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[woodworkingboy]

Bucks sitting flat on the ground or close to it, are my nemesis for getting the bar stuck. Average once per day or so. I never use a wedge when bucking.

 

[SkwerI]

Well there's the problem right there, Jay. A small bucking wedge is super handy in that situation.

 

[Al Smith]

It's not so bad to hang one on the ground but sticking one 40 foot up in a tree sucks with a half life .

 

[woodworkingboy]

You are likely right, B, or I think I should have learned not to get stuck by now.

 

[High Scale]

First guy I worked for told me that you will get your saw stuck as you progress in tree work it will just happen less often.

I never get my saw stuck...

 

[Blinky]

It's not so bad to hang one on the ground but sticking one 40 foot up in a tree sucks with a half life .

I've done that.

I don't stick'em on the ground much anymore since I started using a bucking technique I learned from Gerry's book and from I think Willie or Squish in a thread here. I usually have a wedge in my back pocket when bucking too, just plain handy.

 

[woodworkingboy]

I'd get a lot more stuck if I didn't rip it out just in time.

 

[Al Smith]

I don't seem to stick them as much but every so often I get humbled thinking I'm better than I am . Reality seems to bite you in the buttocks from time to time .

 

[woodworkingboy]

Getting stuck can lead to a calamity of affairs. A couple weeks ago I got stuck when bucking a large pine log right on top of a stump. The mini operator came over and lifted up the log to help me, but once he raised it up a bit, the bind got even worse and the log was too heavy to move in any direction. He had to set the log down again and jammed the power head against the stump, and it twisted the bar and broke off an alignment pin off the saw that fits in the bar slot. Removing the powerhead would have been the way to go, or another cut in the log, but just one of those times where intelligence was not to be found..

 

[SkwerI]

What gets me is when I'm making a stump cut and ask for a wedge and they come over and 'help' by banging the wedge in on the opposite side of the stump from where I need it. Every. Single. Time. :what:

 

[Al Smith]

Oh Lawdy I've had two stuck and had to get a third to unstick the other two .It would have been a tad of an embarassment had anybody seen it but me .Chit happens .

 

[SouthSoundTree]

Bucks sitting flat on the ground or close to it, are my nemesis for getting the bar stuck. Average once per day or so. I never use a wedge when bucking.

My take is that a better sawyer will stick the saw less, but not "never".

I think that a bucking wedge or two can allow you more options, and can actually lift a log off the ground, at times, allowing the cut the progress through, top down with gravity. I usually use two or three long wedges. I can hold the narrow tip of one wedge and swing the heavy end to tap the wedges in, with surprising ease and efficiency. If the wedge is rotating at your finger tips, and the top end is moving reasonably fast, you often don't need to have a pounder (I don't like carrying around my 5 pound maul, which I use as my "gentle persuader".)

Maybe you know all this, maybe it will help.

Jerry B. talked about a reaming cut. Maybe what Blinky alludes to???
This is very useful. I you are cutting into a top bind, and keep working your saw in and out, reaming the cut, you are effectively plunging in, keeping th kerf kerf-width, with the top of the log closes the kerf to zero. This serves the same function that the wedges do in the top-bind. You can get the effect, without having to go get the wedges.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

You will rarely ever have to go back to get the wedges if you just take a couple with you.

 

[High Scale]

Here you go Burn

 

[Blinky]

Righteous dogs!

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Nice!

 

[Burnham]

There ya go!