Critique from a senior arborist made me change my notch cuts completely

I've been climbing for about 4 years now, always did a conventional notch on my felling cuts. Last fall, a guy I respect a lot watched me drop a 30 inch oak and told me my notch was way too shallow, maybe 1/4 of the way through. He said I was leaving too much hinge wood and risking a barber chair on leaners. I switched to a 1/3 depth open-faced notch after that, and honestly my trees have been landing way more predictable. Has anyone else had to rework their basic technique after getting called out on it?

2 comments

2 Comments

lilyfisher12d ago

You ever think the old-timers might've intentionally taught us shallow notches so we'd buy more saw chains from all the pinched bars...

faithj1012d ago

Grandpa always said a sharp chain beats any trick in the book, but @lilyfisher might be onto something with that theory.