Steel Wedge sizes

[Stubby]

Just now, 5thelement said:

 

I have not heard that familiar sound of someone pounding steel wedges in for at least 15 years.

Giving me age away again 🙂

[agg221]

1 minute ago, Stubby said:

Giving me age away again 🙂

At least you actually are your age, I just feel it!

 

Alec

[Khriss]

2 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Giving me age away again 🙂

That boat sailed long ago . K

[openspaceman]

3 hours ago, 5thelement said:

I have Bolle hi lifts that do a far better job than any other wedge that I have used, including steel, personal preference I suppose.

If your steel wedges are only 14 degrees, that would mean that you would have to drive it in 8 inches to open up the kerf 1 inch, which wouldn’t finish many of my trees off.

I dug one of mine out, I remember my dad buying it in the early 60s, a Spear and Jackson  8 or 9" when new, a bit shorter now.

 

It tapers 1 in 6 which is about 9 degrees and yes it was not at all unusual to bury them and only lift an inch then stick two more in stacked and a slight angle to each other and tap them in, free the original up and move it a bit closer to the hinge and keep banging, Any greater angle and they would have bounced out.

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by openspaceman
picture added

[drinksloe]

Can u not still buy them??

Are they not just called splitting wedges instead.

 

I used to swear by them, but went completely off them now been years since last used them.

Stiill in my wedge box in van but can't see them ever coming out again..

 

But if u really want to try them do make sure u grind the mushrooms off as others have said.

 

Went back on to plastics and using them the proper way, ie having a few in and just couple off hits each.

Even went off hi lifts ever since I switched to those ****************ing useless plastic inserts far prefer 2 12," oregons stacked, drive in easily esp when u can either hit top or bottom wedge

I used to give the steel some serious abuse but found with real big heavy ugly spruce they tend to just suck into the tree and tree barely moves esp around this time of year

 

If ur needing to give the wedges such a braeing u need steel ur probably better off just sticking a bottle jack in.

Yes the bottle jack's are heavy but  probably no heavier than 3 or 4 steel wedges, I just bought a 30T Treemans jack, only done a few trees with it but certainly puhes them in well.

Not massive, prob just under 4ft butts but fairly heavily weighted and slight lean but had to go into the crop so right against weight. 

Doubt they would off wedged in no matter wot wedges u had.

Might take a few mins cutting jack in but a lot easier than braeing wedges in, and with heavily weighted outsiders u need the extra lift, double stacks or hi lift just not enough.

 

 

Work smarter not harder

 

 

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by drinksloe

[Arran Turner]

Interesting chat.. Never thought to work the taper out in degrees but now I have some numbers it will give me a starting point.. have been banging plastics for years and they do work well.. give them a hard time with a cut down 6lbs sledge hammer and when they start to look ruff I give them a once over with a wood rasp and it tidies them up ( Both ends including tidying them up when I hit them with the saw).. I had a couple of the hard head wedges which are plastic with metal ends which worked really well but they both snapped a while ago.. will get a few different sizes made up and see how we go.. plastics go well most the time but you always know when you need a little extra.. 

[drinksloe]

The thing is when u need that bit extra ur far easier turning to a 20 or 30T bottle jack.

 

Was thinking after my last post it was in my pre jack days I liked the steels, sincere dated using a jack of her go back.

 

I can dig m seeks out van and measure hem as still be nearly original size.

 

Dunno wot we've u have over there but tho ochenshaft? That Clark forest sell take 1 hell off abuse and don't snap, althou downside I cant get them to stack under pressure.

Think angle too steep on the bigger 1s so bounce out, but great otherwise

[agg221]

One other thing to add. For grinding off the back end when it peens over, I now use weld sanding disks like these:

 

Pack of 25 Sanding Fibre Discs Blue Line Siaron 8 4819 115 X 22mm Hole 24g for sale | eBay

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I have always used Blue Line ones as that's what I tried first, in a relatively coarse grit. They cut much faster than a cutting or grinding disk and put less heat in. I also find it much easier to hold the flat face on the workpiece and get a decent result than trying to use a standard grinding disc at an angle. Coincidentally, they are also very good at removing wood - pretty useless for paintstripping though as they tend to remove the thing the paint was attached to just as quickly.

 

Alec

[drinksloe]

I'll try and post a photo if I can figure out how later.

 

Mines are just over 8" by 2" wide, the bigger ones just over 1 1/4" high with the smaller 1" high.

Just noticed bought an aluminium wedge, that ive never used, and it's the exact same dimensions.

If I was gong to make 1 I'd make them wider than the 2", as with real heavy trees u can really hammer the wedges in and the butts just almost absorb them in, seen them right in to hilt and tree hardly moved.

[Arran Turner]

Thanks for the replies.. will be interesting when I get some made up.. will post some photos..