Wedgin' n jackin'

Chaplain242 said:
I agree with this in that the current offering of decent wooden handles is sparse. I find that the glass handles can be a little too flexible at times but way better than the trash wooden handles I often find - some I have broken on the third strike using them. Some of the old hickory handles were great but legacy lost I guess...
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Not lost. These are great handles. I get them at my local saw shop.
 
Jem4417 said:
These threads are to debate techniques that are unconventional and when one of the “bros” says something outside the box it’s experimental but when someone outside the clique wants to talk about an unorthodox technique it’s a dangerous scandal.
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I’m not in either clique, but something has been on my mind the last few days.

I’m by no means big-time or an authority,

But why isn’t he in a harness?



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rico said:
If Im feeling rich I grab some K&H red head wedges, if not I will grab the yellow/orange wedges from baileys. I am very rough on wedges, and am constantly hitting them with my saws, mushrooming them, or missing badly during a big swing and busting them. A very expendable tool for me so spending too much money on them is pointless.
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I just bought a new dozen myself: the 10” K&Hs are a bit more economical that way.


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You’re just jealous that this young chicken hawk beat you to the punch ole man
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What are the fucking odds Evo? I was just talking to my idiot helper not more than 5 minutes ago about work this week, and being the friendly sort of fella that I am I asked him how his weekend of chicken hawking in the city went. He promptly told me to go fuck myself. Kids these days have no manners.
 
rico said:
You’re just jealous that this young chicken hawk beat you to the punch ole man
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What are the fucking odds Evo? I was just talking to my idiot helper not more than 5 minutes ago about work this week, and being the friendly sort of fella that I am I asked him how his weekend of chicken hawking in the city went. He promptly told me to go fuck myself. Kids these days have no manners.
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Spending my 17-20 year old days drinking for free in the leather daddy bear bar, taught me to respect my elders pretty damn quick. Also the videos on loop playing behind the bar taught me quite a bit as well. Not to mention, never go upstairs to the pool tables..
 
chiselbit said:
Back to my handle picture that I’ve been diligently working on while you guys went off on a perv tangent,,View attachment 59804
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Can I borrow that handle?

The cutting board lift plate is new to me!

Back in the day all wedges were steel, some still floating around in basement consignment shops. Back in the 50’s about the switch to aluminum was made, but short lived as plastics evolved.

I love the red heads, but they are spendy, and have a narrower lift. They also seem to be more slippery than others (perhaps fiberglass reinforced

I can’t really bring my self to ordering wedges online, so I’m stuck with the local availability and prices. Both suck, but it gets the job done. Mostly Stihl brand, and the double taper ones in a few sizes and lift heights.
 
rico said:
Your computer and photography skills are astounding chislebit!
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Ha! My computer and photography skills are lower than a snakes belly. No, they are truly nonexistent. I can climb trees, drop trees, please women, drive pickup trucks down haul roads at unbelievable speeds but I can’t do the simplest things on computers.
 
evo said:
Can I borrow that handle?

The cutting board lift plate is new to me!

Back in the day all wedges were steel, some still floating around in basement consignment shops. Back in the 50’s about the switch to aluminum was made, but short lived as plastics evolved.

I love the red heads, but they are spendy, and have a narrower lift. They also seem to be more slippery than others (perhaps fiberglass reinforced

I can’t really bring my self to ordering wedges online, so I’m stuck with the local availability and prices. Both suck, but it gets the job done. Mostly Stihl brand, and the double taper ones in a few sizes and lift heights.
Click to expand...
I ordered a bunch of the blue wedges from madsens. Work just fine. I’m with Rico on this, I beat the shit out of them. Used to buy the expensive yellow double tapers and then get upset when I’d gouge a big chunk out of a new wedge. Now not such a big deal when one of these gets messed up
 
I hate fiberglass handles.. counsel tools still make a decent axe with some heft. For work in the woods their 20” 5# head works great.
The splitting axes with the wide taper rib work well but I take a grinder to the back to flatten it out. The newish Stihl rebranded axes are ok, but unless you go with the bigger ones they are on the light side.

So far we have small tree back cut first
Letter box
Stump cuts
Splitting face cuts
Bore stacking
Trad stacking

And a little wedge pounding talk.

What about wedge placement?

I often start in on the back cut deep enough I can tap a wedge in without restricting the bar. Keep cutting a bit then place one closer in on the circumference. I drive this in and if the first one frees up I move it opposite of #2. If not I opt to add a third wedge, and keep taping #2 and #3.

Dose the lift plate help with resistance by spreading the load and decreasing friction?

Dressing wedges: I’ve used a cheap wood rasp, the kind that looks like a deadly cheese grater. It helps to dress the taper after saw knicks, and mushrooming.
 
Plastics perform a bit better with smooth/beveled and not sharp edges to avoid cracking - I usually dress with a hot solder iron on edges if I damage one and worth recovering. Also no sharp edges helps to stop gripping on sides kerf - if it does pickup on kerf can make felling a bit more stressful...

Had a few close calls using wedges with corners cracked off inside kerf... wouldn’t like to repeat...
 
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