Silly Angled Back Cuts: Why They Are Dangerous and Ineffective

Silly Angled Back Cuts: Why They Are Dangerous and Ineffective A man one hollow over from me bought a brand new saw, dropped a big red oak he swore leaned downhill, and watched it sit back onto his truck. The saw ran perfectly. It did exactly what the box promised. It was the five things nobody told him that did the damage. In this video I count down the five tree felling mistakes I see most, from the slow one to the one that can kill the man standing behind you holding the wedge. We cover how to read the real lean of a tree instead of trusting the trunk, why the hinge is the steering wheel and how thick it should be, and why the angled back cut half the firewood cutters in this country make is not safer at all. A level back cut puts the hinge in tension, where wood is strong. An angled one puts it in shear, where wood splits. And I'll show you what a wedge really does in each cut. None of these mistakes come from stupidity. Nobody at the counter sells you the knowing. My grandfather Eli felled timber on these slopes with a crosscut, and before he died he made me swear that knowing wouldn't die with me. Always wear a helmet, chaps, and eye and ear protection, and never fell a tree alone. This video is for education only and is not a substitute for proper chainsaw safety training. Subscribe and turn on notifications 🔔 so you don't miss the next one. I'll walk you through the conventional notch, the open face, and the Humboldt, and the one an old faller would tell you to quit using. Drop a comment below: what does your last stump look like? The answer with the most honest surprise in it is the one I build the next video around. 👇 #chainsaw #treefelling #firewood #backcut #chainsawsafety #homestead #selfreliance #oldways #appalachia #woodcutting #logging #arborist