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Chainsaw recommendations?

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  • Zither
    Zither Posts: 365 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    What type of hedge is it? If a natural one then carry on, if a conifer hedge the stop there. Conifers (most) look carp when cut as vigorously as you intend as most don't grow from brown wood.
    Why not ask around for a contractor to cut it, could be cheaper in the long run and they remove the brushings.


    It's a privet type hedge that's been taken over by about 3 other plants like ivy and some thorny stuff. It hasn't been managed so it's grown out all wild so I think once I cut it back, the privet should come back to life over the next year or two?

    I did think about getter my a contractor in but I'm a bit short on cash at the mo and a chainsaw would be useful in the long run, even if I don't use it all the time. Might unfortunately mean a few tips to the tip but I guess you don't get anything for free haha.
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Zither wrote: »
    It's a privet type hedge....once I cut it back, the privet should come back to life over the next year or two?.
    It will re-establish quicker than that. Privet loves to be cut back.
  • Apodemus
    Apodemus Posts: 3,410 Forumite
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    I got a Florabest long-reach electric chain saw from Lidl, which has proved surprisingly good. Only problem with it is that it just doesn't seem to dispense any chain oil, so I manually oil the chain and cogs every five minutes or so. The long-reach is actually possibly safer since you are well away from the sharp end and although I bought it for cutting difficult to reach branches, I have also used it on more accessible stuff, rather than getting out the petrol chain-saw.

    Only other downside is that being electric, you can't work in the rain.
  • Jackmydad
    Jackmydad Posts: 9,186 Forumite
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    The bloke who taught me to use a chainsaw said to not use them for cutting thin stuff or hedges. It can apparently cause the chain to come off, and unsupported thin branches are going to spring unpredictably, and possibly pull you off balance. Be careful.
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    adonis wrote: »
    I've just bought a Lidl battery powered reciprocating saw for about £30 (bare) which I intend to use with my battery chain saw when hedging in the winter away from power supplies. To be honest it's not great on old, dry wood, but it should be fine for green stuff.

    The chain saw is a Stihl and cost well over £400, so I wouldn't recommend that for occasional jobs, but the Lidl saw should be just the ticket for laying the thinner branches. The Stihl tends to be a bit too efficient for laying!
  • glasgowdan
    glasgowdan Posts: 2,968 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Using a chainsaw to cut privet sounds scary. There are a lot of twigs that could wrap the bar and cause kickback. Kickback is where the chain tries it's best to dig into your neck/arm/thigh. It's one of the most lethal power tools out there.

    Plus, if you trim it once a year it's not going to have stems thick enough to need the chainsaw again - just a hedge trimmer. So you may only use this saw once then keep the hedge trim with a standard trimmer..

    My vote would be to get a silky pruning hand saw. Or, if you MUST spend some money, an electric pole saw.

    I do a lot of this for a living.
  • Zither
    Zither Posts: 365 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    Davesnave wrote: »
    It will re-establish quicker than that. Privet loves to be cut back.

    Excellent. The hedge has just been left to grow so it's got lots of long grown out stems/stalks that have shaded the underneath, presumably stopping the hedge from growing like a nice managed tight privet hedge?
  • Zither
    Zither Posts: 365 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    Apodemus wrote: »
    I got a Florabest long-reach electric chain saw from Lidl, which has proved surprisingly good. Only problem with it is that it just doesn't seem to dispense any chain oil, so I manually oil the chain and cogs every five minutes or so. The long-reach is actually possibly safer since you are well away from the sharp end and although I bought it for cutting difficult to reach branches, I have also used it on more accessible stuff, rather than getting out the petrol chain-saw.

    Only other downside is that being electric, you can't work in the rain.

    I was actually looking at this earlier. £60. Not unreasonable if it does the job but the hedge currently is about 4 feet thick. I wondered if the smaller blade area might make cutting back a wider hedge a bit too much of a challenge?
  • Zither
    Zither Posts: 365 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    adonis wrote: »

    Love the idea of these - just it looks like it would take ages to cut through hundreds/thousands of small hedge branches?? I kinda just want to cut through the hedge in a few goes - a bit like a knife through butter so thought a chainsaw would pretty much take anything out in its path?
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