Preferred face cut type??

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Douglas Dent wrote a book titled 'Professional Timber Falling'

I would say it is the definitive source for this subject.

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It is that, but it's a little hard to understand given the illustration style (obviously a limitation of the time it was published). No doubt he's the definitive source. I went with Gerry Beranek's book first which covers pretty much all arboricultural cutting operations including the whole gamut of branches and tops. Dent's book takes you deep into timber falling.
 
Thanks guys. I've cut down a few other trees lately and it's been fun!! Just today we were on a clean up job for storm damage. Brandeford Pair (Think that's how you spell it) One half was on the ground and cut up already (The owner did it before he called us) So while the guys were chipping the downed stuff, I was taking the other half down. I found I used the open face the most to fall the individual leaders. One time I have to use the humboldt, because you couldn't get into a position to make the open good enough. Awesome day!!
 
I have also noted that the Axe Men aren't using much in the way of PPE. The episode I saw one of them had a large chainsaw cutting over head with one hand and no muffs, chaps, of any other ppe.
 
I learned the open face notch through the GOL methods taught by the NH Pro. loggers. I use it 90% of the time on the ground.

While climbing I usually will use the Humboldt instead.

Regarding Dent's book, I was told that he no longer advocates using the Dutchman Tech. on leaning trees because of the uncertainty of it. Not sure what he prefers.
 
I've been using the open with a bore-cut since learning this a couple of years ago. Mainly on the ground but will start using it in the tree where appropriate. Nice to be able to establish the hinge and then position to clear out when I cut the strap. Works nice with a two-man crew when you want to help the groundie pull the stem over.
 
Open face can be a decent tool but I recommend against it in the work I do usually.

Hazard trees. Dead stuff.

It is a technique that requires a lot of stump focus. Open face cutters can't seem to look up ever while cutting.
Some similar criticism for the Humboldt world.
Plus both of them find themselves bent over while cutting, exposing their backs and necks.
(An unobstructed object falling from 50 feet is going 40 mph when it hits and takes less than 2 seconds to reach the ground)

Look at where the open face came from. Small trees, second growth and not a lot of snags.

When was the last time any open face aficionado mentioned that there was no need to worry about a wide face in wood that couldn't support a fall all the way to the ground? If your hinge breaks at 40-50 degrees in dead dried out wood; you've just wasted your time and placed yourself in the danger zone for a longer period of time concentrating on that high face cut.

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A big reason to avoid the vertical part of the face first is that to change the direction you have to recut. What this does is make the faller focus on the cuts with no clue what is going on above. If you do the flat part of the cut first and set up to come up short you can check the sights with just a glance from behind. Then adjust precisely. Precisely. Looking at the sights from above is like looking at a pistol sight from above. You need to see the sights and the targets in the same view for superior accuracy. Please don't be drawing lines with your hand.
The sights above on an angled powerhead are difficult to work with compared to a flat saw. Make it easy and you can maintain vertical situational awareness.
Look up.

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A few days ago I was using open face on easier trees to try and get them to hang on to make limbing easy. Good thought, but didn't work reliably as they were droughtish as they were just dying. Reduced moisture means lesser strength. Mostly I wasn't able to use it because the open face drops a tree slower (by design) and I was in a tight setting where slow is your enemy getting a tree/snag to the ground.

Of course there are times where fire fighters need to jump trees away from helispots and firelines and open face, designed to hold a tree, simply will not do that.

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When you look at the open face realize that it is a production falling technique for small second growth timber that makes compromises and has lesser value when used outside that setting.

When you look at the Humboldt realize that it is a production falling technique for larger butt swell older timber that makes compromises and has lesser value when used outside that setting.

When you look at the Conventional realize ...........

When you watch a cutter making a reasonably high conventional (say 50 degrees) face note how they can stand vertical, more so naturally than a Humboldt or open face type and look up better.

Dent has changed and learned since he wrote the book. He still is in the business certifying and conducting investigations. By reviewing so many of these tragedies he has learned that a smaller target and a cutter that is vertically aware are very important.

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Next time you cut, think how much do I look up?
Is my stump focus a threat to my life?
Especially when I move to more dangerous trees?

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A big focus item is also to be able to make all your cuts from either side of the tree. This to work on slope and also to avoid hazards on an off-side. Open Face cutters seem to really have problems doing the face on the 'left' side versus the right side.
 
All very, very good points that you make. Thanks for sharing the insight.

When I got certified through my state's logging program, they mentioned how important it was when cutting snags to keep looking up.

Don't waste alot of time at the stump, fell the snag in the direction of its lean, don't bore cut it, and don't trust your life on the hinging ability of the wood.
 
Yup, good points all. That's why we've got a selection of notching techniques. When working with snags and dead or dying trees I'll look up frequently to check on movement.
 
in addition to the many options mentioned (and many not mentioned) here, I learned two other ways of dealing with dead, brittle trees from a German-trained Forester who worked in the Alps...


the first, he called a "faul-baum schnitt" which I take to mean rotten-log cut.

to do it, you make a horizontal cut as you always would to set the hinge depth and direction. Then, insted of cutting out a wedge or pie for the face, you cut a series of parralel cuts, each one more shallow than the cut preceeding it, about a half inch apart. Then you just make your back-cut as always. the idea is that the perforated face causes the tree to fall more slowly, as each plate of wood has to be snapped off and creates a temporary, gentle resistance. This gives the dead, brittle hinge a chance to maximize it's steering capability as the spar falls.
A couple times I tried it, it seemed like a waste of time, but twice it's worked really well.

The other technique he just called the "bore cut"... we used it with a humboldt style face, but I think it would work with a conventional face, too. To perform this cut, face up and notch the tree, and then make a bore cut that parallels the face. Orient the bore cut vertically right at the corner of the face, so that the bore cut runs right behind the ramp created by the face. It's not a mis-match cut of any kind... The idea here is that the bore cut creates a much taller hinge. Rather than forcing the wood fibers to bend on a very tight radius, you expose 3" or 4" of vertical wood fiber, which allows the brittle, dead wood to bend and flex over a much taller hinge. This technique works pretty good. i have felled a few trees that were rock hard dead, porcelain brittle, and this technique created a pliable hinge.
 
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