Wedge pounders for big trees.

I would say no, Sean, better that way for you because no bounce back, which I think is harder on the tendon. With a loose wrist, vibrations travel up your arm. I believe it the best way to drive things, certainly makes a difference when setting tight tenons into mortices, wedges as well. No bounce, reduced loss. The force is more focused into the object being struck. Try it if you haven't paid attention to that aspect before.
 
A dead blow won't rattle your cage as much as a sledge .It won't bounce off of something and hit you in the shinbone either .That will make you dance about as bad as a shot to the family jewels .
 
If your getting hard bounce back while driving plastic falling wedges then you need more wedges in the back cut, a bigger hammer " heavier ax " , a jack, or a pulling line up in the top of the tree.
I have some vids on YouTube of beating wedges but I can't figure out how to access them to post them.
When a wedge bounces your ax back its telling you it won't go any further at the moment. So you pound on others.
 
With an 8 pound BFH you won't bounce off a plastic wedge you break the damned thing.At least I do which is why the dead blow .

I can't hit nothing with a curved handled axe unless I choke up on it then what ,right in the bread basket or heaven forbid a tad lower .Ooofta !
 
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  • #109
Cold Logging said:
If your getting hard bounce back while driving plastic falling wedges then you need more wedges in the back cut, a bigger hammer " heavier ax " , a jack, or a pulling line up in the top of the tree.
I have some vids on YouTube of beating wedges but I can't figure out how to access them to post them.
When a wedge bounces your ax back its telling you it won't go any further at the moment. So you pound on others.
Click to expand...


Previously, I worked for state parks. We were professional mess makers (knock 'em down and move to the next) with big, rotten or dead trees. Putting them out into the woods was our best bet. Having to get a pull rope from under a huge fir in the brush would not be very fun. We beat the snot outta some big, backleaning trees. That was the impetus for the original post. Production sometimes meant beating a lot. As with loggers, pull lines were not the standard.
We would use long, thin wedges we called 'tongues' from Madsen's for the biggest trees. At times we would have 6 or more wedges or stacks of wedges. More wedges meant easier pounding, and spreading the pressure as necessary due to rot.

Wedges give off a sound like pitons or 'feathers and wedges' used for splitting rocks, giving you audible feedback to go along with the feel. IME, the sound can help you know which one to drive more, and which is as tight as it will go until you get more wedges tighter (or I thought maybe a bigger hammer).

Seems Burnham only goes for a typically faller's ax, and he knows big PNW trees. I don't know if Jerry spoke on the topic in this thread. Figured he'd have some good advice on the matter.
 
For me, with wedging the magic was head speed over mass of the driver. I can hit a tiny target at extreme speed, just a hand/eye coordination gift that I cannot take any personal credit for beyond acknowleging that practice does help. I don't think I'm unique in this...any really good faller can do it, any +325% baseball batter can too.

I hit 407 in high school hardball, as a senior:). I'm a dinky little sucker, but I get by.
 
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  • #116
Burnham said:
For me, with wedging the magic was head speed over mass of the driver. I can hit a tiny target at extreme speed, just a hand/eye coordination gift that I cannot take any personal credit for beyond acknowleging that practice does help. I don't think I'm unique in this...any really good faller can do it, any +325% baseball batter can too.

I hit 407 in high school hardball, as a senior:). I'm a dinky little sucker, but I get by.
Click to expand...


You work best with that weight. I wonder about a bigger guy. I might be a step up in size, and Duane, who I worked with pounding over big trees was two steps or maybe three beyond me (40 pounds and 5 inches). I don't know if a big guy like him would be able to get the pounder going as fast, but he could swing a bigger one, I'm sure, especially in his prime.

Momentum = 1/2mv(squared). Velocity is most important. However, if you reach your max velocity, you can only increase mass.
 
There's always the little matter of dragging said driver though the woods all day...

Besides that, a bigger guy ought to be able to exceed my swing speed, no? It's all a matter of muscle spent on acceleration, isn't it?

Either way, I'll always advocate more wedges instead of a bigger driver.
 
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  • #118
Dunno. He's got to accelerate his whole body not just the pounder.

Remember, we weren't going any farther than 5 minutes from the truck, usually 30 seconds. Big hammer is easier to drag around than big saw and big bar, but it all adds up. Big The total of the wedges certainly weighed more than the pounder on some, and lighter yet than a double ram Silvey Tree Saver jack.
 
I believe in letting trees fall the way God intended them to fall.

When I can get away with it, at least.
 
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