BALANCE AND BODY POSITION FOR CUTTING 
•When completing an elevated cut, be ready to hold up the pole saw as it cuts into the clear, so it will not follow through.
•Limit your cutting to the range within which you can control the pole saw fully. Don’t reach out because you could lose your balance.
•Make limbing and pruning cuts one at a time. Do not try to prune more than one branch at a time.
•Do not prune near power lines.
PINCHING, BINDING, SPLITTING
Wind bends trees. Gravity bends branches that are not flat on the ground. A branch weakened by a cut over 1/3 the diameter is like two branches hinged together. The cut may either close or open wider, depending on how the branch is lying.
When cutting branches, always make the weakening cut from the direction (opposite the hinge side) which causes the cut to widen. If made from the wrong side, the cut will close, binding the guide bar and pinching the saw chain or blade.
If the branch is under heavy stress, prevent splitting by making a shallow cut (up to 1/3 diameter) on the hinge side first. But, always finish with the weakening cut in a direction toward the hinge side.
When the branch is supported on both ends and is to be cut in between, underbuck (cut upward from the bottom side) for the finishing cut.
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