Wedge pounders for big trees.

[SouthSoundTree]

You can jump ship and move to Oly, maybe. See the thread about job opportunities at Parks.

 

[Jed]

Yup. Will do Sean... Right now, in fact.

 

[Jed]

Thanks Sean. Just checked it out, and there don't seem to be any openings in your department yet (what is the official name of your dept. btw?) Anyway, at least you've given me some new avenues along which to think. I make a really good living--for an arborist--where I'm at.... it's just that I absolutely hate hedges. What a wuss eh?

 

[SouthSoundTree]

Yes, nothing yet. Potential Job Opportunity. Budget Biennium end June 30th. Could have a position open with the new Biennium, as soon as July 1st, but more likely take a couple months. Full disclosure: you'd be working with a couple atheists, one of whom retired from the religious department of a faith healing family 40 some years ago.

Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission.
Stewardship.
Arbor Crew West.

 

[Jed]

Sean: If it means anything to you, I'll say that most of the atheists I regularly communicate with on this site, would be far better representatives of Christ-like behavior than mine would these days. Life has a weird way of just kicking you in the teeth from time to time.

And then there's work... Most arbs would say I was out of my mind for wanting to jump ship. E.g. Today I got to stretch-out about four woods-growth Dougs, and a hand-full of Alders and B.L. Maples. Really fun day. I'll get another day tomorrow of falling, with some climbing to deadwood a big keeper-Fir. I just can't stand the fact that on Monday, I may well have the hedge shears in my hands for a day. I also can't get the woods-lust (if you know what I mean by that) out of my head for very long at all. I shld have been born a hundred years ago as a misery-whip faller. Failing that I shld have been born a modern faller, (I can't stand the idea of being a mere logger--you know: a choker-setter or something) so, anyway: you can see what a primadonna I am.

But about your friend: yeah man, Christian Scientists suck. I'm old enough to absolutely worship Metallica, and I can tell you: that James Hetfield is one messed-up son of a gun thanks to his "Faith-Healing" parents. God gave ya a brain: use it... ya know... Take the Penicillin dumb-ass!

 

[SouthSoundTree]

ha

 

[HolmenTree]

Well, there is the rafting axe ... but there's a time & place for both.

Right tool for the right job ...

... for the open minded, that is

Nice little rafting axe Jack, I lost mine at a training course last fall [someone needed it more then me] But according to the lady on the phone at Baileys it and the 5 lb model are no longer available, so I ordered the 5 lb Dayton axe with 28" straight handle. Madsens sells them too.
Al will like this axe ,made in Dayton, Ohio

Yeah I never could use a hammer. Next to the tree I like to stick my axe in the ground with the handle at a 45 for easy access and don't lose it.
Good for chopping off thick bark on the elms and maples we have here for better wedge placement. Ever get that sapling in swings way so you just chop it off at ground level, rather then bother with the saw. Ever get your saw pinched in a 4" top while limbing and topping a tree on the ground? Chop it off, saws free.

 

[Burnham]

 

[Al Smith]

You guys on the far coast have a much better affinity for an axe than we do in the heart land .Oh I pack one with me to the woods but I seldom use it .Chopping off poison ivy maybe .

Thumping wedge with an axe and Al Smith doesn't go together in the same sentence .It seems about every time I order something from Baileys I add in about 4 new wedges because I've beat the pizz out of the last bunch I ordered .I'm going to have to bite the bullit and buy those high priced ones I guess or practice my aim .

 

[Burnham]

They are considered an expendable item, not expected to last forever .

 

[Reddog]

They are considered an expendable item, not expected to last forever .

Yup, buy them by the dozen.

 

[Al Smith]

Well I never had that problem when I pounded steel wedges with an 8 pound sledge .I did have a couple bang me in the knee though .Felt so good after the swelling went down .Sunny beech that's like getting kicked by a mule .

 

[Jack]

 

[SouthSoundTree]

I found that cutting a kerf into a top bind, then slamming the mushroomed wedge a bit until its set, makes a good vice for shaving down the wedge with a saw. I have flung a few, backchaining, which is why I slam it in firmly now before wedge pruning.

 

[Jed]

I disagree with Christian Scientists. I believe that if God gave us brains that can invent helpful medicines, then we should take them.

(That is what the sober Jed in the morning would have written. I'm going down on my knees to repent--again--after this shoddy attempt at an edit.) Sorry Burnham: Steered a whacky course again and caught another rip!

Please forgive me.

 

[Cold Logging]

An axe is made to be swung cutting head first .With a curved handle conventional splitting axe it's just bass ackwards to swing it heel first .I don't know how you can hit anything with it that way .Well at least I can't hit anything that way,give me a BFH.

That's why the rafting ax was invented. A 5 lb rafting ax is just a bit heavier on the poll than on the bit. With a straight handle. I prefer a 36" handle as longer Handel's are hard to find . I pack a 28 oz riggin ax in a scabbard I made all the time when falling timber

 

[Cold Logging]

Stephen is a tad more generous than I...all choices but a single bit axe of sufficient head weight are simply wrong. Anyone who argues differently is clearly pursuing a deviant perversion of what is right and proper .

Though I will allow that Stig's prefered tools, both old and new, slip within allowable parameters by the barest of margins .

Agreed!!!!!!!

 

[Cold Logging]

Just a pic of me falling a 6,290 BD ft sitka spruce that needed a good bit of wedging.

 

[Cold Logging]

 

[flushcut]

Nice!

 

[Al Smith]

Since this thread got revisted I am going to get the axe out,the double bit cruiser .It's time to wack off the poison ivy before my grand chldren get into it .That old thing is about sharp enough to shave with .My dear departed dad could really put an edge on an axe .

 

[gf beranek]

I can't really say I ever knew a faller that kept his axe sharp. Too dangerous, and if you're chopping with it then you're doing something totally wrong. Today the only chopping a faller does with his axe is to get unstuck from a buck.

I preferred a short handle, but only because of working in redwood clumps. There's often no room to swing your axe between the trees and the old-growth stump. What often happens is the head deflects off one or the other and the handle hits you in the nutz. With a short handle no problem ever with that.

 

[oldtimber]

I like the short straight handles also, and like to keep the edge of a wedge driver within range of a little work with a raker file if I need it to bite, but not sharp enough to cut me. Now my woods axes are something else completely, they will most definitely shave.

 

[Al Smith]

What often happens is the head deflects off one or the other and the handle hits you in the nutz. With a short handle no problem ever with that.

Now let me tell the handle of an 8 pound BFH will drive you to your knees too .

 

[oldtimber]

Now let me tell the handle of an 8 pound BFH will drive you to your knees too .

Lol Al, thats when ya start bucking your handle with your saw, with a good dose of profanity!