MindSoup Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 (edited) 2 hours ago, crazy-sheep said: Been using this past few years. Good make so will last longer than cheaper ones Anything Makita or Dewalt and you'll be good Can be a bit expensive to start off with as you'll need charger and batteries but the way i looked at it was, i was spending days chopping them with machete and bill hooks and all that and now, i can clear it on a few hours Ive got loads of tools already due to my line of work so i only needed to buy the bare unit. Ive also got a cordless strimmer and instead of standard spool, i've put in a clothes line, the one that's got plastic coated wire. Fitted in the hole and cuts through bracken and thin brambles easily +1 for the hedge trimmer, a decent one of those will cut through just about anything that will fit between the teeth, you can munch through thicker stuff if you don't mind abusing them a bit. They don't splatter you in shit either which is good when your walking home/to the car. Used to use a Stihl one for work, absolute beast, could probably get one worth having for a lot less though. Not like you'll be using it as much as a professional would. Edited March 12 by MindSoup 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSlatersParrot Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 If you're going for a strimmer you need one that can take a brush knife or something similar, which probably means the type with handlebars. Nylon line won't do a thing to brambles except for the youngest softest growth. I think your best bet is a cordless hedgecutter. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindSoup Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 Just keep in mind that the battery will be the majority of the cost of the tool and it will likely die prematurely if you don't look after it. They don't like being left unused for extended periods of time. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimma Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 Another for the hedge trimmer here If you do go the brushcutter route though - I've found the three 'pronged' metal blade the most efficient and easy to re-sharpen 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Luchóg Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 I'd never recommend anything battery powered for heavy work. Because that's what you want then the hedge cutter will last longer than the strimmer. The blades are soft, even on the expensive models and they can bend so be careful not to use it to clump lumps together,like a fork or a lever. Battery powered hedge trimmers are simple to fix with switches , a motor and feck all else! They're sharper or come very sharp to make up for the loss of power. Anyhing below 36v is pretty sh1t. Cable tie one of the switches shut so you can use one hand and you don't have to have two hands on it to run it. You can reach out like you're swinging a sword! The black and decker 36v has a long enough blade. It's the exact same as the De Walt, except I think the battery is different . Don't buy one with brushes on the head. You'll only be able to run it for 2-3 mins and then need to let it cool. If you use it like a petrol powered machine the motor will burn out before you've given the battery it's second charge. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clean Green Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 For thick bramble stems I'd go with a decent set of loppers, good long handles to allow reach and increase leverage. Thinner 'runners' can be woven into the perimeter. I've not used any power tools at my plots but could imagine them being very useful in some circumstances. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ch@ppers Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 How many plants is the plot for? There's plots then there's plots. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 I have both battery powered trimmer and hedge cutter. However they're a bit unwieldy to get to my plots, which involves vaulting over fences and walls. So ended up using hand tools. A lot can be done with a billhook and some loppers, and pretty quickly too. If you need to clear a large area, motorised hedge cutter probably easiest, but for tidying up edges or cutting back, hand tools will do the job just fine and hardly make any noise... 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuerillaOG Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 (edited) 8 hours ago, Crow River said: I have both battery powered trimmer and hedge cutter. However they're a bit unwieldy to get to my plots, which involves vaulting over fences and walls. So ended up using hand tools. A lot can be done with a billhook and some loppers, and pretty quickly too. If you need to clear a large area, motorised hedge cutter probably easiest, but for tidying up edges or cutting back, hand tools will do the job just fine and hardly make any noise... Nice one mate, yeah certainly hand tools will be fine for most plots, but this one plot is a bramble fortress and i used hand tools to fight my way about 10 meters into the center but it took hours and by the end of it, i was covered in thorns and cut up to shit, now i just have to make a circle but these brambles are well established and at the bottom some are like 2-3 inches in diameter so i need something a bit more industrial. I have found the Makita chainsaw for £60, so that should do it. Thanks everyone, i really appreciate the replys. Eventually im gonna save up for a proper petrol strimmer. Edited March 13 by GuerillaOG 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindSoup Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 Just be careful with the chainsaw dude, work nice and slow and methodically, kick back is a very real risk and not something you want to deal with on your own somewhere far from help . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ch@ppers Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 3 hours ago, GuerillaOG said: Nice one mate, yeah certainly hand tools will be fine for most plots, but this one plot is a bramble fortress and i used hand tools to fight my way about 10 meters into the center but it took hours and by the end of it, i was covered in thorns and cut up to shit, now i just have to make a circle but these brambles are well established and at the bottom some are like 2-3 inches in diameter so i need something a bit more industrial. I have found the Makita chainsaw for £60, so that should do it. Thanks everyone, i really appreciate the replys. Eventually im gonna save up for a proper petrol strimmer. Did a plot in a huge bramble mattress once, bit of a sensitive area so went stealth with mattock and loppers, slaved away in 6-7 feet tall well established brambles, had thorns in my head and piercing my gloves, after two days of maximum effort and minimal impact I just coleslawed the lot in an afternoon with a brushcutter blade on a 560. 6 1 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindSoup Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 Imagine bumping into that on a dog walk . 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ch@ppers Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 5 minutes ago, MindSoup said: Imagine bumping into that on a dog walk . True story "That" was in a national newspaper as a lady took a pic of it running off into a woods and reporting she had seen a bigfoot. 1 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 By the way, if anyone is interested in billhooks and their history, I stumbled across an amazing web site which has more information than you'll probably ever need or want. Links not encouraged here, but it's at www dot billhooks dot co dot uk - everything you could ever imagine about billhooks, and then some! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindSoup Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 I do love a Billhook, sort of thing that doesn't look up to much, but once you start using it you realise just how versatile they really are. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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