Its Heeeere. A Game Of Logging Class

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I've taken the class and look at it this way... Its another tool to put in the toolbox. Not for every tree or every situation. But the techniques they teach have their time and their place.
 
I know a few guys that have done the GOL thing and that is all they do, bore cut bore cut bore cut. One guy isn't too religious with it, but he bore cuts the heart out of every single tree, regardless of species and degree of lean or no lean.

Was with one guy a few weeks ago, helping him with a little burn salvage at his place.

He proceeds to make a very shallow face in a back-leaning oak. Says he'll wedge it over.

I told him "ehhhh, I don't know. Got some decent back-lean to it." After three minutes of whacking weges, he ended up tripping the tree.

GOL doesn't seem to teach people that the whole purpose of an undercut is to undermine a (well balanced) tree's center of gravity.
 
forestryworks said:
GOL doesn't seem to teach people that the whole purpose of an undercut is to undermine a (well balanced) tree's center of gravity.
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That's exactly right, and I believe it's intentional. I'm pretty sure that the purpose of GOL is to make it possible for anybody to put a pesky yard tree down without hurting themselves. It's a basic and almost idiot-proof methodology, and it works for what it is intended to work for. Where it fails is anyplace things aren't exactly as demonstrated in the class. There is simply no substitute for experience. Mistakes are often worth way more than successes.
 
madhatte said:
That's exactly right, and I believe it's intentional. I'm pretty sure that the purpose of GOL is to make it possible for anybody to put a pesky yard tree down without hurting themselves. It's a basic and almost idiot-proof methodology, and it works for what it is intended to work for. Where it fails is anyplace things aren't exactly as demonstrated in the class. There is simply no substitute for experience. Mistakes are often worth way more than successes.
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Well, yup, as long as the mistakes don't lay ya up...or worse somebody nearby.
 
Lol, just testing ya to see if dreams of retirement were setting in on a Sunday night! :)

On another aspect of GOL, concerns me is if insurance and states
pick up on these courses as a mandatory panacea for injury reduction. Completely oblivious to long standing and accepted local practices. In short, "getting it rammed down ya throat."
At this point, this will have less effect personally, but could catch a lot of those in the business.

just my thinking
 
it'll happen , we are the gov, and we are here to saveyou from yourselves.:dizzy:
 
Back in the mid 70s I used to read everything I could find on using a chainsaw. IIRC I read some information from Husqvarna on bore cutting. I think I tried it back then. I did not hear of GOL till a few years ago. But yesterday I bored a couple of leaners. Hhm. I'm conflicted. Am I a votary and don't know it?

Here is an article calling Soren Erickson "revered".
Individual Tree Selection Harvesting

Common sense just flew out the window.
 
it may sound cruell, but i think they should throw all regulation out the window and let the gene pool clean it self up.
 
2dogs said:
Back in the mid 70s I used to read everything I could find on using a chainsaw. IIRC I read some information from Husqvarna on bore cutting. I think I tried it back then. I did not hear of GOL till a few years ago. But yesterday I bored a couple of leaners. Hhm. I'm conflicted. Am I a votary and don't know it?

Here is an article calling Soren Erickson "revered".
Individual Tree Selection Harvesting

Common sense just flew out the window.
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Lol, that's borderline, 2dogs, really borderline...

Now, if ya start selling gol hats, that's a serious transgression here.

:laugh:
 
Natural Selection in this case, might take out some innocent bystanders.

Not meaning we need more regulations, but lets keep people thinking about outcomes, like powerlines, houses, pipes, highways and that car of lost touristas coming up the road because they want to see the volcano. I chased a bunch of "no speak inglis" brush pickers out (Yo hablo espanol un poco) who were wandering over to where fallers were working. You never can tell.

Even you fallers can screw up and have a tree go the wrong way. Remember??? How long ago???

So, keep on thinking-- and there won't be publicity, and there won't be new rules.

Now, did you GOL graduates get a hat? Or did you have to pay extra? :hmm3grin2orange: We need to know!
 
Gologit said:
:bang: I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later.

Wouldn't a saw class that was more in tune to the way things are done in the local area be more appropriate?
Don't get me wrong. I'm all in favor of safety classes for people who haven't had much experience with a saw. I don't doubt that many of the saw handling techniques that GOL teaches could help prevent injuries. That's key.
I doubt, though, that anybody who's done any real logging or made his living with a saw will take the GOL falling techniques seriously. Especially when the GOL instructors make the claim that their way is the only way.
When the GOL people replace common sense with formulas and guarantee that if you do this the tree will do that they're doing their students a disservice. A dangerous disservice at that.
Things go wrong in the woods. A lot of saw work is figuring out what to do when things go wrong. It's usually the ability to keep a screw up from becoming a disaster that separates the good fallers from the merely competent. GOL seems to discount the very idea that things will go wrong if you just follow their teachings and don't deviate from them. That's a truly scary thing.

But...if Slowp wants to go...I'll pitch in my share. :)
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WTF you smoking Gary boy ?

You got part of the rant right. The part about GOL is space cadet.
Called "setting up Straw Dogs". You do know the Straw Dog ?

Hey, you could actually go to the GOL and really really see what is done and taught. Old dog, new tricks ? :bang:

In sum for you Gumps out in NeverLand: there is no one way. Repeat: there is no one way to do anything. Logging, life, combat, sex,......Get it ?:bang::bang:

I m dismissed.:sucks:

....and the flames come.
 

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