# repairing wedges



## ckliff (Feb 23, 2008)

Anybody repair a broken wedge? I'm frustrated with them breaking and have a bucket full of busted ones.

How about welding back together, or maybe cooking in a microwave?


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## Sprig (Feb 23, 2008)

I don't think so mate. Once they are compromised they are toast, you should not trust it again, this is why they are cheap, chuck 'em, do not repair something like that that you depend on, go buy some more man! 
BTW, as far as I have been able to find out they are not UV protected, so leaving them in the light of the sun will degrade them and make them brittle, which in itself is dangerous as they will shatter on ya (ya, and split).
Metal, you can re-do the heads and clean up the mushrooms.
Don't muck with old plastic wedges, trust me on this.



Serge


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## olyman (Feb 23, 2008)

sprig--since he said weld--im assuming metal???? and as you said--reweld em--doen it plenty of times--but never heard of cracking a metal one!!!! plastic i could believe--


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## joesawer (Feb 23, 2008)

He also mentioned putting them in the micro-wave. So I assume he is talking about plastic.
The only repair that I do to plastic wedges is to trim the flare or mushroom of the big end with my ax or occasionally I will trim a badly beaten one with my saw while it is firmly in the back cut.
If you are breaking wedges before you are beating the back off of them, you are hitting the wedge in a way that is trying to move it up or down instead of forward into the back cut. When you hit a plastic wedge and it viberates, you hit it out of square, and if you keep doing it it will break.
Take your time to hit the wedge square and in time and your wedges will last a long time and you will get more done with less work.


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## 2dogs (Feb 23, 2008)

I check mine after each use. Most need a bit of rasping to dress the head or maintain the correct bevel. I use a shoeing rasp and a Surform file. Once a wedge shows a crack it goes straight to the trash.


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## Nailsbeats (Feb 23, 2008)

*Plastic wedge durability*

This in a nut shell is why I prefer steel wedges if I don't have to carry 3 at a time in the woods. I have never seen a steel wedge break.


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## Gologit (Feb 23, 2008)

Nailsbeats said:


> This in a nut shell is why I prefer steel wedges if I don't have to carry 3 at a time in the woods. I have never seen a steel wedge break.



Sooner or later, if you use metal wedges for falling or bucking, you'll catch one with your chain. I've seen it happen and it's not pretty. It could cost you some hide or even an eye. The fallers I know use plastic...you can carry ten of them if you want.
You've been given some very good advice so far from some very savvy people. Leave the steel wedges for splitting or making rails or whatever...just keep them out of the cut.  Bob


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## treeman82 (Feb 23, 2008)

I've got a bunch of plastic wedges for normal sized trees. If they get a little mangled I've got an old farrier's rasp I'll use to clean them up really quick. Anything that's really beaten on though I toss. 

For MONSTER trees and splitting though I have 2 big steel wedges. The tree has to be no less than 30" diameter for me to take them out when it comes to felling... but it works GREAT when I do use it. The other night I took a grinder to the head to clean off the mushroomed parts. However when I was doing that, I noticed a couple of cracks around the edges. Gotta cut the head off now so it's not as dangerous. Cutting through 2+" solid steel SUCKS.


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## joesawer (Feb 23, 2008)

Thirty inches is a monster? 
I would still prefer a slim taper 12" plastic wedge to a steel splitting wedge on a 30" tree. The size and shape of splitting wedges is all wrong.


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## treeman82 (Feb 23, 2008)

30+" diameter oak... yeah, I'd say that's a good sized tree. We were about to use it the other day on a MONSTER tulip about 45" DBH.


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## clearance (Feb 23, 2008)

Big is relative, so is monster. Big here is like 3'-4', in old growth they are babies. Monster would be over 12'. Anyways, steel wedges have no place around power saws. Like others I fix my plastic wedges with a wood rasp, when they get too beat up, I replace them.


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## forestryworks (Feb 23, 2008)

steel wedges go to the woodpile

and plastic wedges follow you into the woods...

ain't no two ways about it


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## Nailsbeats (Feb 24, 2008)

Some of us will have to agree to disagree on this subject. Steel wedges have worked excellent for me falling bigger timber where you have enough room to keep them away from the saw. The taper on the steel wedge is more angled so it takes up less room in the cut than a long thin plastic wedge, more room for the saw. Also, I have never ever hit one with a saw. Just like anything, be aware of whats going on. I will stand on the fact that they have never failed me.


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## joesawer (Feb 24, 2008)

Nailsbeats said:


> Some of us will have to agree to disagree on this subject. Steel wedges have worked excellent for me falling bigger timber where you have enough room to keep them away from the saw. The taper on the steel wedge is more angled so it takes up less room in the cut than a long thin plastic wedge, more room for the saw. Also, I have never ever hit one with a saw. Just like anything, be aware of whats going on. I will stand on the fact that they have never failed me.




I do not doubt that you have never broken a splitting wedge. But the fact one has never failed you reminds me of the person who shot one deer in his life and then bragged that he had never missed. Give it time it will leave you wishing for some thing better, much better.
Don't think that you are the first or only person to use splitting wedges. When I first came to CA the young fellow who came with me tried to use them. There are very good reasons that production fallers don't use them. In a nutshell they are very inefficiant when compared to falling wedges.
There is a time and place for a steel falling wedges (not splitting wedges) but one needs to be very skilled at wedging before even attempting them.


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## Sprig (Feb 24, 2008)

forestryworks said:


> steel wedges go to the woodpile
> 
> and plastic wedges follow you into the woods...
> 
> ain't no two ways about it


Yup, we are forgetting however the small degree aluminium ones, pricey and I personally don't like 'em, but they exist and they are okay I think for felling. Whom ever mentioned using steel ones for felling, Bob be right, hm, nah, I'll pass thanks, no place for them around spinning chains though I'm sure there're a few who would risk their nads/eyes doin' so. Another consideration with the steel wedge is that most are not as wide as the plastic, so you don't get as much psi in the kerf/cut, most are also bigger degree'd (taper) and you may also run a risk of it spitting out as they are generally smooth surfaced (no ridges), (I've only ever heard of this but apparently it does happen (search)) :monkey:
The hoof rasps are a handy tool if they're the ones I'm thinking of, like a smaller version of a body rasp, like 1/4 moon teeth? A big sharp flat bastard file will work though they load up quicker. Generally I don't trust 'em (wedges) much once they get smooched a bit I'd just as soon replace 'em for piece of mind.
On the OP's post I did 'assume' plastic too due to the micro-wave comment, I may have been mistaken thusly.



Serge


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## 2dogs (Feb 24, 2008)

It would be funny watching a faller pack 3 or 4 spliiting wedges in his pouch. He would be sagging like a rapper. It would also be amusing to watch him try to lift a big tree with a fat tapered narrow splitting wedge. I guess he would also be carrying a 12lb sledge to pound with. Nope those girly plastic wedges have no place in the woods.


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## turnkey4099 (Feb 24, 2008)

joesawer said:


> Thirty inches is a monster?
> I would still prefer a slim taper 12" plastic wedge to a steel splitting wedge on a 30" tree. The size and shape of splitting wedges is all wrong.



Cruise the junk shops and you will find old, steel falling wedges with a slim taper. Plastic wasn't available back when the big, virgin timber was falling.

Harry K


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## Gologit (Feb 24, 2008)

turnkey4099 said:


> Cruise the junk shops and you will find old, steel falling wedges with a slim taper. Plastic wasn't available back when the big, virgin timber was falling.
> 
> Harry K



Yup...and they're in the junk shops for a good reason. They're fine for hanging on the wall with your collection of old logging stuff (doesn't everybody do this?) but I sure wouldn't want to hit one with a chain. The old slow saws might have gotten away with it but with today's saws and the chain speed they have...all I can picture is the air full of shrapnel.

I have a couple of old peeling bars left over from the days when they hand-peeled redwoods but it doesn't mean I'd want to use one.


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## slowp (Feb 24, 2008)

And don't be leaving your broken wedges in the brush!! It makes me mad because it makes you look bad should any "Monitoring" people go look at the results after logging is over. I'll pack busted wedges out, but they get thrown in the nearest pickup/crummy available. Same with soup cans.  

Monitoring: Often can be defined as "we are looking for any errors so we can shut down logging."


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## ckliff (Feb 24, 2008)

Wow! Thanks for all the responses. Just for my own curiosity, I think I will try melting & re-molding some plastic wedges. Winter project. Will mess around with it in the woodpile of course to see what happens.

I just have a knack for dinging up my wedges with the saw or snapping them apart in the tree. Must be my own special talent. ha ha Lots of great advice here and I have no intention of getting cocky on someone elses property!


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## Gologit (Feb 24, 2008)

slowp said:


> And don't be leaving your broken wedges in the brush!! It makes me mad because it makes you look bad should any "Monitoring" people go look at the results after logging is over. I'll pack busted wedges out, but they get thrown in the nearest pickup/crummy available. Same with soup cans.
> 
> Monitoring: Often can be defined as "we are looking for any errors so we can shut down logging."



Does that include empty snoose cans, used up files, sandwich wrappers, broken chokers, old hydraulic hoses, and miscellaneous boxes, cartons, and containers that parts come in?
Geeeezz, Slowp...we can't just cram that stuff down into the slash piles and hope we're somewhere else when they burn?:hmm3grin2orange:


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## slowp (Feb 24, 2008)

Gologit said:


> Does that include empty snoose cans, used up files, sandwich wrappers, broken chokers, old hydraulic hoses, and miscellaneous boxes, cartons, and containers that parts come in?
> Geeeezz, Slowp...we can't just cram that stuff down into the slash piles and hope we're somewhere else when they burn?:hmm3grin2orange:



Yeah, and then you get to come back and maybe even have a nice hike if the roads have been closed, and get some healthy exercise packing it out! I did leave the #### magazine behind to rot over the winter...not getting caught dead with those in my pack! And the energy drinks....so many cans bottles of that left out. Maybe they need those after tiring themselves out reading?:greenchainsaw:


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## Nailsbeats (Feb 24, 2008)

joesawer said:


> I do not doubt that you have never broken a splitting wedge. But the fact one has never failed you reminds me of the person who shot one deer in his life and then bragged that he had never missed. Give it time it will leave you wishing for some thing better, much better.
> Don't think that you are the first or only person to use splitting wedges. When I first came to CA the young fellow who came with me tried to use them. There are very good reasons that production fallers don't use them. In a nutshell they are very inefficiant when compared to falling wedges.
> There is a time and place for a steel falling wedges (not splitting wedges) but one needs to be very skilled at wedging before even attempting them.



Joe, when I am production falling I don't use them either, I use 12" plastic. Thats why in my first post I stated that I don't use them when I have to carry 3 wedges at a time in the woods. My point is nobody is going to tell me they can't be used or have no place, because they work fine if you need them and are very skilled at wedging.


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## 2dogs (Feb 24, 2008)

slowp said:


> And don't be leaving your broken wedges in the brush!! It makes me mad because it makes you look bad should any "Monitoring" people go look at the results after logging is over. I'll pack busted wedges out, but they get thrown in the nearest pickup/crummy available. Same with soup cans.
> 
> Monitoring: Often can be defined as "we are looking for any errors so we can shut down logging."



Busted wedges? How about old trucks, truck engines, wire rope, and barrels of mystery oil. I do like finding old growth culls! I get to keep those. My favorite is a piece is a well worn heart with no sapwood.


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## Gologit (Feb 24, 2008)

slowp said:


> Yeah, and then you get to come back and maybe even have a nice hike if the roads have been closed, and get some healthy exercise packing it out! I did leave the #### magazine behind to rot over the winter...not getting caught dead with those in my pack! And the energy drinks....so many cans bottles of that left out. Maybe they need those after tiring themselves out reading?:greenchainsaw:



LOL...If they have time to read, or even look at the pictures, somebody isn't keeping them busy enough.
We wouldn't really put hydraulic hoses in the slash piles. Actually, even on the private ground I work, leaving trash behind is considered poor form. 
I watched a truck driver spread litter around himself while he was loading....sandwich baggies, Red Bull can, candybar wrapper, cigarette butts, all around him in a little litter circle.
While he was throwing his landing wrapper one of the other drivers picked up all the guy's trash and put in on the seat of the messy guy's truck. He got the message.


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## GASoline71 (Feb 24, 2008)

Nailsbeats said:


> Joe, when I am production falling I don't use them either, I use 12" plastic. Thats why in my first post I stated that I don't use them when I have to carry 3 wedges at a time in the woods. My point is nobody is going to tell me they can't be used or have no place, because they work fine if you need them and are very skilled at wedging.



Relax... nobody is tellin' anyone that they "can't" be used. They can. Steel wedges were used a lot waaaayyyyy back when. Back when Gologit was a young landing rat. LMAO... gotcha Bob!!! 

In this day and age, is it smart or safe to fall trees with steel wedges... no.

You can use steel wedges for your "big" trees all you want... I personally would point and laugh at ya, and you would be called a rookie if you packed steel wedges into the woods here.

Your choice.... be safe.

Gary


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## Gologit (Feb 24, 2008)

GASoline71 said:


> Relax... nobody is tellin' anyone that they "can't" be used. They can. Steel wedges were used a lot waaaayyyyy back when. Back when Gologit was a young landing rat. LMAO... gotcha Bob!!!
> 
> In this day and age, is it smart or safe to fall trees with steel wedges... no.
> 
> ...




LMAO...Gary, we didn't even have steel wedges then. We used to whittle our own out of wood with the same piece of sharp rock that we attacked dinosaurs and sabre-toothed tigers with.

You're right about all the rest of it, though. I would think that when a whole bunch of different people tell a guy the same thing (steel wedges vs plastic wedges) he'd want to listen. If he was working out here and "production falling" on the kind of ground we work those old steel wedges would stay in the crummy.

And...I wasn't a landing rat very long. It looked like the fallers were having all the fun and going home early besides so that's what I thought was a good idea. Boy, did I get educated.


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## Zodiac45 (Feb 24, 2008)

forestryworks said:


> steel wedges go to the woodpile
> 
> and plastic wedges follow you into the woods...
> 
> ain't no two ways about it



+1


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## joesawer (Feb 24, 2008)

Gologit said:


> LMAO...Gary, we didn't even have steel wedges then. We used to whittle our own out of wood with the same piece of sharp rock that we attacked dinosaurs and sabre-toothed tigers with.
> 
> You're right about all the rest of it, though. I would think that when a whole bunch of different people tell a guy the same thing (steel wedges vs plastic wedges) he'd want to listen. If he was working out here and "production falling" on the kind of ground we work those old steel wedges would stay in the crummy.
> 
> And...I wasn't a landing rat very long. It looked like the fallers were having all the fun and going home early besides so that's what I thought was a good idea. Boy, did I get educated.





LOL! good post. Gary just thought he got you.
How come even after we get educated, we don't ever want to go back to the landing, or stetting chokers or whatever we where doing before we wuz edumicated?


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## Gologit (Feb 24, 2008)

joesawer said:


> LOL! good post. Gary just thought he got you.
> How come even after we get educated, we don't ever want to go back to the landing, or stetting chokers or whatever we where doing before we wuz edumicated?



I don't know. I think that once you've been a faller you never really want to be anything else.
Time and circumstance will change what you do but nothing will change what you want to be.


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## joesawer (Feb 24, 2008)

Gologit said:


> I don't know. I think that once you've been a faller you never really want to be anything else.
> Time and circumstance will change what you do but nothing will change what you want to be.




It is just something that I have wondered about for several years. 
My circumstances have changed many times and I have done a lot of other things, some that paid better and where easier and less risk, but I always come back, and I always miss it when I am doing something else.


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## slowp (Feb 25, 2008)

But it sure looks hard when a guy who quit falling for a few years (and is my age) returns. Ouch!
So, is there something you can make out of the broken wedges? Perhaps hit the flea market circuit with? Substitute wedges for beercans in the classic beercan hat? Door stops? Ice scrapers?


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## Festus Haggen (Feb 25, 2008)

slowp said:


> But it sure looks hard when a guy who quit falling for a few years (and is my age) returns. Ouch!
> So, is there something you can make out of the broken wedges? Perhaps hit the flea market circuit with? Substitute wedges for beercans in the classic beercan hat? Door stops? Ice scrapers?



Give them out for Halloween

Leave them on the shelf at Walmart

Melt them down, make a kayak out of them

Carve them into plastic army men

Keychains

Put them all in a pillowcase, used for "education"

Levelling furniture


I just throw them into the plastic recycling bin...


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## randyg (Feb 25, 2008)

*Broken Wedges*



ckliff said:


> Anybody repair a broken wedge? I'm frustrated with them breaking and have a bucket full of busted ones.
> 
> How about welding back together, or maybe cooking in a microwave?



After a quick peak at your profile, it APPEARS that you are a climber/tree care service, not a logger? You may on occasion wail away with a 12 lb sledge? Me too. I shave the business end a bit with a rasp if chain gets it. When flat end chips away or even starts to crack I cut it off with miter saw with 60 tooth carbide blade. When they break, they are retired. If you're thinking JB Weld or epoxy or fiberglass repairs, you're thinking to much. I think?


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## Gologit (Feb 25, 2008)

slowp said:


> But it sure looks hard when a guy who quit falling for a few years (and is my age) returns. Ouch!
> So, is there something you can make out of the broken wedges? Perhaps hit the flea market circuit with? Substitute wedges for beercans in the classic beercan hat? Door stops? Ice scrapers?



Yup...it's tough to quit for a while and then go back....I found this out the hard way. By the end of the second week I was pretty much back to normal and didn't have to soak in the tub for an hour every night. 

And the broken wedges? Just put them in a box out by your front gate with a sign "Genuine PNW logging wedges...1.00 a piece"
Nobody will buy them but some moron will think they're valuable and steal the whole box. End of problem. Might work with worn out chains, bent bars, and blown out boots, too.


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## 2dogs (Feb 25, 2008)

Gologit said:


> Yup...it's tough to quit for a while and then go back....I found this out the hard way. By the end of the second week I was pretty much back to normal and didn't have to soak in the tub for an hour every night.
> 
> And the broken wedges? Just put them in a box out by your front gate with a sign "Genuine PNW logging wedges...1.00 a piece"
> Nobody will buy them but some moron will think they're valuable and steal the whole box. End of problem. Might work with worn out chains, bent bars, and blown out boots, too.



Better yet wrap them in gift wrap and leave the package on the roof of your car. A mall parking lot works great.


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## slowp (Feb 26, 2008)

Gologit said:


> Yup...it's tough to quit for a while and then go back....I found this out the hard way. By the end of the second week I was pretty much back to normal and didn't have to soak in the tub for an hour every night.
> 
> And the broken wedges? Just put them in a box out by your front gate with a sign "Genuine PNW logging wedges...1.00 a piece"
> Nobody will buy them but some moron will think they're valuable and steal the whole box. End of problem. Might work with worn out chains, bent bars, and blown out boots, too.



Except then we find them dumped over the edge of the road right by the NO DUMPING sign. I call it the Appliance Give Away Store. There's a couple of freezers up there right now. 

For really sore muscles, I found choker setting to be a form of yoga. Different positions, lots of stretching. Was very sore and cranky from a weekend of ripping up stuff at the Moneypit. Took pity on the lone rigging guy and helped out and felt much better afterwards.Except we pulled a tree over!:jawdrop:  I like to think of it as The Choker Spa.
No tanning though. 
The magazine has slipped out. I need to try a wedge under the leg of this table now. What taper style should I use?


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## Gologit (Feb 26, 2008)

slowp said:


> Except then we find them dumped over the edge of the road right by the NO DUMPING sign. I call it the Appliance Give Away Store. There's a couple of freezers up there right now.
> .
> The magazine has slipped out. I need to try a wedge under the leg of this table now. What taper style should I use?



It's always a dead giveaway when some pickup is headed to the woods just before dark with old furniture or appliances in the back. I won't go into details but sometimes it's fun to drop a little snag across the road just below them and then suggest that they re-load all their crap or we'll just go to town and leave them up there.

Furniture wedges? Single taper. Everybody knows that.


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## olyman (Feb 26, 2008)

Gologit said:


> It's always a dead giveaway when some pickup is headed to the woods just before dark with old furniture or appliances in the back. I won't go into details but sometimes it's fun to drop a little snag across the road just below them and then suggest that they re-load all their crap or we'll just go to town and leave them up there.
> 
> Furniture wedges? Single taper. Everybody knows that.


 i like it--wish that was done to more of those trash people, for whatever reason they do it!!!!!!!!


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## hammerlogging (Feb 28, 2008)

Admittedly, wedges are my one piece of litter I consider ok. I sort of like finding some ancient logging scrap, old cables, drums, whatever, down in the woods from the good old days. So broken wedges are my contribution to the legend. Maybe kind of vain. I still pick up skidder drivers beenieweenie cans, soda cans, sandwich bags, and so forth, just my preference in litter.


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## Gologit (Feb 28, 2008)

hammerlogging said:


> Admittedly, wedges are my one piece of litter I consider ok. I sort of like finding some ancient logging scrap, old cables, drums, whatever, down in the woods from the good old days. So broken wedges are my contribution to the legend. Maybe kind of vain. I still pick up skidder drivers beenieweenie cans, soda cans, sandwich bags, and so forth, just my preference in litter.



You'd probably like wandering around out here. We're always finding old logging and logging railroad stuff. Part of our haul road last year was an old railroad right of way from back in the steam days. The tracks are long gone but we still found old spikes whenever the grader made a pass.
There's also a place where the old sleds, logs sixty feet long with the hand-hewn cross pieces still in place, from the steam donkey days are still visible. When they junked them they just pulled them up fairly close to the road, stripped all the iron, and left the sleds. They're kind of ghostly...like old ships cast ashore and forgotten.
If you wander down through the brush below the sleds you'll find the remnants of an old logging camp from back in the early 1900s. All the old buildings have pretty much fallen in but you can still see the old square nails and coarse thread bolts that everything was held together with.
Old bull line and cable are all over the place. I found an old axe head last year...no marks on it at all, might have been hand made.


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## 2dogs (Feb 28, 2008)

Gologit said:


> You'd probably like wandering around out here. We're always finding old logging and logging railroad stuff. Part of our haul road last year was an old railroad right of way from back in the steam days. The tracks are long gone but we still found old spikes whenever the grader made a pass.
> There's also a place where the old sleds, logs sixty feet long with the hand-hewn cross pieces still in place, from the steam donkey days are still visible. When they junked them they just pulled them up fairly close to the road, stripped all the iron, and left the sleds. They're kind of ghostly...like old ships cast ashore and forgotten.
> If you wander down through the brush below the sleds you'll find the remnants of an old logging camp from back in the early 1900s. All the old buildings have pretty much fallen in but you can still see the old square nails and coarse thread bolts that everything was held together with.
> Old bull line and cable are all over the place. I found an old axe head last year...no marks on it at all, might have been hand made.




It is like that around here too. I used old wire rope from the steam donkeys until just a few years ago when I broke the last of it.


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## slowp (Feb 29, 2008)

Yeah. I love heading out through the brush then ending up on my face when I've hooked my foot on a piece of old choker that couldn't be seen. Or almost breaking my neck when my calks slip on a pile of asphalt that the road crew dumped and it is now covered with a light layer of dirt and moss...the logger was cursing them too, he did the same. Not fun..:censored:


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## Burvol (Feb 29, 2008)

slowp said:


> But it sure looks hard when a guy who quit falling for a few years (and is my age) returns. Ouch!
> So, is there something you can make out of the broken wedges? Perhaps hit the flea market circuit with? Substitute wedges for beercans in the classic beercan hat? Door stops? Ice scrapers?



I take broken wedges that have the taper end left with more than four inches on the end and make "pinkies" out of em. Pinkies are nice to have one on hand sometimes if you're in some crap wood for the day.I take the broken end and make it flat with a bench grinder, then you have a brand new little pinky for poles (bigger than whips) when you are next to a road, guy lines, etc. but the dutchman rules most of the time for stuff this size (away from crummies, guy lines, and prosessors!!!). The 12" wedges can be rebuilt if you are drinking beer and feeling ambitous. Grind the ends flat again or chop saw and re-work the taper. You have to have a lot of wedge and beer left for this, I prefer to spend the $6.00 on another wedge. Another thing I use broken 12's for is chalking my tires in the morning in the winter so I do not have to use my parking brake.


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## Burvol (Feb 29, 2008)

ckliff said:


> Wow! Thanks for all the responses. Just for my own curiosity, I think I will try melting & re-molding some plastic wedges. Winter project. Will mess around with it in the woodpile of course to see what happens.
> 
> I just have a knack for dinging up my wedges with the saw or snapping them apart in the tree. Must be my own special talent. ha ha Lots of great advice here and I have no intention of getting cocky on someone elses property!



Hit them square, they will last a lot longer. Watch your face too. I broke a wedge this winter when I was cutting in 20 degree weather and had a piece go through my upper lip into my gum, took six stiches, and the scar is already gone, but it hurt! My partner (my old man) told me to "put some fresh pitch on it and go back to work", I told him I didn't want the surgeon digging pitch out of my face later that night, so I just let it bleed for the day with a band aid.


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