My comment was across the board based on a variety of statements. Wasn't aimed at one person.
No worries Tuck.. it was all happy endings...
Even though I acted a bit rough on benn, he actually thanked me on treebuzz for a more detailed critique of his saw handling, with very practical suggestions for improving...
I was surprised that everyone rubber stamped that video with what I consider serious and needlessly unsafe practices..
her's the post from TB:might piss people off for sounding preachy, BUT its spot on..
Look at the negative blocking cuts from a safety perspective:
7:22, you cut one handing while pushing with the second hand, a clear violation of ansi.. HOWEVER no big deal IMO, becasue your arm and body were well away from any potential kickback, as you were positioned sideways to the cut..
at 7:48.. you back chain the cut leaving no potential for kickback.. and you stop the cut, push a little to get the piece leaning, then finish the cut with both hands on the saw.. NICE!..
Its the cut at 8:04 that's the problem.. You cut one handed with your body in the kickback zone, push with the left hand, then as you finish the cut you pull the saw back towards your left arm, as you finish the pushing motion. Arm and saw are headed for each other!.. That's the kind of cut that you can probably get away with for an entire career.. BUT its still unnecessarily dangerous. The risk may be low percentage wise, but the cost is so great, its just not worth it!.
With good cutting technique, you should be able to stop the saw and push with both hands.. Even a slight bypass in the face will cause the hinge to seize, in which case you need to cut and push at the same time.. Which gets back to fundamentals.. making the top cut of the notch first will prevent bypassing the face cuts, which is all too common when working from the hooks, even amongst really good climbers.
FUNDAMENTALS... get your falling cuts perfect on the ground.. top cut first.. NO BYPASS in the face.. then when you need to make a good cut from the hooks or bucket, you know you got it.. you can trust your life to it!
And we can get into the floating block vs hand pull and wedges.. to me the floating block is a no-brainer.. Doesn't take long to set up and you don't need to pound wedges and watch your ground man struggle.. With the added pulling power and a good shallow/narrow notch you'd have cleared the fence on that drop. Setting up a FB is sure a lot faster than fixing a fence.
When you get to using them with machine power, they become invaluable! Check this drop.. NO WAY would that have worked without a monster hinge and a floating block to dial in the direction of pull..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p04sxvuZu7E
