The Proper Angle for the Felling Cut of a Tree

on 11/5/2009 Dear All,

This guy is seriously dangerous and unsafe. His felling is appaling, and the saw is as blunt as old boots. The angled backcut is a recipie for disaster, and he cut right through into his hinge while doing his bakc cut. Watch his video on sharpening and you'll see that he files from the outside of the tooth inwards (this shows that he lacks basic understanding of chain construction and maintenance.) Also, he didnt even wear a helmet when felling, and with his tecnique the tree is liable to fall in the wrong direction.

The above comments were posted by a former NPTC instructor and assesor with over 45 years experience. I am concerned that these series of videos are misleading and dangerous and would like to warn people that this guy IS NOT AN EXPERT AND DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HE IS DOING. PLEASE SEEK THE ADVICE OF A REAL EXPERT BEFORE ATTEMPTING ANY TREE WORK.

on 12/10/2008 He should title this how not to cut a tree. Wait, let me tie a rope around the tree, tie the rope to my truck and pull tension. Then just cut the base....look it fell just the way I wanted it to!. Seriously though, if you want to paralyze yourself follow this instruction. Professional fallers are cringing at this guys methods.

Expert village...you should pull this video..you open yourself up for a lawsuit.

on 11/18/2008 I'm no expert but...that back cut is very unconventional, I've never seen it recommended by anyone. Normally you want to cut level, not angled. You're not showing a good diagram of what a felling cut should look like, how the back cut lines up above the notch (or face cut), to create the hinge which controls the fall. It's important for viewers to understand those cuts.

on 11/16/2008 Ghastly sloping back-cut, tiny little notch, back cut ended up below the notch, tree fell over and that's about it. While we're here, stop loading it up so hard and sharpen the chain so it doesn't look like you're trying to fell the tree with a sander. Expert, my arse. You're going to get someone killed with this junk.

on 11/16/2008 Freaking amazing to see such shoddy work on an "expert" site...

Many glaring mistakes were made:

Never make a sloping backcut! It does nothing good, but makes it harder to achieve proper backcut height above the facecut, which is called stump shot (primarily to keep the butt from coming back, as in falling upslope.
In the event of a sitback, or when wedges are employed, wedging effectively try to push the trunk forward off the stump.not good!! Also, in the event of a sitback, having a sloping backcut does nothing more than a level shelf does in preventing the tree falling over backwards.

Face should be more open, typically 45-70 degrees.

Faller should be wearing a helmet. Watch out for widowmakers!

Also, a sharp saw, preferably one with some power and speed, unlike that barbed wire equipped toy, would be a plus.