Soren Eriksson - Where is he now?

[chris_girard]

Over here on the East Coast, Soren Eriksson made a big impression back in the early 1980's with his Game Of Logging techniques. He and Gerry B. have been extremely helpful to me over the years.

I was just wondering if anyone had any info on where and what Soren is doing these days? Here's a short article about him.


http://www.forestapps.com/articles/notchintime.html

 

[gf beranek]

Great read, Chris, Thanks. Like Dent, Soren, was progressive and advance, and took his understanding to the educational level.

 

[Jed]

I'll bet Stig knows.

He (Sorren) probably retired. Even if a guy's got sap in his blood, I'll bet some time he just wears out eh?

 

[HolmenTree]

I haven't heard anything about Soren's where abouts for years,
seems to me that there's alot of other people I haven't heard from since the chainsaw glory days of the 1980's.

I got the full library of Soren's early 1980's training videos with Stihl Ltd. I often wondered why he switched to Husqvarna shortly after. The only conclusion I came too was Stihl was heavily involved in promoting their saws in the PNW at the time and Soren just didn't fit in with the PNW timberfaller crowd.
New England and down the eastern seaboard into the deep south pulpwood country was where he fit in.

Some of you may have remembered on the old TreeHouse site where I got his 6 point limbing technique video posted , and like flys homing in on a horse turd a few PNW dudes putting in their 2 cents......
............with their "big bars and big timber".

 

[HolmenTree]

I have made alot of good timberfaller friends in the PNW.
Here is a photo I have of an old work buddy from Vancouver Island, British Columbia Canada in the early 1980s. John here is falling a 400 year old red cedar [notice part of his Jonsered 920 in the bottom left corner].
From the information he gave me , the tree was 15 ft. in diameter & 160 ft. tall. It contains 48,150 board ft. of lumber, enough to build 5 houses.
Soren's GOL technique may have a little tough going here.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Lordy, that's amazing... those were the days!

 

[Tucker943]

I dont like the "one cut fits all" mentality that I've seen so many guys come away from GOL with. Not knocking the course, or his wisdom. But I can easily sniff out a GOL veteran pretty quick in the woods.

 

[Reddog]

Last I had seen of Soren, he was doing training for a Scandinavian forestry institute around 2003 or so if I remember correctly.
As to the one cut fits all of GOL, I never got the impression that was Soren's thoughts. But the insurance company's that analyze logging accidents. He had teaching techniques showing many more options for safe cutting.

 

[forestryworks]

I've met a few guys that went through GOL training. They bore cut every tree they fall :what:

If you can get a tree down in three cuts, why do six?

And since when is logging a game? Maybe on Ax Men. :roll:

 

[stig]

They bore cut every tree they fall :what:

So do I.
Why would that add up to six cuts?
I only get it to be 3 cuts.

I know you guys don't measure in metric, but have you started counting on other than 10 base as well, just to be different?

 

[Tucker943]

Why bore cut every tree? Falling hardwoods for lumber purposes, I understand. Aside from that, what's the point. Not counting trees prone to split or with a head lean.

 

[woodworkingboy]

I could see bore cutting everything if you had a lot of sprocket nose replacements that needed using up. Maybe grease too, but since nobody seems to grease their sprockets......

 

[MasterBlaster]

And since when is logging a JOKE? Maybe on Ax Men

Fixed!

 

[Jed]

Stig: You've doubtless been through this countless times before with the Treehouse guys, and I am (alas) not a hardwood or any other kind of wood logger, so I won't even ask; but doesn't Jay's point seem awfully relevant? Or is replacing the noses not a big deal to you guys? Or do you somehow not have to replace many noses?

For the record: I am a big-bar, Full-chisel, Full-skip, Square-ground, PNW Arborist, would-be logger. But you all knew that already, didn't you?

 

[Tucker943]

Stig doesn't replace bar tips often if I remember correctly.

Either way, unless you are cutting veneer, or heavy leaners, there's no merit to bore cutting everything. Some guys are so accustomed to it that it is their method of choice, but that's a matter of habit, not necessity.

 

[Jed]

Yeah. I'm sure that Burnham wld chalk it up to "cultural differances," but I seldom find myself bore-cutting a thing.

Dangerous head-learners for sure, but other than that...

 

[Reddog]

I bore cut for a few reasons, control on when to release the stem is a main one.
High value timber I can set the hinge much thinner so it will snap clean with no fiber pull. Instead of the old way of staying on the stump and cutting the hinge clean at the last second. I still may nip a side to get a tree to roll through on the way down.
Tips last me fine. I wear the bar out most times before the tip fails.
Also a note the longer the bar the worse it will be to bore cut with.

 

[woodworkingboy]

I bore a lot of trees since it is my method of choice for crane picks, and in all fairness, the only bar tips that burned out were on the cheap laminated bars.

 

[Tucker943]

I want to ammend and clarify what I am saying. If a man chooses to bore cut everything, great. But to walk around the woods or residential setting thinking that an open face notch and bore cut are the only way to go, is absurd. That's what I get from GOL folks. Any GOL believer I've worked around cant even fathom that a tree would fall over if you used any other cut besides a bore cut. It's annoying to even talk to them to be honest.

I keep my bag of tricks varied. I use the method that best suits the situation for me. One method has not proven to do the trick for everything, for me.

 

[forestryworks]

I'll bore on heavy head leaners. And of course, when bucking.

But for falling every tree? Hogwash, IMO. Slow, too. Can't say it's not.

The GOL guys I've worked around, I get to tapping my foot after awhile. A slight head lean, you can do the traditional backcut and have the tree on the ground quicker than doing the bore cut dance around with your hunched over back exposed to widwomakers. You can't know what the tree is doing if you don't look up.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I hate to dick around longer than necessary, for sure.

Just get to it, already.

 

[murphy4trees]

I want to ammend and clarify what I am saying. If a man chooses to bore cut everything, great. But to walk around the woods or residential setting thinking that an open face notch and bore cut are the only way to go, is absurd. That's what I get from GOL folks. Any GOL believer I've worked around cant even fathom that a tree would fall over if you used any other cut besides a bore cut. It's annoying to even talk to them to be honest.

I keep my bag of tricks varied. I use the method that best suits the situation for me. One method has not proven to do the trick for everything, for me.

Agreed,
that said I tend to bore cut for a good reason A LOT.. there are just lots of situations where it throws things to the cutter's favor, in a residential setting

 

[HolmenTree]

Soren had no intention with his GOL training for his students to fell every tree in their future with a bore cut. It was "the thing to do" when you had a group of students [many who never felled a tree before] around the tree or bolt when he was demonstrating the felling cuts.

For the best instruction 1st the facecut or notch is placed, then 2nd bore in and set the hinge thickness, stop, now everyone has a good oppurtunity to see the process with lots of time to talk about it. 3rd everyone now stands clear and the sawyer trips the hinge.

Each student now has their turn to do the same. The "game" part comes in when each student is graded on a point system with proper technique. With my experiences the women students usually came in first place with their careful calculated manner.

I have taught many GOL style training modules over the years and have also taking in many courses of the same through ArborMaster Training prior, and the format was always the same.............to setup the training "hands on" as safely as possible with control.

 

[murphy4trees]

The bore and back release was shown clearly to save lives in logging in the east/southeast, when it was adopted... the extra 3-5 seconds of escape time is huge in the woods. In a residential setting the extra escape time means nearly nothing.. PLenty of other uses though!

 

[stig]

I'll bore on heavy head leaners. And of course, when bucking.

But for falling every tree? Hogwash, IMO. Slow, too. Can't say it's not.

The GOL guys I've worked around, I get to tapping my foot after awhile. A slight head lean, you can do the traditional backcut and have the tree on the ground quicker than doing the bore cut dance around with your hunched over back exposed to widwomakers. You can't know what the tree is doing if you don't look up.

Only reason I let you get away with calling me slow, is the large body of water between us.
Otherwise I'd love to do a day of cutting with you and see who gets the most logs on the ground.

The "not out of school yet" kid, or the guy who has been a production cutter for most of his life

The reason I borecut is not safety, but because I can't reach through the trees from one side.

That overlong bar that you drag around to be able to cut from one side, is fine for conifers, but try to limb and buck hardwoods with it and you'll be throwing chains all over the place.

One thing you guys don't understand about the GOL, or for that matter every other school of logging, like the Danish forestry school, is that they teach how to do stuff SAFELY!

When you teach a course in falling trees, you have to assume that the students are morons, so you teach the safe way.

I do the same when I start an apprentice up.

Then once said apprentice has a better grasp of the fundamentals, ( aligning cuts, knowing where your bar-tip is at all times and reading lean in trees) I start showing them how to fall trees fast and still be safe.

Personally I use a backstrap on less than one in twenty. Leaners and when falling in hard wind only.

The ones that follow the GOL way completely on every tree are the ones that are unable to adjust their tecnique to fit the situation ( morons!!) that has never been the intention of GOL.

As for the " hunched over back exposed to widowmakers" stuff that is pure bullshit IMO.

Quote: " You can't know what a tree is doing if you don't look up".

If you bore a tree and hold it on a backstrap, there will be no movement in the tree untill you cut the backstrap.

That is when you look up.