# Splitting Wedge



## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

I use a hydraulic splitter but I have a few mauls and axes around if they should ever be needed. Some wood is really tough to split so I was thinking I may want to have a wedge or two around. Anyone have any experience with one of these.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...IN=B00DT0PEUY&linkCode=as2&tag=survivalcom-20


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## bacpacker (Jul 15, 2011)

I have one that has a little use on it. IMO it works a little better than a normal wedge. Nothing game changing though. I also have one of the wedges that is a square on top and tapers all the way down to a point. It is easier to get started, but doesn't work any better other wise.

I do like the fact I have 3 different models, should one get messed up.

I use a splitting maul more than mallet and wedge thought. It just seems more efficent to me.


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## AdmiralD7S (Dec 6, 2012)

UncleJoe said:


> I use a hydraulic splitter but I have a few mauls and axes around if they should ever be needed. Some wood is really tough to split so I was thinking I may want to have a wedge or two around. Anyone have any experience with one of these. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DT0PEUY/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00DT0PEUY&linkCode=as2&tag=survivalcom-20


If the wood seems hard but has a soft spot in it, those wedges sink right in and are a pain to get out. Don't ask me how I know >.<


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## Sparky_D (Jun 3, 2013)

While I have used the wedge style, I prefer the cone shaped ones like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Truper-Graden-Tool-WG-4X-C33098-Collins/dp/B000QTMT7W

Never had a knot it couldn't power through...


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## cnsper (Sep 20, 2012)

I always use just normal old wedges. They work fine for me. I do have about 4 of them incase one gets stuck


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

If you wait until it is below zero outside the wood splits much easier. Plus it warms you up. Ask me how I know 
I have tried many different methods but I never tried the round wedges, kinda like these.......


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

Tree selection is important. A tree at the edge of a field/open area would have had many limbs in its youth. It would have many, many hidden knots making it very hard to split. I’m taking about hardwoods… Hickory's are very prone to this. 

I, like everyone else, take fallen trees as I get them. When I get to choose I pick a tree that grew in thick timber far from direct sunlight. Such trees grow straight and tall and have very few knots. They are great for splitting.


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

Speaking of splitting… white oak was chosen for making cotton baskets, more often used when pulling corn in the fall, in my era. Actually great wood for any basket. I helped my grandfather make several baskets in the ‘60s, two of which I still use.

Not only did he choose a white oak from thick timber, he chose one that grew on the north side of a hill. It would have grown very slowly, very tight rings. Fantastic for precision splitting.

White oak splits are referenced in “The Foxfire Book” (#1) but not where to select the tree… I always thought it odd they left that out... I'm sure the old folks knew it and told them!


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

K loves his wedge like the one you have pictured but he still ends up using the normal wedges for bigger logs.


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## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

I have quite a few wedges of two different sizes. They are very useful as everyone knows but few people actually don't think much about them till they need them. 
Most wedges are cast and that leaves the surface a little rough. They need to be doctored a bit when you buy them. Your axe has smooth sides, your maul has smooth sides, why not the wedges? Take a belt sander, file or whatever to smooth both faces down. That will make them a lot easier to use.
Also get you a 3-4 pound short handled sledge hammer, a one handed model. Use that to start the wedge instead of the backside of the maul or a larger sledge. I can't tell you how many times I have had or seen someone else try to start a wedge with a cumbersome long handled tool and the wedge ends up shooting off and hiding or hitting someone else.
Have a good size sledge around to use on the wedge. The maul is not really made as a blunt striking tool. A decent sledge will make splitting much easier.

Another tip is to paint them florescent orange. They like to play hide and seek when you are busy splitting and moving wood.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

I've used them. IMO they aren't any better (or worse) than a standard wedge but if it was cheaper I'd buy it first.


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## Plainsman (Nov 29, 2013)

I use splitting wedges too; I have 3, old fashioned type, varying widths....narrow to wide. One caveat that may be stating the obvious, but I learned the hard way: with a few seasons of use, the wedges start 'mushrooming' with the repeated blows of the sledge hammer or maul.....last winter a fragment of steel flew off the mushrooming end as I hit it and sliced into my arm. The accident cost me 4 stitches.....emergency room doctor said he gets a few cases like that every winter.....sometimes the fragments get embedded in flesh and have to be extracted.

The obvious solution is to grind off the mushrooming ends of one's splitting wedges with a power grindstone before they get that too deformed.


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## smaj100 (Oct 17, 2012)

I've been splitting a hickory tree that was given to me. I have several normal wedges, one of the 4 ways and 1 of the pointed ones. The pointed one tends to jump outta the wood more than any of the others. I've also found hitting the wood with an axe and starting a groove for the wedges to dig into. Just my .02 worth.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

I use a 35 ton splitter most of the time. 

I have a couple regular wedges and one of the "round" ones like the others pictured. I think it's called a "wood grenade". It works fine, but IMO it's just another wedge. Like MMM said, it's not a game changer but if it's cheaper, go that way and save the cash.


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## HamiltonFelix (Oct 11, 2011)

I grew up with mauls and wedges. No matter how good my maul, I'd keep two or three wedges around the place. Back then, we didn't have the new odd shaped wedges, just plain steel wedges. 

BTW, if you use them hard, wedges can mushroom on the top. Fire up your bench grinder from time to time and keep your mauls, wedges and sledges clean of mushroomed metal. I have seen a wedge struck hard, launch a sharp piece of steel that hit my friend in the belly and penetrated the skin like something from a fragmentation round. We had fun removing it. I've also seen this with cold chisels in a work environment. 

We used oval eye mauls, usually 8 pound though I had one ten pounder as a kid. I always felt that handle design gave better control than the round ones I saw in sledges. We had a few sledges around, but seldom used them splitting wood. The maul was the norm, the wedges only for what we couldn't split with the maul. For that intermittent use, the 8 or 10 lb. maul was sufficient to drive the wedges. 

Yep, I've become a believer in bright paint, though it certainly does wear off. 

We had a few falling wedges on the place, too. But that's another tale, of interest mostly to loggers in big timber.


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## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

This is what I really want! WARNING! Logger porn.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

I think everyone should have at least a felling wedge or two, even/especially for those without a lot of experience. When you get a saw stuck a wedge can make a big difference to your machine, rather than wrestling it out. The cheap orange plastic wedges are one of the only plastic things I actually don't hate most of the time.

While that device is certainly cool JustCliff, you can pick up a hydraulic spreader that will perform similarly for not a lot of money, they also typically have a lot of other uses. Just for example, all this is for $150;


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## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

Any Black Smith worth his salt cleans his/her chisels, before the mushroom splits into fragments.
A logger worth his salt does the same with his wedges also.
If you are a homesteader/rancher/farmer then you have to wear many hats, keep up safety & most of these thing are common sense.
Living though world war III, the SHTF,zombi attacks so you can bleed out & die because you had a mushroom frig cut a main blood vessel, could be the last embarrassing thing you will ever do.


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## Plainsman (Nov 29, 2013)

crabapple said:


> Any Black Smith worth his salt cleans his/her chisels, before the mushroom splits into fragments.
> A logger worth his salt does the same with his wedges also.
> If you are a homesteader/rancher/farmer then you have to wear many hats, keep up safety & most of these thing are common sense.
> Living though world war III, the SHTF,zombi attacks so you can bleed out & die because you had a mushroom frig cut a main blood vessel, could be the last embarrassing thing you will ever do.


Yeah. That's how I felt and what I thought when I learned it the hard way.:brickwall:


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

HamiltonFelix said:


> I grew up with mauls and wedges. No matter how good my maul, I'd keep two or three wedges around the place. Back then, we didn't have the new odd shaped wedges, just plain steel wedges.
> 
> BTW, if you use them hard, wedges can mushroom on the top. Fire up your bench grinder from time to time and keep your mauls, wedges and sledges clean of mushroomed metal. I have seen a wedge struck hard, launch a sharp piece of steel that hit my friend in the belly and penetrated the skin like something from a fragmentation round. We had fun removing it. I've also seen this with cold chisels in a work environment.
> 
> ...


Good advice.

I've a couple of dozen wedges, handed down. I've a few seasoned felling wedges my grandfather made (plastic wasn't always available  ). They are best made from seasoned wood surrounding a big knot in a hickory tree, natural shape.

The steel wedges I have are a problem. My dad was a tool and die maker. He had a habit of picking up wedges of steel from exotic metals. One word&#8230; Dangerous! Three words&#8230; They Have Advantages!

Sometimes I'll ask dad (in his 80's) about a particular wedge&#8230; I usually get a story that has nothing to do with that wedge&#8230; 

But the stories are priceless&#8230;


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## HamiltonFelix (Oct 11, 2011)

That blue hydraulic gizmo was cool. I don't often see wedges of any sort used on trees that small, but it was cool. When I was in my early 20's, harvesting firewood, I sometimes used a chainsaw winch that was a capstan with a stretchy polyester kernmantle rope; I'd just grab the tree as high as I could conveniently put the line, then put a tension on it before dropping the tree. It was pretty quick, and I usually managed to land them where we wanted them. 

Sure wish I knew what became of Dad's little chainsaw winch. We ran it off a little Homelite Super EZ saw, and it was handy. All the chainsaw winches I see now are cable types, and generally not cheap. 

The really old wedges from the days of crosscut saws and nothing but old growth, are steel, very long, and very thin. Later wedges in the age of chainsaws and small timber got smaller with a bit more taper, and effort was made to make them of material that would not harm the chainsaw if the wedge was bumped. I think Dad may still have a magnesium wedge, and most common with guys dropping trees these days would be wedges in an assortment of brightly colored plastics.

They say more guys have been hurt in the woodlot that in professional falling. Maybe that's true. People don't respect the trees, get careless, then suddenly a leaning Alder "barberchairs" and comes back on a person. Small trees can kill you, too. 

Back to the splitting wedges: This thread is a good reminder to me to take stock and see if I need any more. Haven't been cutting wood lately, and I lose track. Got my splitter back, so I should check out the engine on that and make sure it's OK. My saws still run, though I should face the fact that all but my more modern Husqvarna are sort of in the "disposable" category, once they quit. The Poulan I inherited from Mom was always disposable. The Homelites are just too old to find parts anymore. I must admit that the more modern Stihl and Husky saws are nicer to use, with all the CounterVibe handles and such.


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## headhunter (Nov 21, 2008)

I inherited a home made wedge from my father. Someone had taken an old axle from a rr car and tapered two sides. I go along with the bright paint on wedges making them easier to find. Mine are painted bright pink! There is never an issue wich are mine.


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## tc556guy (Apr 28, 2011)

This thread is pertinent to my interests, as I happened to just buy the very wedge that OP listed.
Just moved into a new ( to me ) house; the ex got to keep all the hand tools we had at the old marital residence so I have to start over buying new.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

tc556guy said:


> This thread is pertinent to my interests, as I happened to just buy the very wedge that OP listed.
> Just moved into a new ( to me ) house; the ex got to keep all the hand tools we had at the old marital residence so I have to start over buying new.


Sorry for your situation. I guess maybe some good news is now that you're older and wiser you can buy the right tools.


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## tc556guy (Apr 28, 2011)

goshengirl said:


> Sorry for your situation. I guess maybe some good news is now that you're older and wiser you can buy the right tools.


Thanks.
I've never been one in favor of buying the cheap stuff, but yeah starting over is a good opportunity to buy newer or better stuff than maybe what I had before


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## wrs25936 (Apr 15, 2014)

I have a hydraulic splitter, but also have splitting maul and wedges. The wedges belonged to my grandfather, then my dad and now me. The wedges are kept on a shelf in the tool shed as a reminder of life before the hydraulic splitter, and for emergencies.


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