If my work in the same sort of conditions Austin is describing are anything like similar, there is simply too much cutting required in the day to waste unnecessary time with wedges on otherwise simple bucking scenarios...if you can read binds well .Wedges are cheap insurance.
My boss has a farm drive that gets washed out every time it rains. When I get on his ass about fixing it, I get told it washes out cause the house next to built a swale that directs water to the drive. The swale's still there cause it's on someone else's property, and the drive still washes out. Identifying the problem is only the first step, and it sounds like Austin's gonna take care of it, assuming his man "gets" it(some people never do regardless of what task we're talking about), but in the meantime, wedging a cut is *much* quicker than freeing a trapped bar.Smart saw work is far more efficient...in other words, in this situation, wedges are not cheap insurance
I'm lust curious how often you expert loggers get pinched in a day, week, or month. In my opinion residential workers are at a disadvantage in the sense they don't cut as many trees per day to stay on top of their bind reading skills. Then again, loggers have many more opportunities to get pinched. Where I work, most of the tree is already in relatively small pieces before anyone on the ground has to do some cutting. 2 days ago we were working on a huge fallen tree. The boss got started as I was sharpening a saw, and I finished just in time to find his saw in a bind and cut it free. I then cut the rest (90%) of the tree, and got pinched 3 times, freed by a machine since a wedge wasn't handy.If my work in the same sort of conditions Austin is describing are anything like similar, there is simply too much cutting required in the day to waste unnecessary time with wedges on otherwise simple bucking scenarios...if you can read binds well .
Smart saw work is far more efficient...in other words, in this situation, wedges are not cheap insurance .
Key word: "most times"If you're not sure, just slow down a bit and pay attention to your kerf. Most times, it will warn you before getting to the point of no return. I rarely use wedges, but I will stick a twig or two into the kerf if I know it's going to pinch.
I'm lust curious how often you expert loggers get pinched in a day, week, or month. In my opinion residential workers are at a disadvantage in the sense they don't cut as many trees per day to stay on top of their bind reading skills. Then again, loggers have many more opportunities to get pinched. Where I work, most of the tree is already in relatively small pieces before anyone on the ground has to do some cutting. 2 days ago we were working on a huge fallen tree. The boss got started as I was sharpening a saw, and I finished just in time to find his saw in a bind and cut it free. I then cut the rest (90%) of the tree, and got pinched 3 times, freed by a machine since a wedge wasn't handy.
I thought I was doing pretty good, but I knew that there probably are methods I am not familiar with or fluent using that could decrease the chance of a pinch, especially if the bind is particularly hard to read.
Yup, most of the time you don't have the convenience of heavy equipment so you better plan accordingly.Pinched in a bind that requires another saw or a machine to retrieve your bound saw? Well under half a dozen times a year...and most years, never.
And do not take my earlier post in this thread to mean I eschew use of wedges to protect against getting pinched...far from it. I never go into clearing fallen trees without a wedge in my pocket, and a falling axe at hand...I just don't need to use them very often.
Pinched so I had to yank on the saw a bit, or sometimes pound in a wedge to generate clearance? A whole lot more often than 6 times a year .
But I was never a day in and out production logger. My experience is more based on hazard tree felling and bucking, and storm damage clearance.