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Shaving the bark is obviously good for wedging as well in your area. Do you guys often find hidden branch stubs when cutting hinges?
I imagine how I face White Pines up here…up in the canopy, the internodal lengths are pretty consistent and clear. It would be odd to find one unless cutting at a node. I can imagine it much easier to come across one in super mature bark areas where nodes are less visible.


Thanks for the share. Those wedges look well used. I have a set of hard head that I like a lot, but I may just go with the full plastic when it’s time for a new set. These HH have lasted so long, I wonder if that time will ever come…And right after mentioning it's fairly rare, I got a good one today! Field grown fir, pretty big, here in the hinge-wood you can see an old pruning cut and the stub that takes up a good 4" of the hinge. 3" inside the trunk wood, and with another 3" of bark outside that (I shaved most of it off before cutting the tree and taking that photo) but could see no indication of it before cutting the tree. No harm in this case, but amusing to see right after discussing it.
(putting some previously topped firs surrounding a house out of their misery here)
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Looks like you run a pretty tight ship!I've tried lots of different wedges and this is what seems to work best for me. These six live in the wedge belt at all times and work for every tree I come across except for the rare truly big ones. I wedge over a lot of trees and wedges are just another consumable like fuel or saw chain, so I stock plenty of spares.
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Man, I wish I had 4 feet of soil anywhere on my property. Sigh. At least I have good drainage.Wrapped this job up the other day, and using the winch to pull speared limbs out of the muddy field was a big help. This one went down about 4 feet.
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How do you like the new milwaukee?Honestly, in my area winters are quite mild, this only happens a few times a year and only for a few days. Other parts of the country they work in snow and below freezing for months at a time. No thanks on that for me.
More downed trees though after exploring the island end to end, including a pretty huge mess blocking an entire road that is like 5 uprooted trees tangled together. Probably deal with it tomorrow. Snow is melting rapidly as temps rise and rain continues.
And also got the Milwaukee battery pole saw just today while checking the roads. After a few days I'll share some thoughts. I've got the most powerful Stihl gas, and the Husky, which I've never been super happy with. So plenty to compare it to.
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How do you like the new milwaukee?
Well, yea, with the mud, I would assume that would happen. What's weird to me is the milky white stuff coming from a fundamentally new, rope. I had three clean oak climbs, 95% SRT, and I had that milky exudate, which is what the manufacturer says you will see. I am curious what that stuff is, and why other ropes haven't done that for me.I tried a new rope washing way instead of dirtying the bathtub or washing machine.
Using a similar bin, I sprayed the rope while filling, then, once filled, vigorously rocked the bin from one bottom edge to the opposite bottom edge, on the ground. Rinse and repeat several times.
Mine was more chocolate milk-colored after a muddy removal job at the forest edge where there was basically leaf-litter covering covering clay-ish soil.
I was really surprised too, but then again I've never soaked a rope before...I am curious what that stuff is, and why other ropes haven't done that for me.