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Took me 3 hours to figure out a bad wedge cut
Was dropping a big oak yesterday and my saw kept pinching no matter what I did. Turns out I was cutting my wedge too shallow, only about a third of the way through instead of halfway. Has anyone else wasted a ton of time on something this basic?
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rowan72521d ago
Man, I hear you. I remember reading something a while back from an old timer who said the wedge cut is the most overlooked part of falling trees, but it makes all the difference. He swore by going at least halfway through, sometimes even a hair more if the tree had a lean. Your story about the saw pinching sounds exactly like what I went through last spring with a big maple. I was getting so frustrated, thought my chain was dull or something, but nope, I just wasn't taking enough out. It's one of those things where you just gotta feel it out, but once you get that depth right everything just clicks. Your mileage may vary depending on the tree, but it's usually worth taking an extra minute to double check that cut.
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rowan_roberts4920d ago
Keep cutting the wedge deeper until you hear the tree start to crack, then get out of the way. I get what rowan725 is saying about feeling it out, but I've been doing this long enough to know that a lot of this wedge stuff gets overthought. @piperb93 you're overthinking it, man. A saw pinch is just part of the process, it's not the end of the world. You yank it out, reset, and move on. Half these guys act like a pinch is a life or death mistake. It's just wood and metal, not brain surgery.
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piperb9321d ago
You mentioned the old timer saying to go "a hair more" for leaners, and that really hit home. I was out last month with a big red oak that had a nasty lean, and I thought I was being smart by adjusting my wedge depth. Nope. I still didn't go deep enough, and my saw started pinching so bad I had to yank it out and start over. At that point I'm standing there talking to the tree like it's personally trying to embarrass me. It's probably the most basic thing you can mess up, but I swear every time I do it I feel like I've earned my rookie badge all over again.
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