you.
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And I've lived to tell the tale by being on the right side of the curve. I must be doing something right because I've been doing it for a long time.
Those trees were really just thinnings I got to fill a certain order for some heart centered posts, the smallest butt was 25", the last pic was fairly flat but the one in the previous post with the double leader was around 36" & maybe 20' slope.
The steel wedge has the same taper as my alloy one, normally no professional Faller here uses plastic wedges on our HWDS and before alloys came about they used steel, they mushroom because they are flogged really hard to lift out heavy timber, the timber in that tree goes 1.2 tonnes / m3 which is over twice as heavy as anything some of you guys are falling HWDS included, if you use a alloy wedge you won't be disappointed, if you do a lot of falling & use wedging a lot it will save you $ in the long run as they can take anything you give them & last for years & years. If they are sharp it only takes a moment on a linisher to make them smooth
KiwiBro
Mill 'em, nails be damned.
Our approved code of practice here forbids metal on metal contact during wedge use. It's oddly satisfying beating the snot out of metal wedges with a big don't argue sledgehammer but don't let the H&S guys catch ya.
hseII
Addicted to ArboristSite
My 1 eyed Uncle would agree.
That would mean alloy wedges weren't legal, that isn't the case here as alloy are recommended to be used instead of plastic in HWDS by OH&S, with that tree I cut the max out of the hinge before driving the steel wedge so there was never a chance of the chain hitting it, I however did cut the back 1/4 out before driving the alloy one in to stop the tree leaning anymore the wrong way, there was so much weight on the wedge I couldn't drive it in with just the axe , so that when I got the steel wedge & the BFH to finish it off , which still wasn't easy because of the weight I was trying to lift.
Skeans
Addicted to ArboristSite
Aren’t the Aussie laws and Kiwi bushmen rules the same? Thought that’s what I remember from when we had a safety meeting they all had plastic wedges from what I saw.
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KiwiBro
Mill 'em, nails be damned.
Not really, just that ya can't drive it with a sledgehammer. Has to be one of those plastic-capped fallers hammers or wooden maul (no, I'm not making this up). Ever tried to drive a steel wedge with one of those plastic headed faller hammers? Pathetic really. Maybe there is a big sledge with a plastic head/cap. That would work nicely. Haven't really looked though.
*edit* I just went digging at the codes and guidelines online. The code says metal on metal. The guideline, which is supposed to go above the code, says don't drive a steel wedge with a steel hammer/sledge. The guideline, despite mentioning aluminium wedges often, doesn't say don't drive "steel or aluminium", so maybe it's just steel, but it conflicts with the code because alu and alloys are metals and the code forbids driving "metal" wedges with metal faced hammers.
So I guess it depends on what mood the inspector is in that day? I might seek official clarification on that. I mean if it meant I could be legal if I used a sledge on alu or alu-headed wedges, I might buy a few instead of breaking the law with sledge on steel wedge (with appropriate safety glasses)
Skeans
Addicted to ArboristSite
Sagetown
Farmer and a STIHL
Amazing ! There goes the Crew.
KiwiBro
Mill 'em, nails be damned.
Was he wearing safety glasses? that said, I've a small scar on cheek from metal fragment that chipped off a hammer.
hseII
Addicted to ArboristSite
Skeans
Addicted to ArboristSite
Our crew is myself an employee and a truck driver it’s been that way for over 20 years since we went to CTL. The largest we’ve ever had for a crew was 5.
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hseII
Addicted to ArboristSite
Dead blows don’t last long beating on objects more narrow than their surfaces.
