Timber Framers Guild Forums Tools Tool Forum Making your own tools - dogwood wedges or gluts

I made these dogwood wedges (or gluts) last week with a bow saw and hatchet. Dogwood is easily shaped with a sharp axe when "green", but is extremely tough to work once it has been dried. This toughness really make it good wedge material. We had to cut some trees down, and couple of the trees that had to be cut down were dogwoods. The trunks were cut into 18"-22" lengths and both ends were sharpened.





WIth both ends sharpened, the lengths were cut in half with a bow saw.





Then the tops were beveled to prevent splitting.





I have found that dogwood wedges are very durable, light weight, and can work as well as iron wedges. They can usually be made from "found" wood or trees that have been cut when clearing.
*And, of course, always use good technique and safety equipment.

Nice post, thanks for sharing...

I often make my own wedges on the job, out of the limbwood of the tree I just felled and need to split. That way, I can make wedges customized to the log needing split, longer wedges are nice for especially large logs but too much hassle for smaller logs, and this way I also don't have to worry about beating them up too bad.

But then we don't have dogwood hereabouts either, so that could make a difference.

I am a fan of making things instead of buying them, it's a good mindset to have!

The first thing I used the dogwood wedges for was to make a mallet. A cut was made with the bow saw and the wedges were used to "waste" the wood around the handle.