I use wedges quite a bit. Usually my back pockets are already full so I buy chaps with a pocket and usually carry 1 or 2 small good wedges and 1 stubby that has been damaged and cut down or broke in the front already. In small diameter trees after I get it opened up enough to get the stubby started, there is more room for the saw blade when the longer 1 is pulled out (+ the good wedges are out of danger of being cut into) and then if you need a thicker wedging in the end of the fall the 2 wedges can be doubled. If I run into a big tree that needs serious wedging I come back after a trip to the truck with a small jug with various longer bigger wedges including 1 hardhead. Usually I have a steel wedge in the truck but haven't needed it for many years. I used to have a thin wedged shape steel shim that worked real good to open up trees that closed before I got the wedge in. I learned to do without but it would be nice to find another. My wedges get some use, and some abuse as often they are some times being used in difficult situations trying to defy gravity under many thousands of lbs. of wood being beat in with metal or sometimes a piece of wood. Once in a while I use homemade wooden wedges that are thicker then the plastic. Last year I was trying to break a stump loose with 1 and under pressure it split and a piece shot backwards, conking me in the forehead hard enough to break skin and give me a small goose egg, so be aware,careful, protect your eyes,etc. and don't let a tree land on ya!
