I've taken the class and look at it this way... Its another tool to put in the toolbox. Not for every tree or every situation. But the techniques they teach have their time and their place.
So, did they throw in a hat?
GOL doesn't seem to teach people that the whole purpose of an undercut is to undermine a (well balanced) tree's center of gravity.
That's exactly right, and I believe it's intentional. I'm pretty sure that the purpose of GOL is to make it possible for anybody to put a pesky yard tree down without hurting themselves. It's a basic and almost idiot-proof methodology, and it works for what it is intended to work for. Where it fails is anyplace things aren't exactly as demonstrated in the class. There is simply no substitute for experience. Mistakes are often worth way more than successes.
it may sound cruell, but i think they should throw all regulation out the window and let the gene pool clean it self up.
Back in the mid 70s I used to read everything I could find on using a chainsaw. IIRC I read some information from Husqvarna on bore cutting. I think I tried it back then. I did not hear of GOL till a few years ago. But yesterday I bored a couple of leaners. Hhm. I'm conflicted. Am I a votary and don't know it?
Here is an article calling Soren Erickson "revered".
Individual Tree Selection Harvesting
Common sense just flew out the window.
What's "cruel" about "Natural Selection"? It's only been working for a few billion years.
:bang: I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later.
Wouldn't a saw class that was more in tune to the way things are done in the local area be more appropriate?
Don't get me wrong. I'm all in favor of safety classes for people who haven't had much experience with a saw. I don't doubt that many of the saw handling techniques that GOL teaches could help prevent injuries. That's key.
I doubt, though, that anybody who's done any real logging or made his living with a saw will take the GOL falling techniques seriously. Especially when the GOL instructors make the claim that their way is the only way.
When the GOL people replace common sense with formulas and guarantee that if you do this the tree will do that they're doing their students a disservice. A dangerous disservice at that.
Things go wrong in the woods. A lot of saw work is figuring out what to do when things go wrong. It's usually the ability to keep a screw up from becoming a disaster that separates the good fallers from the merely competent. GOL seems to discount the very idea that things will go wrong if you just follow their teachings and don't deviate from them. That's a truly scary thing.
But...if Slowp wants to go...I'll pitch in my share.
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