Mechanical felling wedge

[Locust Cutter]

I really like them, I think because the are really hard for a wedge and the STIHL wedges are soft... They work good together.
Now if it's a real bad leaner I just use this thing to pull it backwards.View attachment 56430

What brand/model of winch system is that?

 

[2manyhounds]

Figured I'd ask if any of you chaps have used a mechanical type felling wedge? Story goes I've just landed a job clearing round a site for 600 houses to be built, currently covered with some big deciduous British hardwoods. The terrain is awful, hell my truck even struggles on some of it! So most of the trees need felling against the natural lean either for access or to get them away from other structures.

With winching options being limited, I've looked at investing in one of these:

View attachment 56171

View attachment 56172
Big rotten beech that I'm not looking forward to. The terrain looks far better on this picture than it is.

The wedge is Hellish expensive, but it'll hopefully pay for itself over the course of the job. Did a rough guesstimation on a walk round the site and figure I've got about 250 hard leaners that need to go where they don't want to. This gives 15 tonnes of force apparently, and comes highly recommended in Germany where i believe it is manufactured.

Thoughts?

Throw all and a good rope go's a long way in those situations. It looks like you have some decent anchor points close enough to use with a GRCS or other mechanical advantage system. I've done a lot more ugly trees with ropes, Jack's scare me I've seen hinges peel and stumps split down, and with no rope for backup things go bad quickly

 

[blackop555]

Last attempt at stacking wedges on a 42inch pine I got slapped the mouth.

 

[Deets066]

Last attempt at stacking wedges on a 42inch pine I got slapped the mouth.

Ol' lady was pissed at ya?

 

[blackjack99574]

I've always wanted to try this on back leaners. Couldn't tell in the video but the cutter needed to put a bigger lip in the cut to prevent a stumps hot in case the tree jumped off the stump. Otherwise looked great. I think I'm going to bring a 20 ton jack with me and see how it goes. Yes it is heavy but I want enough power to get the job done.

 

[blackjack99574]

I called them, spoke to a woman, gave her the number, she gave me a price, when it came time for my address, as soon as I gave it to her, she said she couldn't sell it to me. Out of her area. She checked with someone, and I heard No in the background.
Not sure what else I could say.

I'm in Alaska but they still sell to me even though we have dealers up here. The dealers here in Alaska want $25 or more for a loop of 20" stihl chain. I can get much better deals out of Madsens even with shipping and insurance included. I usually buy a 100' roll of chain and tell them the lengths I need and they give me loop options to best use the whole roll. They make they loops and individually box them and label each one for me. It's the best price per link that way.

 

[jakethesnake]

You could get by with a lot less jack than a 20 ton. You are just tipping the tree. But a 20 will damn sure do it. I've never used any timber jacks

 

[RI Chevy]

Not exactly sure why she wouldn't sell to me. ???

 

[blackjack99574]

Your too far from her area. They told me one time they couldn't until I told them they have been for years and they had no problem selling to me. They sell all over the country so I'm not sure why they wont. Keep persisting you want to buy from them. They are great to work with.

 

[RI Chevy]

OK. I will try again.
Thanks for the tip.

 

[hseII]

What brand/model of winch system is that?

@jeepsnchainsaws.

 

[danimal]

Why not step the back side out and use a $30 bottle jack?

Been there, dun that, several times.
Used a duckbill on a portapower also.

 

[KiwiBro (deleted)]

You could get by with a lot less jack than a 20 ton. You are just tipping the tree. But a 20 will damn sure do it. I've never used any timber jacks

Here, we get plenty of Chinese origin jacks. My ones had 20t printed on the box but I'm confident they can't do more than about 8. When I raised this issue with the supplier, I received ...silence.