First Fell

[smokinj]

OP - agree with Jay - take a picture of the stump. Looks like in one of the pictures, you had a pretty severe down angle on the backcut. Definitely a no-no. I did that too starting out, learned a lot from Hearth and other sites. I try to be a lot safer now!

I don't think it's a down angle on the backcut, I think it's just a crooked backcut.

If I'm right, then MY advice on that is to cut about waist high, it's easier to keep the saw level (for me) when i do that. Mark the lowest cut you want to make when it's all said and done, then come up from that one or two stove lengths and fell the tree at that point. Then when the tree is down just cut straight through the stump to make a couple more rounds.

You really want to get good at having a level back-cut, because if you don't then you run the risk of the tree twisting as it falls and with a big tree that can be bad news. One of the best things you can do is just practice it! any time a tree is down and you are standing it is a good fell in my book!

The good news is you should learn every-time you drop one...Bad news is the learning curve can kill you....Moral of the story learn as much as you can from every drop!