Does the back cut have to be higher than the bottom of the face?

Wait, I marked timber with... with... PAINT! ACK PTOIE, I'm suddenly not feeling so hot. What's that bright light I see up in the ceiling...
 
Select management in our woods here, left up to the faller. There are some rules of thumb about spacing and numbers, the larger trees left standing if possible, but since there is really no order per say for the older woods when planted, plus the wild growth, developing an eye is required. It is a bit harder than one might think, as the view changes as you work through the area. Then there is the close up perspective, and the one from a distance. Sometimes a tree that might best remain, gets cut due to the relative ease in falling it, compared to another nearby that does not have a good lay. I arrived at that conclusion without asking anyone about it. :/: Somewhat controversial perhaps, but hung up trees eat up a lot of time. Interesting work to shape a forest, and so far the gov't inspections have passed.
 
The select cutting my outfit does on private land, I mark the trees myself.
That makes for a more even thinning than having 3-4 fallers doing their own interpretation of how they feel it should be done.

Some fallers work without marking the trees, simply cutting and selecting as they go.

I can't do that. I work too slow when I have to multitask and think about thinning the stand as well as which trees to fall first so as facilitate getting them all down instead of hanging them up in the ones that are left to grow on.

I'd much rather take the time to mark the ones to be felled and then just concentrate on falling trees.

I make way better money that way.
 
That is real interesting, Stig, your comment about time saved first marking, I hadn't considered that. How far ahead of the cutting does the marking entail, the entire contract? Here, often working on quite steep ground, it raises the question if marking out would be quicker, the toll it takes to go over the area twice. I see merit in doing it both ways. De-limbing and bucking frequently gets done later for that same reason, and sometimes by other people. Obviously there are complications in doing that, the congestion after the trees get knocked down. One thing, the trees aren't usually being removed, so you can fudge it a bit on the prescribed lengths. Things are changing now, the future seems to be that you won't be awarded the contracts without removing the trees. Hard to see the logic for that with the market so down for the wood, the wood going to waste when thinning actually seems more practical. People complaining about the trees being left has become an issue here.
 
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