Any of you collect or use old logging tools?

[BargeMonkey]

Jeff has posted pics of his in the past. Others have too.

Not a common item to find out here. We have piles of old tools, saws, antique farm stuff but have only found 1 of them.

[Offthebeatenpath]

Just saw this thread as I came in for early lunch- we plan on testing out our old "dynamite wedge" today in fact.  I'll see if I can get a video.

My family has run an auction business for many decades, so my basement is full of axes, crosscuts, peaveys, etc. I like to fix them up and get em back into hands that will use them. Right now I have a plethora of decent peaveys if anyone is looking for one...

[Corley5]

All my stuff is old.  Even my Logrites have been around for a while  ;D  We've got several old crosscut saws, cant hooks, many axes etc. in buildings around the place.

[Jeff]

My dad hunted down a "dynamite wedge", which was a popular thing here back when the tannerys where going, the hemlock bark was used and the monsters where split with the wedge to get them on the saw carriage. I will have to get a picture of it, but it does work. Drive it in the log, couple scoops of gun powder and a fuse, light it and RUN.  :D

Actually, they are normally referred to as a Powder Wedge. I still have one in my collection that is new with the label still on it and I have the original literature and hardware receipt for it's purchase. Here is a picture of it and it's display copy of the liturature where it is displayed in the "Forestry Forum Museum" ;)

[Ljohnsaw]

So were the powder wedges a one-time use?  I cannot make out the instructions.  Can you describe the use?

[beenthere]

Put another powder charge in (and a fuse) and they are set to go again. IIRC

[Ljohnsaw]

But...  Do you drive it in with a sledge, hitting the red part?  Somehow, I don't see that holding up.  I take it you put black powder in the opening on the wedge?  Or is the wedge shot out from the red chamber like a cannon?

[Jeff]

But...  Do you drive it in with a sledge, hitting the red part?  Somehow, I don't see that holding up.  I take it you put black powder in the opening on the wedge?  Or is the wedge shot out from the red chamber like a cannon?

You would load the powder into the wedge, then drive it into the log using a sledge I would imagine. you load and pack the powder in through the port in the wedge blade. That is also where the blast is emitted from.  It would hold up certainly from the driving in, as it is very very heavy. hold up to the blast? Dunno.

They were reusable if you could find them. :D   There was an "optional" cap  and chain you could purchase so you could secure it to the log to help keep it from leaving the scene.

It was certainly an unnecessary tool, but they were sold in many styles and are HIGHLY collectible. I doubt another unused one of the style I have exists outside of mine, and the one that I sold several years ago.

I say unnecessary because its a simple matter of either cutting a slit, or boring a hole in the log and packing with powder to blow one. One does not really need the wedge.

[Jeff]

 

  

 

[jocco]

Jeff for what its worth my father used to tell me, back when, they used to bore into a stick or short log and load it with powder, cap it off and light it This split tough logs and also was common for kindling. You could buy dynamite at at stores for stump/beaver dam removal. He always said they were pretty selective about who they sold it to!!!! : Guess it was just a different method of doing things. Also when I was a kid it was not uncommon to find dynamite/powder in old buildings!! 

  

 

[BargeMonkey]

I've got to digo ors out and post a picture, looks nothing like yours Jeff, ours looks like a big pencil with spiral grooves on the last few inches

[loggah]

The 2 i have just have a sharpened tapered end and you drive the unit itself into the end of the log,then touch it off. works best if you put another log,dozer blade or excavator bucket against it to keep it from flying.

[51cub]

I collect anything I'm interested in. The plan is always to make it usable again. I have a couple crosscut saws, and one or two old chainsaws around. My big problem is the same one I imagine everybody has. I need more room

[timberlinetree]

Those are some neat tools! Thanks for sharing. I have a few old hand saws and 20-30 old chain saws. I just started collecting obsolete snow removal tools from New England: 3 no running snowblowers and a snow plow. :D