What are felling wedges used for?
Wedges can help control the direction of trees falling even when they are leaning the wrong way.
What is felling used for?
Felling is the process of cutting down trees, an element of the task of logging. The person cutting the trees is a feller. A feller buncher is a machine capable of felling a single large tree or grouping and felling several small ones simultaneously.
How many felling wedges do I need?
If your trees are in the 18″ range, a 7 1/2″ wedge should be sufficient, provided you don’t use a tack hammer to drive them, but I’d carry at least 4. It’s better to have them and not need them, than to need them and not have them.
How much can a wedge move a tree?
Consequently a 1-inch wedge will move the top of the 6-inch tree 140 inches, while the 18-inch tree’s top will move only 46 inches using the same wedge. You can easily determine how many wedges will be needed to overcome a tree’s backlean. Using more than two wedges is not advisable for saftey reasons.
When should you fall a tree?
Generally speaking it is best to do this job once the leaves have fallen off in autumn but before new growth appears in spring. It is this in-between stage which is the most sensible time to cut trees back and attend to any pruning which may be required.
How do I choose a felling wedge?
Felling wedges come in almost all sizes ranging from 3-inches up to 12-inches. The ideal wedge size depends on the diameter of the leg being cut (the higher the dia. the larger the wedge size). Typically, these wedges are manufactured from softer materials such as ABS plastics and aluminum.
How do you get a tree to fall where you want it to?
Create a hinge in the trunk to steer the tree as it falls to the ground to ensure the tree falls the right way. To ensure your tree falls in the right direction, create a directional cut on the same side as you want the tree to fall. Next, make the felling cut by creating a horizontal cut from the opposite side.