Face cuts/Notch cuts

What are the difference in these cuts?Do you use these in certain situations and different angles of the tree leaning? Does it matter what notch/face cut to use? Is there a link that I could read about it?

Example:
__\ straight bottom, angle from top to down

__
/straight top, angle from bottom to top


> angle top and angle bottom

For most of my cuts I like the conventional ...which is the "straight bottom, angle from top down"

This cut I feel works best in our day to day Arb work...

I use both. Usually the traditional or conventional flat bottom angled top variety.

A lot of loggers will use the humboldt notch, as it leaves a log without a big snipe missing off one end.

Also, is it better to do the back cut inline with the bottom of the face or higher?

On the conventional, I go up about an inch or so on back cut, depends how big the trunk is though...

I would say I'm the same as Scott, mostly conventional on the ground. I'm not sure if there is truth to this but I feel like a humbolt notch gets the wood away from you a bit better when you're in the tree so I almost always use that when climbing.

I use the conventional cut 90% of the time. _\

I use a wide, open faced notch, which is angled from both top and bottom, when I need to prevent a small tree from rolling after it hits the ground. In this application, the open faced notch is cut in such a way that it will not close and break the hinge.

\
/

Joel

Thanks for the info

90 degree opening is less shocking when square rigging.

I like the open face or conventional for falling, unless the rare case of falling up a steep hill or chance of tree brushing or hanging up in another tree... Both of which are EXTREMELY rare in my market. In the tree though, taking out tops and such, I will often go with a humboldt, maybe 50-60% of the time. I think the fibers break cleaner on a humboldt, making it easier to judge the angle at separation, which can effect the trajectory of the top. I know the logger types are so good at cutting humboldts its like second nature.. So the loggers often use the humboldt as the go to cut for every fall. Personally I like the open face, just because its so much easier to cut it clean and check it etc., and have made a modification that make it easy and effective.

I like to call the 90° or greater open face cut a arborist notch.
Way too slow to make that long slow cutting diagonal cut when logging or cutting ROW for production.

HolmenTree said:

I like to call the 90° or greater open face cut a arborist notch.
Way too slow to make that long slow cutting diagonal cut when logging or cutting ROW for production.

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makes sense.. I have never logged or cut row. The more often you repeat some task the more important it is to shave a few seconds/minutes whenever possible. Its also remarkable how often the fast way is really the efficient way and the efficient way is also the safer way. We might prune trees for hours, drop a couple trees and call it a day.. Spending 20 extra seconds on a falling cut is time well spent for most of my jobs. Rare that we drop more than 5 trees / day. ANd I love to spend a few extra minutes setting up a fall when bidding against a crane or rigging day for the other guys..

Yep gunsighting that face cut in for for a single fell in a day in someone's backyard is crucial taking all the time you need.
But repetitive quick felling cuts felling off a face in the bush you don't even take time to even bother sighting in with the saws sights.
Just momentum lays those trees down all nice and straight uniform lay without crossing. Momentum and practice...

I can see you now starting the face on the next tree while the one you just cut is still falling, not even bothering to look up.. It's like a climber that doesn't look down. Once the cut is made and the piece is away, he has no interest in what happens to it.. he just moves to the next cut.. I've worked with a climber like that... Not my style as it puts a lot more pressure on the ground guys, who are pretty much on their own for safety. It is fast though...

I like the conventional or open face for falling trunks both for the reasons already mentioned. I'm not a logger so the hunboldt on the ground is a bit harder for me to do, and I don't gain anything from it. In the tree I use a simple hinge (no notch) or an open face if I am rigging for want the tip to drop before it lets go (I've also started several snap cuts on a single limb without finishing them to let the tip drop past a roofline in a controlled fashion, but that's a bit off topic). I use a Humboldt when I want the top to drop flat or butt first, it tends to slide the butt off the stem sooner.

murphy4trees said:

I can see you now starting the face on the next tree while the one you just cut is still falling, not even bothering to look up.. It's like a climber that doesn't look down. Once the cut is made and the piece is away, he has no interest in what happens to it.. he just moves to the next cut.. I've worked with a climber like that... Not my style as it puts a lot more pressure on the ground guys, who are pretty much on their own for safety. It is fast though...

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Murphy, when I said working off the face in the bush, I didn't mean "face of the tree" Haha. Logging a block of timber (also called a strip) we cut a "face" along our boundary line working it back leaving a clear cut area. That straight border of standing timber is the "face" that you fall trees along into the clearing. Our timber here has a dominate south east lean so the first tree you fall on your block is in the south east corner of the block.
Kinda of hard to explain that without a picture. Our blocks were ribboned off in squared off boundary lines for the crews. Sometimes swamps or ,roads, etc were the boundaries.

Nice
I figured that's what face meant in the post. Or at least guessed a picture of it

Notches I use, what I call them, and how I typically employ them. If I'm calling them by the wrong name let me know, I just call them what I was taught.

Top face, _\ I cut the top about 45 degrees. General purpose lets get this guy on the ground notch

Bottom face/modified Humbolt, not sure which characters to use to make a picture but the horizontal cut is one top, and the face cut is on the bottom. I use it when I really need the tree to stay put when it is on the ground, it can't come backwards, or I really need it to clear the stump, tops, or all of the above.

Double face/wide notch. > I use it mostly on tops we are pulling hard on. It allows me to pull the trigger with the cut when the spar has returned to a more natural position once over center so I go for less of a ride and impart less shock load to the spar if roping it out.

Humbolt. Old school style humbolt with the face being a vertical bore cut with two parallel cuts at the top and bottom. I use it pretty exclusively in live trees that are coming down whole where accuracy is critical. Very easy to steer with the back cut, very easy to gun sight with a spotter. Will also use it on very hard leaners where a bored back cut is needed. I often use it when risk of barber chair is extreme.