Wedges

[AndyMan]

Do you sharpen your wedges or simply replace them? Mine get pretty heavy use, and many are worn down to where they now have quite the rounded edge.

 

[173abn]

Andy ,I keep mine sharp but more important than that any mushrooning on the head gets ground out,there are known cases of people dying or being seriously injured by chips flying off when striking with a sledge. russ

 

[KennyV]

russ is right about trimming the mushroom part... also on your chisels & punches...
You can bludgeon a blunt edge into anything but the struck surface, will change shape,
Flying chinks are not pleasant...
Sharp edges are much easier to drive... :smile:KennyV

 

[AndyMan]

Andy ,I keep mine sharp but more important than that any mushrooming on the head gets ground out,there are known cases of people dying or being seriously injured by chips flying off when striking with a sledge. russ

Uh oh. Most of mine have mushroom-head. I thought that just came with age. Those are harder to use, too, since they get down to that head then won't go in any farther. I use those as the hammering wedges, to hammer the non-mushroomed ones when splitting kindling inside for the wood stove.

So, do I just use my grinding wheel on both the wedge end and the head?

 

[173abn]

Andy,that's a roger on that.thats how I do it.I don't worry about loseing the tempre on them by using the grinding wheel,I've got the same wedges I started with 30 yrs. ago. russ