Flange expander as felling wedge

[N1ck]

Has anyone tried using something similar to this to act as a mechanical / hydraulic felling wedge?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Portable-Manual-Hydraulic-Pressure-Flange-Expand-Expander-Spreader-6T-Tool-Box/192872522144?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D57477%26meid%3Db2d89e1ec0384e508967dc377055791f%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D273395688795%26itm%3D192872522144&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

 

I have a load of big beech and softwood to fell on tonnage avoiding pheasant pens etc. and would like a fancy mechanical felling wedge such as the Koller or Eder but can't justify the £580 price tag. I have thought about a low profile bottle jack but there is all the extra time and waste of timber cutting the notch for it This has a 6t force and a maximum opening of 77mm. Can anyone give their thoughts or suggest any potential problems?

 

Ta

[Powerfab]

There is very little width on the expanding jaws to spread the force in the cut. 

I'd say it's likely that the jaws will just cut into the timber and exert very little useful force. 

The beech might work being hardwood depending on the time of year and how much sap is rising. The softwood I would wager would be a complete fail. 

You might be able to tack weld a couple of metal plates onto the jaws or wedge shims in place before exerting force, but it all becomes a bit of a faff. 

[N1ck]

The proper mechanical wedges only have a spreading width of 80mm so very similar. If backing up with conventional wedges which we would be you could open the cut, wedge, insert the jaws further, open the cut more, repeat. Can't be worse than beating high lift wedges till your eyeballs bleed!

[Stubby]

Try a bottle jack with a metal plate top and bottom . works a treat . Bit more cutting to position it though .

[andy cobb]

As mentioned above the jaws would need widening , but for the price of 2 high lifts it's got to be worth a go. If you do buy one report back please. Like you say it's got to be better than swinging a sledge hammer all day.

[LGP Eddie]

Has to be worth a go, modding them jaws isn’t going to be a big job, they’re pin on, and you could try many mods before getting a proper set machined by an engineering company.

You could end up selling them and newly designed pin on jaws to suit the task.

 

 

Eddie

[woody paul]

Is 6 ton enough on big trees. 

[ESS]

I could see it just pushing straight back out of the cut.

I may be an old fashioned bugger, but old fashioned steel wedges take a lot of beating for tipping big trees over, particularly hardwoods.

[The avantgardener]

You could buy a treemans jack, designed for the job.

The ratchet wedges are not all that great, they still require quite a bit of effort, I ended up going back to skinny plastics to get the tree moving then backed them up with the highlifts, not used an hydraulic wedge, they are in a different league cost wise.

[outinthewood]

I do know of a guy that tried the jaw type that you get in a "porta-power" kit like body shops use and they , the jaws, just  snapped ! Those you link , I can't see how they would stay in the cut ? the other mech wedges you refer to have a stippled plate affair which keep the whole thing in the cut. Also as already mentioned the size of the jaws means they would just push into the timber. You can get on ebay a shallow hyd jack which would do you ? I use a couple of jacks 15T and 20T with as Stubby says a good steel plate on top. It's very easy and fast enough to cut in more so than re doing a load of pen fencing !