Felling wedges. Which brand is best

[Bthomasb3]

So guys lets talk about felling wedges.first what brand do you like ,what lasts the longest lifts the best ect.I am asking because i dont have enough experience with them to have a opinion.i have 5.5, 7.5 and 8 inch. Stihl and forester. I was cuting a 18 inch tree with a lot of back lean and just about destroyed my wedges so i though i would see what you all like before i buy more. I found some hardhead wedges at sheldon hill forestry that have a machined cap with a tang thats runs into the wedge, anyone using these? Thanks

[Old Greenhorn]

Where are you located? If you shop at Sheldon Hill, you must be pretty local to me. I had the smaller wedges and now find them useless except for oddball stuff like when I get a bar pinched, or using them to hold slabs apart when milling. For felling, I only use 10 inch long and up. Life is too short for small tools  ;D ;D ;D. Seriously, wedges are 'disposable tools'. They don't last forever, they are made so you can hit them with a saw and not hurt the saw. Mine get occasional nicks and I beat the heck out of them when needed so the heads swell pretty good, especially when I am tired and my aim sucks. I keep 3 ten inchers in my pouch and 1 or 2 short ones for those oddball things. Check out Baileys, they have a great selection with decent prices. I am sure there are other suppliers out there. Next time I order, I will try some of those hard headed ones to see how those work. I am not a pro, just a hacker. Your mileage will very.

[Riwaka]

In plastic - prefer oregon wedges
If you are destroying wedges usually might be pushing/ pulling the tree with a machine before then. Or taken branches off the tree to lighten/ rebalance the tree if skilled to do so. 

Koller mechanical wedges, hydraulic tree jacks  and aluminium wedges have their place. 

[Bthomasb3]

Im grom pa. I was looking online at sheldon hill for wedges.I know they are disposable but i pretty much ruined them on that one tree. If i would have let it fall the way it wanted it would have been no point in cutting it because it would have been in a deep gully and nobody wanted to go in there to carry it out. Im just a firewood cutter mostly, for 30 plus years, i do take down some problem trees for people on occasion but i dont have access to and machines and forgot my come a long that day. I enjoy cutting big trees but im smart enough to leave some alone. I think im going to get some of those hard heads and some husqavarna or redhead wedges, unless someone tells me why i should get something else.

[Old Greenhorn]

If you're in PA I am surprised you are not shopping at Stahls, but the prices seem all comparable within a buck or two. Yeah, I'd like to try those out next time around. Sheldon Hill is local to me, but I am a little mad at them, they were just up the road, but they moved two towns over so now I have to drive a 40 minutes to get there and they are only open till noon on Saturday. It's probably a good thing, because every time I would stop in to pick up some little doo-dad I would always walk out having spent a hundred bucks or more.

[BargeMonkey]

 Stahls prices especially on saws cant be beat, I will meet up with Adam for some 572s when he comes up again. 
 I like the red /whites, even the foresters work. Again they dont live forever. I carry 2 longer wedges but have one of the 5.5s in my back pocket, sometimes that's all you need. 
 I tried the metal capped hard head ones, eh its alot of money, they dont live that long and god forbit you hit it with the saw 😂 Consumable items like that are best bought at the show, Booneville is great for that 1x a yr type of thing. 

 Buy a Estwing ax and see how long it lasts in the woods. After the 2nd one in a short time I called them up, "they aren't meant to be used that hard".... was what I got on the phone. 👎never again. 

[Skeans1]

Look up Madsens they are a pro shop out here on the west coast, they have a catalog online great guys to deal with and very reasonable. Myself I carry a 15", 2 12" orange single lifts, 4 10" single lifts or 3 10" double lifts depending on the day and what's coming that day. These will last about a month if I'm cutting everyday depending on which beating iron I'm using if it's the 4 pound axe it's about a month if it's the 10 pound custom axe they might go 3 weeks.

[Old Greenhorn]

Buy a Estwing ax and see how long it lasts in the woods. After the 2nd one in a short time I called them up, "they aren't meant to be used that hard".... was what I got on the phone. 👎never again.

AH, THAT IS rich! In other words "We never expected you would actually HIT something with it!" Actually, it's surprising and Estwing wouldn't hold up, they make good stuff. Tat they didn't stand behind it is even more surprising.

[barbender]

The last few Oregon wedges I bought were still yellow, but a much more brittle plastic. Broke one in half, wasn't very impressed👎

[mills]

I do a lot of directional falling in big hardwoods. Diesel power is by far the quickest, most reliable means of controlling a contrary tree. But most of the time I'm by myself, or can't get the skidder in position to push or pull. So, for speed I pack a four lb. hammer with wedges that have the hard head ends. These are the only wedges that will hold up for me. I think they run $8 or $9 each. 

[thecfarm]

Bthomasb3,welcome to the forum.

[Bthomasb3]

Bthomasb3,welcome to the forum.

Thanks. I like it buts its taking me time to learn my way around. Im a little slow at times lol

[upnut]

My favorites are the ones I find at yard sales when some poor guys wife (or ex) is cleaning out the garage, usually for less than a buck... ;)...Scott B.

[leeroyjd]

K&H wedges hold up very well. 

[Plankton]

K&H wedges hold up very well.

Second that, that's all I use now drive and lift good and are hard to break. I like the "triple taper" 8s or 10s

[Grandpa]

Another vote for K&H. I use 8" and 10".

[VT_Forestry]

K&H RedHeads are all we buy, work great and very tough

[78NHTFY]

...just wondering, anyone build their own?  1" thick x 10" x 3" maple/ash/any good hardwood board off cut; to the bandsaw and slice at diagonal gives two nice wedges; some old spray paint for color, and voila!  Maybe 1/2 hours' work and you've got 10 good wood wedges.  Full disclosure: haven't done it (yet) ;D, but it sounds like a good idea, especially since I'm down to my two last chewed up wedges....and I'm a pretty cheap Yankee.  All the best, Rob.

[leeroyjd]

I make them from time to time and they are ok, but don't drive as well as plastic.

[Ed_K]

 I buy cheap wedges from Bailey's 7.5 an 12 green ones. I have made wooden ones when I ran out of plastic but they only last for one or two trees .

[lxskllr]

...just wondering, anyone build their own?  1" thick x 10" x 3" maple/ash/any good hardwood board off cut; to the bandsaw and slice at diagonal gives two nice wedges; some old spray paint for color, and voila!  Maybe 1/2 hours' work and you've got 10 good wood wedges.  Full disclosure: haven't done it (yet) ;D, but it sounds like a good idea, especially since I'm down to my two last chewed up wedges....and I'm a pretty cheap Yankee.  All the best, Rob.

I don't use them enough to worry about it too much, but if I were doing this professionally, I'd look into making my own out of /something/. It just irritates me to pay so much for a chunk of plastic. Of the wedges I've used(Oregon, Husqvarna, some US made brand I can't remember, and Stihl), I like the Stihl wedges best. They seem to be a smidge softer than the others, and don't fracture as readily.

[labradorguy]

I like the wedges that stay in my back pocket all day.

[Satamax]

Duh, am i the only one to think that for feeling, homemade wooden wedges can do the job quite well? 

Ok, i'm absolutely no expert. But, instead of plastic, you can have a dozen of oak, or whatever wedges, for a certain job. And you can always botch one up with the chainsaw, if you run out. 

[maple flats]

I use Madsen's Blue Ox single lift 12" wedges. I buy them 12 or 24 at a time. They run something like $7 each by the dozen if I remember correctly. I find that shorter wedges are too steep a taper and like to kick back out, I don't get that with the 12" ones. I last bought 4 dozen about 2006 or 7, I still have about 28 or so left, a couple have saw hits on them, but even then most are usable.

[coalsmok]

I have a couple stihl plastic wedges. My normal usage is a small limb or tree cut into a wedge with a chainsaw, usually because I left my plastic ones at the truck.