Hello,
This year I've taken on a couple of heavy duty privet hedge restoration jobs and have been frustrated with the inefficiency of the tools I have to do the job and am looking to invest in some good kit. My budget was very limited when first investing in power tools, so I have an absolutely atrocious Hyundai 50cc multi-tool with hedge trimmer attachment (It only has a 25mm teeth opening - I could write an entire book on how frustrating this tool is!) and a pole saw attachment. The privet hedges I have been working on had both been allowed to grow unchecked for years and had grown up to the level of the house guttering. The customers both wanted them reducing in height by about 50%, which meant cutting through pretty thick stems that seemed to occupy an annoying sweet spot (maybe bitter spot would be a better description...) where they're too thick to go through with my hedge trimmer, but still too floppy to cut effectively with my pole daw. The result was I ended up doing most of it by hand with loppers and a pruning saw, which took an age. I was wondering what tools other people use for this sort of thing, or what might be recommended. I have some really nice cordless husqvarna kit I use for everyday maintenance and I find the cordless tools much nicer to use than petrol, but do cordless rough cut hedge trimmers have the oomph that petrol does to tackle the really, really tough stuff (I thought the echo 56v rough cutter looked good and the stihl 140r)? I'm guessing the Stihl 82RCE is probably a go to, but ideally if a hedge trimmer is the way to go it would need to be long reach as these hedges are pretty deep. Is there a long reach trimmer with the same capacity as the 82rce? I am also considering the Milwaukee pole shears, which look pretty good and have a cutting capacity of 44mm. Basically, I've got lots of ideas but would love to hear from people who have to do this sort of thing a lot and so have a well oiled system.
Thanks in advance!
Side question: How do the Echo 56v tools stack up against Husqvarna and Stihl cordless? And how about the kress 60v range?
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Replies
Raymond over the years I have come unstuck accepting these types of jobs so I would always direct the customer towards a tree surgeon it's not just the reduction it's dealing with all the brash afterwards which consumes time unless you have an efficient shredder .
I always lost money because it took me too long .
I used the same methods as yourself hedge trimmer , loppers and pruning saw , a big decent silky is better than an average pruning saw if you are dealing with conifers or hawthorn .
Pole saws can be useful until they hit the thin stuff then it's back to the hedge trimmer .
To be fair that combination is an efficient method and I have never found a single machine which is so versatile it can reduce a hedge with mixed diameter stems maintaining a straight line in one pass .
I have done a few however but always underestimated the time it took whichever way you look at it it's a very time consuming job no matter what equipment you have and I have found it's as much about planning as it is about cutting to increase efficiency.
One machine I have found useful reducing a privet hedge with thick stems is the Stihl cordless chainsaw GTA 26 , battery life is short so you either need a way of recharging on site or carry spare batteries which is my chosen method I just ended up buying two more machines instead of trying to buy the batteries separately.
You also need to invest in chainsaw gloves
However hope someone can provide a better answer and can suggest a machine which can do the job in one pass .