FOGT- Wedge compliment-Gerry, clarification please

SouthSoundTree

SouthSoundTree

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So I am looking at p 332 and am trying to picture what you mean here, especially not knowing the shapes of these brands and sizes.

"I can then double up both 110s which will loosen up the 7d and flip it upside down and mate the bottom flat part of it to the Scottsco and get more lift".

The underlining is mine. What do you mean about flipping it? Head to toe?
 
The 7D is a double taper wedge, so on one side it changes angle from lower angle near the tip to steeper near the head...but only on one side. The other side is flat. So Jerry is saying flip it so the flat side fits against the other wedge he's stacking with, which is a single angle wedge.

At least I'm pretty sure that's what he is saying :).
 
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  • #4
I thought it would be very screwy head to toe, somehow, but people use shims this way (head to toe) in carpentry, and old school rock climbers chocks/ stoppers/ nuts this way in parellel cracks.


Effectively, this is making a thicker, dual taper wedge.


Where do dual taper wedges work best? Seems like if you can predict that after the initial lift, the mechanical advantage of the wedge doesn't need to be as great, as the tree is getting close to the tipping point.

I have one, but dual tapered wedge, but don't really seek it out to use. I'm very accustomed to stacking wedges.


Are dual tapers more prone to spitting out? Seems like there would be less contact area at the transition point.
 
Some folks are of the opinion that double taper wedges always work best if fairly strong lifting power is needed...I'm less convinced of that, myself, but in theory it makes sense...just as you postulate in your third paragraph.

I don't really think they are more prone to spitting out, but your thought on that also makes sense. I've never noted it in practice, but for some reason I very seldom have any wedge spit out, so I may not be the best judge of that.
 
I NEVER have wedges spit out, but then I don't stack them!
 
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  • #7
What material do you use for your shims, Stig? How much max lift have you gotten on your backcut?
 
Yeah Stig...

Cool thread Southsound. Forgot your first name like an ass. Thanks so much for the nausea tips also: I really appreciated it. Kristen's a ton better now, and very happy!!
 
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  • #9
Jed, its Sean. Amy says the keys are hydration and smoothies. Other things that we've picked up on are separating iron-rich foods and dairy, as calcium inhibits iron uptake. Protein rich foods are good, and often people don't get as much as they should. We are a carbaholic nation.




With the dual taper wedges, is there a typical way to face the flat and the dual taper sides. It doesn't seem like it would make a difference. What does it mean to flip it upside down, unless there is a right side up? And then, how would upside down change things? How are the Scottsco wedges shaped? Double tapered, not dual tapered?
 
Sean, the 7d is an excellent first wedge. On smaller timber it can be all that is needed to lift a tree into the face.
 
SouthSoundTree said:
What material do you use for your shims, Stig? How much max lift have you gotten on your backcut?
Click to expand...

Nylon.
But I think a plastic cutting board may work, cut into pieces of the right size.

Is this enough lift for you?:lol:

lift.jpg
 
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  • #13
That looks like the lift distance you'd get out of a Silvey tree jack. Maybe not the power, but way more than stacking wedges. Thanks.
 
We had a winch on it as well, Jerry.
That is why we didn't put a chunk in as a safety measure. No way that one was going to break the rigging we had on it.

Pretty crazy story: It was a wonderful broad canopied elm,one of the last living ones in the country, standing next to Jomfruens egede castle

The owners had asked me to deadwood it, and I noticed that it had been hit by DED and told them not to waste their money, since it would be dead in less than two years.
They didn't believe me, so I deadwooded it and sent a bill.

2 years later I got a call that they had promised it to a firewood cutter for $100 if he would fell it himself.
It was right in front of a building, and he had taken all the branches away from the building off, and chickened out.

Rather that try to lower the branches over the house, we decided to pull ot over. Elm as you know, hinges wonderfully.

Using a combination of a large Tirfor winch and plates and wedges, we dropped it, but I'll gladly agree that we should have made a bigger ( as in WAY bigger!) face.

I talked them into trucking the log down to a hardwood auction in Germany instead of letting the firewood guy loose on it.

It sold for a little over 5 grand:D
 
Bonner: That's the back-cut. Jer was joking about John Ciro's face cuts. (Mr. Beranek: Please correct and forgive me if my rash guesswork is impertinent.) Based on Jer's videos, I'd have to guess that dear Mr. Ciro always tried to get away with way too narrow of a face. As you know, the saw has to work a lot harder--and longer--on a more extreme diagonal cut, so my guess is that many old-growth fallers wld try to get away with the narrowest face possible to save time.

The "big chunk" that Jer was referring to was doubtless a random "face chunk" of wood that one wld ram into the back to prevent a nasty set-back just in case some stacked wedges slipped out.

Stig: Thank you so, so, so much for the cutting-board tip. The wife can't hit as hard now that she's pregnant, so I'm in the clear!:lol:
 
bonner1040 said:
I am not sure I understand what I am looking at here... That is the back cut opening? Where is the face? How do you get the shims under the wedges?
Click to expand...

Just alternate, drive one up tight and that will loosen the other so you cant place a shim. The face? The Your-rope-pians have been watching Murph's mico notch videos, Stig thinks he rocks
 
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  • #20
Ropes can be easier SOMETIMES, but there really is something satisfying in pounding over a tree, especially a big backleaner.
 
But you are pounding a wedge thats on top of a shim?

What are the shims made out of? Plastic or steel?

Sean, I agree... I will almost always pull out the wedges first.
 
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  • #22
Anybody seen some type old steel shims use back-when with old growth falling and know what they are called?

I've had them described to me by my supervisor (58yo) who used to be the 'wedge boy' to some old fallers of big trees when he was young, maybe early twenties. I guess they had one component that was "L" shaped and maybe shims and steel wedges.
 
Anything you want to pack around the woods. Styrofoam is not recommended though
 
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