Wedging

If you ever get a chance to see Tim Ard conduct training... I highly recommend it. Dude can drop a tree on a dime.

He gets you away from the rope mentality... quickly. Very cool.
 
Baileys logging catalog has a great selection of wedges. I really like the stacking technique. There is a special wedge called a rifle for this that has grooves so they fit together and dont slide.
 
Wedges are a must. You can set the proper hinge width without having to worry about the saw pinching, or the amount of tension on the 'pull line'.
Good thing they're available in plastic. I've cut into a lot of them.
 
check out hotsaws101 on youtube for a faller that leaves the wedges on his belt a lot... guy has a bunch of tricks in his bag..

Me... I use a rope... Why wedge when you have a rope, its easy to set an you have the room and the equipment to pull it..
 
I use both wedges and a rope on back leaners to keep the kerf open, but I use them more for bucking fat wood and flushing stumps. I don't know many wedge tricks but I thinks it's really interesting what they can do in capable hands.

Mine all have little shaved of spots... some, not so little.

I keep one on me in the tree when I'm pitching tops... VERY handy sometimes.
 
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Wedges are cool but I work almost exclusively around residences so everything gets a rope.

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I understand this perspective, as we can often get a rope installed with a throwline, or were already in the tree.

However, I think that this is often based on urban-trained tree folks. I started in forestry work and got lots of wedging training aka "what are ropes for".

What I find is that most people will have one/ two/ three people on a rope to pull over the tree. This means that one/ two/ people are in the direction of the fall (frequently pulled straight, not redirected) and can not be doing other things. Clearly, they should be are outside of the landing zone of the tree, which means longer ropes to lay out, and re-stack/ coil. Maybe getting wet, which then means drying.

This also means that the rope is off the ground and out of the way. Less likely to have it tangle with brush, get cut by a saw, either on the ground or cause it is dangling in front of the face-cut (whether its a top-drop, or ground felling cut).




I would rather have the rope tensioned and tied-off to the base of a tree, this is more protection from it going over backwards than three 200 pound guys pulling. I would rather have the rope tied off, and if the wedging will not tip it, then push downward on the rope, increasing the force (think of 200 pounds of force on a slackline, perpendicular to the slackline. Much increase in force).


So frequently people don't have wedging-faith because of a lack of wedging practice because of working near structures, yet rarely do we set two ropes at 45 degrees (or whatever) to the falling lane/ lay. This would give some more control against side leaners while also pulling toward the lay. Very infrequently does a full-on side rope get set, unless there is a heavy side lean the other way.

I figure that tying out the tensioned rope, then wedging it over can be a way to practice/ build confidence in wedging with a back-up, and reduces the dependence on other workers, leaving them free to do other things away from the lay.


I've been working on reducing my dependence on ground support, like natural crotching some limbs on removals and using stubs in the tree like a POW. They will still need to be untied (unless using some additional tricks) but I can work the hinge better from the tree some times.

Also, I started taking my whole climbline up the tree to reduce the tangles. More weight, but less double work.



My $.02.
 
I should add, get well trained for the techniques of wedging for felling, and practice in non-critical situation.

Just put it in the bag o tricks and use as appropriate.
 
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I started in logging industry as well and couldn't agree more wedges rock. and what a wedge won't do a jack will.

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I have a truck type 20 ton hydraulic bottle jack for about $30 that has come in handy a few times.

A jack will gently lift a tree, without the impact of wedges. I last used a jack on a very dead tree. I didn't want limbs being knocked free onto me. I could be "heads up" the whole time I was jacking the tree to watch for overhead dangers.
 
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And what a jack won't do, a rope will . . . wait, now we're back where we started.

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I was gonna say...

Usually takes about 10 or so minutes to get a rope in, redirected, locked off and ready to tension with a 5:1. I tightline everything regardless of how many big husky guys are around. I don't ever just have some guys pull the rope since wedges will definitely serve the same purpose.

I rope off to get the fall started and to prevent losing the tree in case of an unexpected set back or to counter a back lean. A bunch of guys can get the fall started but if a 40" tulip decides to go backward a small army won't be able to hold it.

It's pretty cool how the big timber fallers use hydraulic jacks in the kerf of redwoods and doug firs.
 
Blinky and Sean:

Well said by both. IMO it's good to have the understanding of both. More tricks in the bad leads to more efficiency in that particular situation.

Another posting example of why I love Treebuzz...
 
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