Wedges when bucking?

[JimL]

Tornado come through these parts on friday. FD dispatched me and just got home tonight. Been cutting trees off an on for a couple days getting roads cleared and houses uncovered.


Question, you guys use wedges when bucking logs up? I never have in the 7+ years I have been cutting, but found myself doing this.

I didn't have any wedges until i got some off a DNR truck. Cut some out of a pin oak an was using them.. seemed to help alot when i couldn't get under the tree if it was on pavement...

 

[buckwheat]

Investing in a couple of wedges and a cant hook are two of the better pieces of advice I've followed. It makes cutting a lot safer and productive.

 

[Newfie]

Like He Said...

I always use wedges when bucking unless the stem is balanced so that you can just lop logs off from one end or the other. No pinched bars and less instances of the saw trying to back out of the cut on big diameter. When in doubt drive a wedge. That cant hook is also a nice handy tool in rotating large stuff if necessary, no need to rock out the chain by accident.

 

[jokers]

I use wedges more often bucking than felling. Get your self a pouch and keep 2 or 3 handy. You`ll be glad you did. Russ

 

[StIhL MaGnUm]

Wedges are one of my best friends in the woods as long as their ABS Plastic,wedges are always good to keep with you at least a couple of them.....

Later Rob...

 

[Jumper]

Yes I have used ABS wedges on occasion when bucking up real large chunks of trees; the last I recall was a maple about three feet in diameter that would have killed the saw had it pinched with all its weight. In the end not even wedges helped and we had to get a tractor to pull the largers pieces onto the ground so they could be bucked up into something manageable.

 

[StIhL MaGnUm]

Nothing like bucking up some good old maple Maple and Oak are two of my favorite's to cut up on a daily basis,I also like to use those hard head ABS wedges they take a beating without mushrooming the head...



Later Rob.....

 

[StIhL MaGnUm]

So how many of you use wedges when felling,and what type's of wedges do you like to use for this purpose...

Later Rob..

 

[rahtreelimbs]

Alot of times I will plunge cut when bucking. I leave a small tab at the top that I cut when I'm done. Rich.

 

[Newfie]

I'll always slam a couple of wedges in the backcut, unless I'm really sure that the tree is doing what I want. Only takes a couple of seconds to knock em in. Takes much longer to free that unexpected pinched bar.

 

[StIhL MaGnUm]

Newfie,

You do the same thing I do almost always throw a wedge or two in behind the back cut,I guess yuo could say it's the "safe" thing to do,alot of the times though you don't need a wedge espeacially if it's not windy out I hate windy days ...

Later Rob..

 

[logcutter429]

Hey ijust cut a strip by the highway and powerlines wedged most of them had to rig the rest to be pulled with the skidder, no mistakes this time.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

i use 'em when i can't finesse a cut easily. Especially, when their is a lot of compression in a spar; like when felling a tree and a lot of back pressure comes from the head jamming down into the log from hitting the ground first.

A lot of force builds up in cuts, wedges can empower you to dal with some of the compressive ones. An 8:1 wedge, driven by a slamming mini-sledge can do more than put a spacer between the 2 faces, it can give appreciable amount of force to battle with.

Great, cheap insurance, whether you elect to use them often or not.

 

[Whistler]

Yup , I always have them close-by , and feel very foolish when I didn't use them and should have .