Operator select operations in good hardwood stands are always tricky due to what MBrock mentioned. If you have the resources and contacts, I'd suggest getting a consultant to mark and sell the timber for you. Paint on trees with butt marks are pretty solid prep work to ensure that what you want cut gets cut and what you want to stay stays.
Two things to remember. If its a fairly dense stand, the equipment will need room to work and not skin up the leave trees. The loggers will almost always need to cut corridors through the stand to allow for adequate access (similar to pine plantations). Harwood tree tops are usually bigger than pine, so unless they are topping them where felled, the skid rows will need to be a bit wider than usual to accommodate the woolier tops coming back to the deck.
Secondly, be prepared to have a solid vegetation mgmt plan ready to go in the years following the cut if you want to try to maintain the herbaceous ground layers. Specifically, something that will handle the robust hardwood stump sprouts that will most certainly come.
Great points. Thanks for the advice
