Using a Felling Wedge When Cutting Down a Tree

Video Transcript

" Hi! I am Drew Finn here for Expert Village.com. We are going to discuss how to cut down a tree safely today. This video is brought to you by Black Dog Video. You can visit it on blackdogvideo.biz. The theory of the felling wedge is you take a notch out and this is that when it is already out obviously and we cut it out like this, about a third of the way through. We don’t want to go all the way through with it and the way the tree is going to fall is right along this line, perpendicular to that assuming the tree isn’t really leaning in another direction. So that’s in there like that, then we take… The wedge would be removed and then we take the felling cut and this one is at an angle. And as we cut down through, you always keep an eye on that gap here as you are cutting through and you also want to make sure that you are not cutting through one side a lot before the other one. So, you cut down, keep a good focus on that. On larger trees, you can use a felling wedge, which is a wedge like this, you slide in and you can hit with it a hammer and that will help. There is quite a mechanical advantage with the wedge and you can encourage the tree to go that direction. So, what you do is cut down part way, slide the wedge and then you cut the rest of the way. The wedge is plastic, so if you back out and hit it, you are not going to damage your saw. You might fly the wedge out, so be careful there, but as you cut down through and at this one… when I was down at this point, the tree starts going, I turn the saw off, pull it out, watch the tree and make sure I am escaping to the correct direction that it is falling away we believe it is going to be falling."