You can immediately see the logical link to the "inclined-plane" and the wedge is a portable, often hand held, version. It is used to separate two objects or to split an object into two pieces. A wedge converts force applied to the blunt end to a force perpendicular (at 90 degrees) to its inclined surfaces. Mechanical advantage is hard to calculate as frictional forces are very much at play.

This is the counterpart of the ramp, which uses small force over a large distance. Here large forces, usually from "hammers"/], cause incremental small movements which gradually separate the target objects. A special case here is the historical use of wooden wedges in quarrying and lumbar industries where they were soaked in water, causing expansion which splits the wood or stone over a period of hours or days... Particularly effective in Winter where the water freezes and expands more rapidly the mechanical advantage was using large numbers of wedges rather than large forces.

Door stops are probably the most commonplace example. Here the forces of a sprung door are turned 90 degrees onto the floor so friction keeps the door open.