Stihl Alive,
Yeah, that's the second time I referenced Underwear Goes Inside the Pants, a song from 2004 by Lazyboy. It's mostly spoken word over a less than memorable beat. A guy with those creative writing "book smarts" might enjoy it, give it a listen.
And yes, though I chose to go to a school to learn to climb, I've helped several new climbers into the trees by starting them small on the ground.
So here's a practice drill for your next stump. That backcut simply cannot be coming in below your facecut, nor can it be high one side low the other. On your next stump you will make cuts from each side that match perfectly, not one inch high as you would want with a backcut, not low, but match, front to back, side to side. Until you can do this, you do not have sufficient saw control.
The facecut hinge should also be perpendicular the run of the trunk, accommodating for any side-lean.
For a demonstration of this take a soft plastic drinking straw, the bigger the diameter the better and put a perpendicular fold in it about two inches from one end, crease it well. That end now becomes the bottom or stump. Hold the straw bottom down perfectly vertical on a flat surface and aim your folded straw "tree" exactly where it needs to go and bend at your fold. Easy, right?
Now take another straw, fold and crease it about 15 degrees off of perpendicular. Hold this straw so that your fold, your "hinge" is parallel to your flat surface and aim the hinge perpendicular to where the "tree" needs to go.
You will see that a horizontal hinge is not always your friend. Now try the 0 degree fold straw at a side lean angle. You should begin to see the effects a cutter can have with his hinge, why understanding it is so important, and how skills with a chainsaw are paramount because if you get your facecut wrong, you can't just ask for another straw.
I'm expecting at least 14% of this post to be helpful.
But you still would not be up a tree on my crew until 99% of your ground based cuts were effective.
RedlineIt
