The Wedge

slowburner

Could there possibly be a simpler tool than the humble wooden wedge?
There are probably very few inventions to equal its versatility or power.

It's been around for the past 9,000 years.

(......and for the mechanically minded amongst you, the screw is defined as 'a wedge on an inclined plane')

Carlow52

and for the mechanically minded amongst you, the screw is defined as 'a wedge on an inclined plane')

This is another definition
Definition of Screw
Screw
A cylinder, or a cylindrical perforation, having a continuous rib, called the thread, winding round it spirally at a constant inclination, so as to leave a continuous spiral groove between one turn and the next, -- used chiefly for producing, when revolved, motion or pressure in the direction of its axis, by the sliding of the threads of the cylinder in the grooves between the threads of the perforation adapted to it, the former being distinguished as the external, or male screw, or, more usually the screw; the latter as the internal, or female screw, or, more usually, the nut.



Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/words/sc/screw216607.html#ixzz1hqPxs3la

slowburner

But it doesn't mention the action of the wedge. The passage of the thread through the timber, or whatever, is a wedging action by virtue of their inclination.

fergal.b

It's just another version of the wedge and has also been around since the dawn of time.
The peg

slowburner

fergal.b wrote: »

It's just another version of the wedge and has also been around since the dawn of time.
The peg

And much under used it is too.

1chippy

combine a sledge with the wedge and alls sorted.:D

slowburner

When you see a wedge being used to fall a massive tree in another direction to the way it naturally wants to go, you realise how powerful they are.

No well built staircase will ever creak if wedges have been used in the stringer housings.

And one of my favourite of all joints - the tusk tenon - brilliant if your timber isn't 100% dry.

Not to mention their versatility in operations like lifting doors or for bringing one surface up to another as you do with folding wedges

1chippy

we were told in college that years ago, prior to blasting i think. they used to use tapered beech wedges driven into cracks on the top of rock faces. these were driven in and then water was poured around them so that the beech would swell and split off grains of rock.

slowburner

1chippy wrote: »

we were told in college that years ago, prior to blasting i think. they used to use tapered beech wedges driven into cracks on the top of rock faces. these were driven in and then water was poured around them so that the beech would swell and split off grains of rock.

Funny you should mention this. I have been researching an old quarry near me where granite was split this way.
Here is a photo of a stone showing the second stage of the process - the stone has been roughly split along the line of bore holes.
The technique dates back to the Neolithic period.

Double Barrel

The practice has being around for a few years for sure. The Greeks and Romans used it to quarry marble. A few years after Neolithic period.

Best Wishes for the New Year.

slowburner

And the same to you

slowburner

Ironically, this wedge tomb in county Wicklow shows a fine big granite boulder which has been split very neatly in two to form the supports (orthostats) for the massive cap stone or megalith. In all probability, wedges were used to split the stone using the technique mentioned above. This is not where the term 'wedge' tomb comes from, by the way; it refers to the common shape of this style of construction.