Simple wedge tip


difalkner

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I have a small office type trash can full of cedar shims in the shop. I toss all the offcut pieces back in the can. It's easy to grab for installs onsite too. Of course any time I taper something those scraps go in the can as well. Maple and mahogany shims occasionally add to the collection. 

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I sometimes find myself struggling with all sorts of crazy clamp configurations and other ad hoc nonsense, when, in hindsight, a couple of simple wedges would have done the trick. Every time I read an article or helpful post like this, it reminds me that sometimes the simplest solution is the correct one and I kick myself for not thinking of using wedges.

Obviously, I will forget it immediately, but great tip nonetheless!

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I use wedges all the time.  You can lift a house with wedges.   This first picture shows opposing wedges that were used to raise a sagging roof back up to flat.  First we built these huge trusses that tied all the ceiling joists together, and wedged the 4" sag up over the top of the trusses.  The chords on the 44' long trusses are 2x12's.  Shingles seen in that picture are 134 year old Cypress.  The rafter system was WAY underengineered in that 1850 house.   We raised it a lot more after this picture, but did it slowly over a couple of weeks.

 

wedgingraftersup.JPG

To raise this 1755 house back into position, in preparation for rebuilding the stone foundation, wedges were used on top of a shoulder on the temporary legs, under the repaired sill, to tighten everything up before bolting the legs to the house.  These wedges could easily lift the house off the jacks

CIMG2233.JPG

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