saw dog
ArboristSite Operative
Very nice work, you might try Mullberry and Persimmin soaked in linseed oil, they seem to last longer.
Safe cutting all
Safe cutting all
The other day I was staring at a rough cut chunk of oak leftover from a workbench I made. It was about 12" long, 8" wide and a full 2" thick. I decided to plane it down to 1-7/8" and see if I could make wedges with it for felling and bucking. I cut the wedges at a 6-degree angle, one right after the other using my table saw, its rip fence, and a taper cutting jig. After knocking off the outer sharp ends, two were about 10" long, two were 9" long, and the rest were about 8" long:
I sanded off the rough edges and rounded the tops a little. Here's another view of the collection:
At this point, you are probably saying, "Why the hole near the sharp end?" Well, one thing that happens to wedges is that they sometimes get lost. I decided that something that resembled a big key ring might help. I found two lengths of 3' round steel stock that I salvaged from a political yard sign and made a pair of helix coils, three turns apiece, by wrapping it around PVC drain pipe. The 1/4" countersunk holes allowed an easy thread onto the coil:
I made two sets and thought best to give one to my logging buddy who will probably use them more than I will as he fells and bucks lots of big stuff. Best thing about these wedges is that I can make replacements as they wear out. The stores want anywhere from $6 to $10 apiece for the plastic ones. Yeah, those may last longer, but I have a feeling these will work about as well and they are easy to keep together and hang on a pegboard hook.
Thanks for looking. WDYT?
Old thread BUT someone may be reading. So a Glut is normally a BIG wooden wedge. Much bigger than what I use for felling. I use a Glut for assistance when splitting firewood. Photos shows Three felling wedges and a Glut with mallet.Nice job and great idea! Anytime you can substitute wood for plastic, I'm all for it! A lot of old timers around here used to use rough cut wedges made from dogwood and called them "gluts".
Thanks, I made the glut out of Persinamon. I painted the Glut and Mallet making it easy to see.Those look great, Wood Doctor.
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