John Paul Sanborn
Above average climber
Anyone use a felling bar?
Wedges for climbing
- Thread starter tree md
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JNGWC&Tree
ArboristSite Member
Wedges fit nicely into an AR15 magazine pouch and stack well in the pouch if opposite of one another. Clip the pouch onto your saddle and you're in business.
TonyX3M
ArboristSite Operative
:agree2:
But where the heck i'll put my spare magazines- just in case owner gets too mouthy :censored:
But where the heck i'll put my spare magazines- just in case owner gets too mouthy :censored:
TonyX3M
ArboristSite Operative
I use it almost daily -on the ground doh - even if I think I'll have a use for wedges I don't think I can handle a felling bar up in the tree- in most cases I'm not in position to put any leverage behind it anyway
John Paul Sanborn
Above average climber
Bermie
Addicted to ArboristSite
There are couple small enough to put on your saddle.
I use them on the ground...that looks like the size of the one I have, I'd hate to lug it around up in the tree, wedges so far are sufficient aloft!
TonyX3M
ArboristSite Operative
Thats the one I use on the ground - I think it would get stuck in brush if I'd carried it with me all the time + added weight and I think in lot of cases I would not have enough leverage to use it - I like to rope tops off usually - bombing for me is an option of open space (which dont happen too often) or something being on side of tree to which it would hang from a rope and usually they're not very comfortable positions - so I think (dont get me wrong- hasn't tried it yet) a smaller wedges would be easier to use - I just dont understand why I haven't think of it !!! It seems so logical now!
There are couple small enough to put on your saddle.
I used them a lot when taking down Doug Firs. I often could drop twenty feet at a time and halfway down the tree the diameter would be 24"-36" on most of them. Only way was to use a wedge, watch the wind, and pray hard.
I don't even take the wedges up when working on a leafy tree.:jester:
Mr. HE
I don't even take the wedges up when working on a leafy tree.:jester:
Mr. HE
Blakesmaster
Addicted to ArboristSite
I've never taken a wedge into the tree with me. Seems easier to just tie a rope to it in most cases. I can see the odd occasion where it would be useful though. For those that do carry wedges, do you also carry a hammer? Or do you just beat it in with a random stick?
tree md
Addicted to ArboristSite
Hey Blakes, When you're talking about a top or a reasonably heavy chunk, yeah, a rope works fine. When you start talking about Mondo 5' and 6' diameter chunks then a two footer weighs over 1600 pounds. Actually I think a 1 footer weighs that much on a 6 footer (would have to look at the log chart again). It gets hard to leverage wood over when it starts getting that big. Hence the wedge.
ropensaddle
Feel Lucky
Yes 2 lb hammer with hole drilled in handle 1/4 inch rope threaded in hole knot tied on one end loop on other. :note: Make sure hammer head is secure to handle or ya may ring-a-ding groundy! I like them both; that way if the groundy is weak I have back up.
Last edited:
tree md
Addicted to ArboristSite
I use an old ballpien hammer.
The climbers wedge kit I ordered comes with a hatchet to drive the wedges.
Four down on this page:
http://www.wesspur.com/knives-axes/felling-wedges.html
And just for fun...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Hdobado20
The climbers wedge kit I ordered comes with a hatchet to drive the wedges.
Four down on this page:
http://www.wesspur.com/knives-axes/felling-wedges.html
And just for fun...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Hdobado20
I use an old ballpien hammer.
The climbers wedge kit I ordered comes with a hatchet to drive the wedges.
Four down on this page:
http://www.wesspur.com/knives-axes/felling-wedges.html
And just for fun...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Hdobado20
ok I looked at the wedge climbing kit and I guess that will be ok except I looked at closeup of wedges and looks like the way they attached the strings is way bad. If you drive wedge all the way in, string gets cut or sheared off?
Wish I knew how to post pic but don't. Will try to explain how I made mine. A wedge has 5 surfaces. 2 faces that come in contact with wood, two sides that don't, and one end that you hammer on. Using 1/8" line, I drilled 1/8" hole into one side around 1" from end you hammer to about 1" in depth. Then drilled 1/2" hole in one face around half way through thickness of wedge to intersect with first hole. String goes in from side and out through 1/2" hole, gets a stopper knot on end and then pulled back into 1/2" hole. Now you just have string sticking out of side of wedge, and you can drive it flush without shearing off. Surely someone else has done this and can post a pic.
Blakesmaster
Addicted to ArboristSite
Makes sense in that case, md. I don't think I'll end up modifying my wedges to hang with me on normal climbs although Randy's idea of attaching the string is pretty smart but I can see putting some wedges and hammer in my canvas bucket and pulling it up to me for my way back down a big spar.
ropensaddle
Feel Lucky
Tree Machine
Addicted to ArboristSite
I came up with a unique way of getting mondo rounds off the spar, sort of by accident, but MAN, it worked well.
First, I don't cut slants, though I can see the advantage in that. My firewood guys would hate me for it. Also, I buck off 16" pieces as that is standard firewood length and it's these firewood guys that save me from having to do any of the heavy lifting, so I accommodate them. A 32" length would be twice the weight and would then have to be cut in half on the ground, so I would just rather cut regular 16" blocks aerially.
Here's how it was done. 3 plastic, 8" wedges, no hammer. Make your cut.
Wedge 1 gets jammed into the kerf sometime before it closes, then finish the cut. The strike-end of wedge 1 is then pushed upward and this leverage creates a tilting of the round slightly upward.
Wedge 2 now gets jammed in a ways further than wedge 1, then it's fat end gets pushed vertically upward, as previously done, allowing wedge 1 to then be pushed in even further, as far as possible, until the strike-end of the wedge is flush with the vertical face of the trunk. This is where it gets interesting.
Your gap is now just as wide as the butt end of wedge 1 that is now fully inserted.
Take wedges 2 and 3 in each of your hands. Insert the sharp end of wedge 2 into the gap. You will need to again do the same thing; use wedge 2 to open the gap just a little bit further as you have been doing, and at the same moment insert wedge 3 BACKWARDS (strike-end in first), about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way in.
Wedge 3's fat, strike-end is now in the gap, with the point of the wedge facing at you. You now have remarkably greater leverage with the backwards wedge and can easily push upward and increase the gap wider than the height of the wedge that's already in there. In this moment, any weight on wedge 1 has been released. This is where it gets really interesting.
Wedge 1 has been set in there, fully inserted, traditional direction. Wedge 3 has been inserted 1/4 to 1/3 deep, backwards. Wedge 2 is in your hand. OK, get ready to give the heavy round a forceful lift with the leverage of the backwardly inserted wedge and at the same time use the wedge in your hand, wedge 2, to smack wedge 1 deep within, as far in as you can, to ideally somewhere near the center.
The majority of the weight of the round is now balanced on the fat end of the wedge edge, now located deep within, near center. You should now be able to move the round by rotating it, and tilting it, regardless of it's weight. It's balancing on a plastic cornice.
What you've done is change the friction profile. You HAD two flat wood-to-wood faces. Now, you HAVE a tiny portion of that entire cut face, and nearly all the weight riding on a thin plastic edge. Wood-on-plastic is 'slippery'. Rotate the round, yes, spin it, and push it in the direction you want it to go. The round is touching the deep wedge in one place, and resting rather lightly, wood-on-wood over on the far side. As well, the round is now tilted downhill.
You will be amazed how easy you made this.
After you successfully spin one or two rounds off the post, you get quicker, though the rounds get bigger, but bigger doesn't seem to matter much. Your simple method has obliterated the original resistance.
The physics- using an inclined plane, applying simple leverage to it, to eventually concentrate almost all the downward force onto a tiny edge of a plastic block placed near the center of the mass, reducing the overall friction to a tiny fraction of what it was about a minute ago. You should now feel smarter than a tree trunk as you ALONE moved a great deal of weight, very swiftly with very little physical effort using only 3 pieces of plastic.
Arrrrrrrr! :chainsawguy:
First, I don't cut slants, though I can see the advantage in that. My firewood guys would hate me for it. Also, I buck off 16" pieces as that is standard firewood length and it's these firewood guys that save me from having to do any of the heavy lifting, so I accommodate them. A 32" length would be twice the weight and would then have to be cut in half on the ground, so I would just rather cut regular 16" blocks aerially.
Here's how it was done. 3 plastic, 8" wedges, no hammer. Make your cut.
Wedge 1 gets jammed into the kerf sometime before it closes, then finish the cut. The strike-end of wedge 1 is then pushed upward and this leverage creates a tilting of the round slightly upward.
Wedge 2 now gets jammed in a ways further than wedge 1, then it's fat end gets pushed vertically upward, as previously done, allowing wedge 1 to then be pushed in even further, as far as possible, until the strike-end of the wedge is flush with the vertical face of the trunk. This is where it gets interesting.
Your gap is now just as wide as the butt end of wedge 1 that is now fully inserted.
Take wedges 2 and 3 in each of your hands. Insert the sharp end of wedge 2 into the gap. You will need to again do the same thing; use wedge 2 to open the gap just a little bit further as you have been doing, and at the same moment insert wedge 3 BACKWARDS (strike-end in first), about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way in.
Wedge 3's fat, strike-end is now in the gap, with the point of the wedge facing at you. You now have remarkably greater leverage with the backwards wedge and can easily push upward and increase the gap wider than the height of the wedge that's already in there. In this moment, any weight on wedge 1 has been released. This is where it gets really interesting.
Wedge 1 has been set in there, fully inserted, traditional direction. Wedge 3 has been inserted 1/4 to 1/3 deep, backwards. Wedge 2 is in your hand. OK, get ready to give the heavy round a forceful lift with the leverage of the backwardly inserted wedge and at the same time use the wedge in your hand, wedge 2, to smack wedge 1 deep within, as far in as you can, to ideally somewhere near the center.
The majority of the weight of the round is now balanced on the fat end of the wedge edge, now located deep within, near center. You should now be able to move the round by rotating it, and tilting it, regardless of it's weight. It's balancing on a plastic cornice.
What you've done is change the friction profile. You HAD two flat wood-to-wood faces. Now, you HAVE a tiny portion of that entire cut face, and nearly all the weight riding on a thin plastic edge. Wood-on-plastic is 'slippery'. Rotate the round, yes, spin it, and push it in the direction you want it to go. The round is touching the deep wedge in one place, and resting rather lightly, wood-on-wood over on the far side. As well, the round is now tilted downhill.
You will be amazed how easy you made this.
After you successfully spin one or two rounds off the post, you get quicker, though the rounds get bigger, but bigger doesn't seem to matter much. Your simple method has obliterated the original resistance.
The physics- using an inclined plane, applying simple leverage to it, to eventually concentrate almost all the downward force onto a tiny edge of a plastic block placed near the center of the mass, reducing the overall friction to a tiny fraction of what it was about a minute ago. You should now feel smarter than a tree trunk as you ALONE moved a great deal of weight, very swiftly with very little physical effort using only 3 pieces of plastic.
Arrrrrrrr! :chainsawguy:
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