Another strategy cut i have tried, is something i started playing with for cutting stumps, sometimes to avoid rocks on one side. We now use it on some of our largest stumps SOP, and call it a reverse stump cut.
For pic. 1) i make a cut from side B) completely through all around; almost all the way across the stump, seeking to leave just a lip of wood holding it on side A). At some point the stump will want to sit down on the bar, so i place a wedge in from side B) for support, in the tree i use a stick or steel 'biner spine to support the load from sitting on the bar. Never thought of dowels!
Then in pic. 2) i take out the saw; i also take out the wedge/support, so that side B) can sit down without binding as it is released by the final cut, and it doesn't cause the final cut to bind the saw by the back pressure of the wedge.
Then i go to side A), and cut down at a slant into the first cut. This leaves an upward piece standing and a free stump. On the ground this can also be a stop piece, a place to slip a crowbar in to push with leverage the cut load across the flat stump or the outside of the stop may be the dirtiest/lowest/most dulling wood around the circumfrence of the stump that you didn't want to run your saw in that day. For safety with the stumps we then cut/smash the lip off as much as pratical, sometimes with a smaller bar/ junkier chain. We do this even if it is to be ground, for fear of that piece becoming large shrapnell! So then, you have made the same amount of cuts as u might usually, only in the reverse order!
In the tree, the standing backpiece can be a safety stop, also i might 'Humboldt' the bottom lip of side B) so that it forms a pivot and slide under the dump side of the now free load that is already weighting with some pulling mass on the pulling side of the pivot to aid you in dumping it out of the slide of the humboldt. The farther under you go(with humboldt), the more weight will be preloaded to help you on the outside of the pivot point to leverage the back end up. You can push at the high point tipping the weight into the 'facecut', or have groundies help with line, best torqued over the top at the most leveraged point of tourque and pull to assist in tipping it forward to slide.
Logs may spread out force, but they cause bounce. If we need something to absorb the shock, we use a 3' deep matto f brush or we use tires (off rim). i once cut a piece about the size of firewood, that piece came down about 40', hit a log, bounced with a spin, and literally walked up 3 stairs as it spun end over end and cost me a piece of siding on someone's trailer while we all watched in immense disbelief!