??? Why is cutting a tree of any reasonable diameter that much harder at ground level then at waist level?
I mean, other than the obvious diameter increase, I think its easier, I take a knee and relax when cutting them off at ground level.
Just bore the bar in it and walk around it, cut from the inside out and you don't have to worry about dirt or rocks, because you are pulling the chip out, not shoving them in. I just stick the bar in and walk around them. Take a knee and relax while making beautiful low stumps that are easier to drive over for the skidder or dozer without tearing the undercarriage out. Plus it gives the skidder drivers more options of where they can go, as appose to leaving waist high stumps all over the place that look horrible, like you don't care what the place looks like when you are done. When I log, I try to leave the place looking like it was never "logged", that means cut the stump low so its hard to see and cut the top down so it rots faster and it out of sight quicker. You will find this mentality will lead to an increase in jobs because most every landowner hates what their place looks like after most logging has taken place, because they typically leave tops everywhere and the stumps are eye sores for the next 10 years. If you are going to cut the tree down, then cut it low enough that its gone when you cut it, otherwise you have left the most annoying part of it, the stump, as it still takes up the same foot print as before, with the stump, but you have noting of beauty to look at because the tree is gone, just poor taste I think.
But thats how a lot of loggers think ............ I just heard one say, "We're not landscapers." ....... LOL, this was shortly after he was complaining about not enough logging work around or that nobody wanted to have their place logged anymore ........ some people can't put two and two, together.
Not sure if you can see it in these photos, but you will get the idea. If you bore in and tip your bar down into the center and walk around them, you can actually cut one off at ground level on the outside edge, but the center will be below the ground, to the point, that you could fill the stump over with dirt and possibly never even see it afterwards. This stump is not cut at ground level, but you can sorta see the bowled shape to it. Thats a 066 with a 28" bar for comparison, that was as low as I could go and still missed cutting the center 4" or so.
Sam
The stumps aren't high, unless they need them to hold logs on the hill, but an extra effort to get them at ground level or destroy the stumps is a moot point. I'm not sure that some of the folks who read posts in this forum understand that. They do need to not make high stumps in the corridors--paths where logs are skidded up the hill. But if that happens a saw gets sent down to the rigging crew and it is taken care of. 
