Tree jack vs felling lever
Updated: 22 October 2026
You searched for a felling jack and the carousel offers bottle jacks, hi-lift farm jacks, and cabinet poles beside cant hooks. If the tree is still standing and the lean fights you, the hand tools in the [felling jack comparison](/hub/forestry-tools/felling-jack) are not the same job as FISA’s tree jack. This page separates a felling lever and a timber jack on the ground from Technical Note 001 jacking in a notch. It does not teach notch dimensions or rank the listings. Peter F. used FISA, HSE, and the amazon.co.uk titles, and did not describe a jacking sequence. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
You searched for a felling jack and the carousel offers bottle jacks, hi-lift farm jacks, and cabinet poles beside cant hooks.
You searched for a felling jack and the carousel offers bottle jacks, hi-lift farm jacks, and cabinet poles beside cant hooks. If the tree is still standing and the lean fights you, the hand tools in the felling jack comparison are not the same job as FISA’s tree jack. This page separates a felling lever and a timber jack on the ground from Technical Note 001 jacking in a notch. It does not teach notch dimensions or rank the listings. Peter F. used FISA, HSE, and the amazon.co.uk titles, and did not describe a jacking sequence. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Type | Felling-aid claim | Foot or stand | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  Insaga Insaga timber jack | Timber jack | Not a standing-tree jack | Dual support | 9.8 | about £117.99 | View offer |
| Best value |  Unbranded Steel 51 in timberjack | Timber jack | Bullet claims a fall aid | Screw-on base | 8.8 | about £68.69 | View offer |
 ISTA ISTA 80 cm felling lifter | Felling lifter | Felling and turning claimed | Foot plate | 8.0 | about £44.92 | View offer |
On this page
What you can do with a lever
A felling lever is steel with a wedge toe and usually a hook to roll or tip. STIHL’s UK blog assigns it to smaller trees you can move over the hinge, and to rolling logs once they lie on the ground. Wedges still matter when the stem leaves that smaller class. The lever is an aid to hinge work and roll control, not hydraulic force against a heavy back lean.
A timber jack in this category adds a foot or stand so a fallen log clears the soil for chainsaw cross-cuts. UK reviewers on the steel jack describe that clearance on modest diameters. Insaga’s bullets claim a clamp lift near 25.4 cm. Neither tool is a bottle jack placed under a standing stem after a back cut. Cant hooks and peaveys share the rolling story. Husqvarna’s wedge lift on felling-tool pages sits near 50–60 mm, a different scale from a timber-jack lift bullet. More force on a standing tree is not a longer cant hook. Length and weight for the hand tools are on felling lever or timber jack.
What a tree jack is
FISA Technical Note 001, updated September 2025, describes tree jacking as a controlled fall against the lean, with more force than wedges or a breaking bar alone. It demands a competent jack technician, an assessment before setup, wedges that follow the jack so you never rely on the jack alone, a proper top plate with no home-made welds, and an escape route of at least three metres walked before work starts.
The note lists when not to jack: unsound wood, a stem that is the wrong size for the kit, gusting wind, a notch that is not level, hinge shear, lost direction, or wedges that never go in. Those are stop signs, not a householder sequence. Under 75 cm at the base, the note says the jack notch may be formed first in trained work. Do not treat that sentence as permission to copy the cuts from a listing.
Training and the stop signs
PUWER applies to falling jacks used with wedges at work. That sentence targets the hydraulic jack, not a cant hook in a firewood pile. HSE expects a certificate before chainsaw work on or in a tree. A narrow agricultural exception does not turn a garden buyer into a jack technician. A Lantra Level 2 award up to 380 mm is fell-and-process training, not a jacking ticket.
Farm jacks and bottle jacks in the search
Marketplace titles do not cite Technical Note 001 in the bullet list. A 20-tonne bottle jack sold for vehicles is still a vehicle jack until a competent jack technician selects it for that tree, with a top plate rated for the load path. Hi-lift farm jacks, wall jacks, cabinet poles, furniture lifters, and plastic wedges turn up in the same search and were left out of this comparison on purpose. None of them is the hand timber jack you roll under a log for firewood.
Seller lines that call a farm-jack frame the safest way to guide a fall conflict with FISA’s insistence on assessment, training, wedges, and an escape route. Refuse that line. The amazon.co.uk set on the main page contains no bottle jack, no top plate kit, and no FISA tree jack. If your basket holds hydraulic kit for a standing stem, you are outside this comparison and inside regulated jacking, or you step back to ground tools only. Householders are not exempt from PUWER when the work is at work, and goodwill does not replace competence on a hung-up leaner.
Stance and PPE for a log that is already down sit on how to use a timber jack.
Common questions
Is a felling lever a tree jack?
No. A felling lever assists hinge and roll work on suitable smaller stems and on logs that are already on the ground. Technical Note 001 jacking is a bottle jack in a notch, with wedges, a top plate, and a competent jack technician. The two tools are not substitutes.
Is a timber jack a tree jack?
No. A timber jack lifts a fallen log for cross-cuts with a foot and a hook. It is not a bottle jack set into a notch on a standing stem. UK notes on the steel listing describe chainsaw clearance, not a controlled fall against the lean.
Can I use a farm jack or a 20-tonne bottle jack in the back cut?
Not as a substitute for the Technical Note 001 method, training, a proper top plate, wedges, and an escape route of at least three metres. A vehicle jack remains a vehicle jack until a competent jack technician selects it for that tree. Title tonnage is not that selection.
Who is allowed to jack a tree at work?
FISA requires a competent jack technician, an assessment before setup, wedges that follow the jack, and equipment that meets PUWER where the work is at work. HSE expects a certificate before chainsaw work on or in a tree. A garden purchase does not create that competence.
Do wedges still go in if I have a jack?
Yes. Technical Note 001 requires wedges after the jack. You never rely on the jack alone. If wedges are not going in, the job stops. That rule belongs to trained tree jacking, not to a cant hook on a firewood pile.
Does a basic felling certificate include jacking?
A Lantra Level 2 award up to 380 mm is fell-and-process training. It is not a jacking ticket. Do not infer jacking competence from that course title, and do not treat a marketplace listing as the missing module.
Related pages
Sources
Public sources named in the research digest, plus the amazon.co.uk listings compared on this page. Prices captured 19 October 2026.
- UK FISA Technical Note 001: using a tree jack (retrieved October 2026)
- PUWER 1998 regulation 9 (retrieved October 2026)
- HSE: chainsaw personal protective equipment (retrieved October 2026)
- HSE: chainsaw operator guidance (retrieved October 2026)
- HSE: Chainsaws at work (INDG317) (retrieved October 2026)
- STIHL UK: forestry tools and accessories (retrieved October 2026)
- STIHL UK: cutting firewood with a chainsaw (retrieved October 2026)
- Ochsenkopf catalogue 2022 (OX 58) (retrieved October 2026)