Take some tension away. make a nip on the felling notch side. Any fall that requires 2 wedges or more, is sizable. Safety First.
Need some wedge wisdom
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MikeRock
ArboristSite Member
In the late sixties I got several magnesium (?) wedges from the Stihl dealer in Rapid City. He said they were extrusions from Boeing and were trailing edges for flaps. They worked great, nicked okay, didn't mess the chain. They were tough, and did not pop out.. Does anyone still carry these? I'm down to two and a few plastic wedges....popper outers! They squirt out sometimes.
What wood are you using?
ive made stage/set wedges out of pine in the past but never thought of making my own felling wedges. I have bandsaw jigs for the various sizes.
ive made stage/set wedges out of pine in the past but never thought of making my own felling wedges. I have bandsaw jigs for the various sizes.
I have only cut wedges using a chain saw why use some thing else. Pine works pretty good possibly better than live Oak. I am not sure whether to use green or dry. I would try some of each and compare. Wedges can only be made out of limbs. Try several angles starting with very shallow then on to a more aggressive cut. I usually cut five or six that are quite thick so when a tree starts to move you can grab a few thick ones so any stacking will be eliminated. Thanks
Well, I have a resaw and jigs already made so…
i have plenty of 12q oak and Mahogany as well as some other hardwoods. Pine to 2” thick as well…
Kodiak Kid
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When stacking wedges always stack at least two sets in case one set sh**s out, you have a second set holding the lift while you reset the stack that failed. In big timber it doesn't hurt to have three or four stacks. 
Also, assist with bigger singles if you have the room to work them. Work all the wedges simotaniously. Going back and forth on all the wedges. Relieve holding wood when nessasary. Yes, as VI mentioned. Use a little sawdust between wedges. I sometimes use rifled wedges designed for stacking. Have lots of multiple size wedges standing by when lifting a big heavy leaner. Your gonna need'em! 
Also, assist with bigger singles if you have the room to work them. Work all the wedges simotaniously. Going back and forth on all the wedges. Relieve holding wood when nessasary. Yes, as VI mentioned. Use a little sawdust between wedges. I sometimes use rifled wedges designed for stacking. Have lots of multiple size wedges standing by when lifting a big heavy leaner. Your gonna need'em! 
the magnesium wedges are still available, try Madsens.com
As for them being cut offs from aircraft manufacture? probably not, the point of casting metal is to reduce waste, that much excess would be far too expensive to just lop off on every part. Especially when you consider that aircraft metals are all documented and tested start to finish, each part has a paper trail from source to installation, the material itself isn't all that expensive, its the paperwork to track it...
That and I've only seen a handfull of magnesium parts on boeing planes, generally cast gear boxes, pretty much everything else is 6061/7075 aluminum, or TI alloys with Stainless fasteners, that have been phased out for titanium lately, this includes parts for planes all the way back to the venerable 707 line. (used to make parts for the aftermarket repair folks, which involved recreating parts based on long missing molds, and very old real deal "blue prints" that were hand drawn and barely legible due to age... there was a lot of creative taper cutters and imaginative tooling... even on a 4 axis cnc)
More then likely they were purpose made as felling wedges.
I personally like a plastic wedge. Never had a need to stack mote then 3 high. Change over to a bottle jack at that point. Nothing against the wood wedge idea, and have had to make a few out in the sticks on an occasion or two. I personally avoid metal wedges. Besides the possibly catching them with the saw aspect they are heavy buggers and can pop out just as fast as a plastic wedge.
If you are working mostly in Idaho then your choices are more limited than some states. A good Pine 6" limb works very well. If you have a setup to cut them consistently well that probably is not a bad thing. What I find that is helpful for me is an assortment with all kinds of shapes and sizes. Some time a progressive use where you plug in two then need one that has more dimension and there it is. ThanksWell, I have a resaw and jigs already made so…
i have plenty of 12q oak and Mahogany as well as some other hardwoods. Pine to 2” thick as well…
Faster, in my opinion. I had a splitting wedge pop out on me once. It rose to about 6' elevation, came right at me, and chopped deeply into the web between my thumb & 1st finger. Yep, needed stitches for that dirty trick.
Now plastic wedges aren't a possiblity while splitting wood, but they won't cut you, either.
Another case for using two wedges, but not side by side.
I had a little wedging education today with a back leaning dead ash. I will risk the ridiculing for having my back cut below the face cut as I think the stump shot best illustrates.
As I said it was a slightly back leaning dead ash. It was just inside the property line with the lean towards the line, otherwise I would have cut it with the lean. It had a 5 to 6 inch off-shoot/branch about shoulder height on the lean side. I cut it off to reduce the load. I made my cuts in what I thought was a solid stem - nice and round with continuous bark. I centered my wedge and cut leaving a thin hinge (dead ash) then I began pounding in the wedge. To my surprise shortly after the wedge began to lift the tree, a 2 1/2 foot cone shaped length of the stem popped up and off with the wedge falling with it. The stem sat back down. With the momentum and the now second face, it fell backwards breaking the hinge. It seems the limb I removed was more of what a farmer would call a sucker than a limb. The second stem was 8 to 10 inches across at the cut and the tree had several growth rings encompassing it on the outside. Thankfully, it wasn't a sudden fall and I was able to ditch the saw and get out of the way. Nothing was harmed. This will make me think twice when confronted with what appears to be a sun seeking branch. If I survive the dead ash long enough to have a next time, I will use two wedges, each off-center of even the slightest indication that there could possibly be an encompassed stem.
Ron
I had a little wedging education today with a back leaning dead ash. I will risk the ridiculing for having my back cut below the face cut as I think the stump shot best illustrates.
As I said it was a slightly back leaning dead ash. It was just inside the property line with the lean towards the line, otherwise I would have cut it with the lean. It had a 5 to 6 inch off-shoot/branch about shoulder height on the lean side. I cut it off to reduce the load. I made my cuts in what I thought was a solid stem - nice and round with continuous bark. I centered my wedge and cut leaving a thin hinge (dead ash) then I began pounding in the wedge. To my surprise shortly after the wedge began to lift the tree, a 2 1/2 foot cone shaped length of the stem popped up and off with the wedge falling with it. The stem sat back down. With the momentum and the now second face, it fell backwards breaking the hinge. It seems the limb I removed was more of what a farmer would call a sucker than a limb. The second stem was 8 to 10 inches across at the cut and the tree had several growth rings encompassing it on the outside. Thankfully, it wasn't a sudden fall and I was able to ditch the saw and get out of the way. Nothing was harmed. This will make me think twice when confronted with what appears to be a sun seeking branch. If I survive the dead ash long enough to have a next time, I will use two wedges, each off-center of even the slightest indication that there could possibly be an encompassed stem.
Ron
After reading all these posts I’ve gotten interested in making some wood wedges. Why do you say wedges can only be made out of limbs?
You can use plastic wedges for splitting wood, you just have to make a start with a maul or axe first. you will gnaw then end off but once you resharpen the pointy end a couple of times they work pretty good for splitting, don't send sharp shards of steel into fleshy bits either.
When I was a kid we didn't really know better, and there were piles of dead felling wedges we could repurpose, left overs from my uncles and grandpa's logging... Sure beat the hell out of mercilessly pounding away at 4' wind shook limby dougls fir rounds using a steel handled maul... (******* thing weighed at least 15 pounds, and mostly in the handle, so it didn't really help much with splitting)
^^ eventually we figured out that 4-5# single bit axes worked a helluva lot better then wedges or mauls. working in pairs, or singly we can bust up even the most stubborn large rounds in a few minutes now, Haven't used a wedge for splitting firewood in decades now, not even sure I still own a steel one. (to be clear we are all fat asses, I'm likely in the best shape, yet we can split and stack 4 cord in a day usually without breaking a sweat)
Trick is to start by aiming just off center, first guy swings and lets the axe get stuck, second person standing directly opposite aims for the near edge, then first aims for their near edge, then repeat working back and forth center out, usually they will split on the 3rd strike, then you work around the round each taking a half and breaking it up to desired size,
By yerself you have to do more or less the same process but you don't have the advantage of the other axe stuck in the wood and "holding" pressure on it, so it can take a little longer.
Trick is to start by aiming just off center, first guy swings and lets the axe get stuck, second person standing directly opposite aims for the near edge, then first aims for their near edge, then repeat working back and forth center out, usually they will split on the 3rd strike, then you work around the round each taking a half and breaking it up to desired size,
By yerself you have to do more or less the same process but you don't have the advantage of the other axe stuck in the wood and "holding" pressure on it, so it can take a little longer.
Joker comments (Batman) where does he get all of those toys?
Live oak will outlive pine ten to one. Heart wood is hard, limb wood not so much. Dry is harder and drives better.
preventec47
ArboristSite Operative
I am intrigued by the idea of wooden wedges. I wonder what the best orientation
of the grain is .... My guess would be the grain is lined up from the point of the wedge to the hammered flat long ways. While OAK is a hard wood I dont think it
would be best suited for wedges because the oak itself splits so easy. My idea is to use SweetGum species because that is a wood that cannot be split manually and often times stalls my 25 ton hydralic splitter. Pine I think is too soft and would crumble where the hammer hits it. These are merely my guesses, from those who
have been making and using wood wedges, no doubt certain strategies in design
must have shown to work better than others.
of the grain is .... My guess would be the grain is lined up from the point of the wedge to the hammered flat long ways. While OAK is a hard wood I dont think it
would be best suited for wedges because the oak itself splits so easy. My idea is to use SweetGum species because that is a wood that cannot be split manually and often times stalls my 25 ton hydralic splitter. Pine I think is too soft and would crumble where the hammer hits it. These are merely my guesses, from those who
have been making and using wood wedges, no doubt certain strategies in design
must have shown to work better than others.
I was at an old New England barn sale last week, I got a bucket of steel wedges. Mostly for splitting.
I used those for years felling long before I knew about the plastic ones. My Grandpa and uncles made wedges out of hardwood for felling.
They used hardest wood available, twisted grin would not split easy too, hickory, locust, oak, beech maple.......
You probably ought to be a bit more careful with generic statements like that. Ever hear of Bristlecone pine?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methuselah_(tree)
