I have a shedload of small trees, shrubs and hedges in my garden upon which I intend to unleash a massacre of epic proportions.
My gammy shoulder isn’t up to the job of cutting all the branches by hand and I don’t want to die a horrible death by fannying about with a dangerous chainsaw with no training or experience.

Recommend me a safer power tool for cutting a lot of branches up to maybe 75 mm thick.

Some kind of reciprocating garden saw?

Electric and corded preferably as I don’t want to faff about with fuel or waiting for batteries to charge.

Get the kids to help?

🙂 The last thing my kids need is an axe. they’re destructive enough already.

Not the answer you are looking for but I bought a chainsaw when I had 6 conifers and some other tree type things to take down. Bought some decent steel toe capped boots / chainsaw trousers / gloves and helmet with face mask. Did a lot of online reading and guides and went for it.

I didn’t try anything stupid and went on the safe side of things and had no issues. Stayed firmly on the ground when cutting (no ladders), didn’t cut too close to the ground where you could get bounce back from soil / rocks etc and never stretched arms with the chainsaw going.

Amazing how quickly you can take trees down – but takes forever to clear up / dispose of them.

a silky pull saw?

So sharp and well designed that all the mechanical advantage takes the effort out of use for a hand saw

http://www.abbeygardensales.co.uk/subprod/silky-pruning-saws-0001704.aspx

get someone in?

SIlky pruning saw. Ace…

<dammit, too slow 🙂 >

get someone in?

Perchy’s next thread “Help needed,my wife and the lumberjack” 😉

someone like this?

I’ve got one of these used it for logs and cutting a leylandii down.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb533rsp-750w-reciprocating-saw-240v/17639

Pah, you need a real silky. I carry one of these in my rucksack whenever riding.. just in case.
[video]https://youtu.be/_KryxktLOqE[/video]

jawsaw ??

I have one of these which should work fin for what you want (I bought it to cut fenceposts)

http://www.blackanddecker.co.uk/en-gb/product-repository/products-blackanddeckereanz-gb/2016/04/01/18/23/ks890ek

borrowed one of these recently, great saw..

it keeps the sharp nasty cutting leg off bit much further away. Do still need to worry about large branches falling on your head though.

Yep you want a reciprocating saw and according to my mate Buzz who is sitting next to me watching some shit on the tele and drinking cheap larger and who is an arborist and garden fixer-upper, unless you are going to use it forever get a cheap one from Screwfix. Which sounds like good advice to me.

Detcord?

If your shoulder is borked a lot of the powered options aren’t going to be a lot more fun to use than a hand saw.

Bow saws are a bit rubbish to be honest, a good, sharp panel saw (especially some of the newfangled ones that have a teflon-y coating) will usually work fine with thicker branches. I took a whole bunch of leylandi, broom and rowan down last week and just used my regular panel saw (not even all that sharp at the moment), cut through 3 and 4″ trunks and branches in no time.

Powered alternatives like a reciprocating saw are heavy (which your shoulder won’t like) and can judder about and kick quite a bit (which your shoulder won’t like either). You can’t really use them one handed either so if you’re lopping branches and the like you often need a second pair hands to support stuff or keep the cut open while you work.

Something like the jaw saw?

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Worx-WG307E-600W-Jawsaw-Chainsaw/p/148681?CAWELAID=120135120001234327&CAGPSPN=pla&CAAGID=37524963652&CATCI=aud-202288022433:pla-327874506154&gclid=CjwKEAjw-LLKBRCdhqmwtYmX93kSJAAORDM6qwJAWRq6jRnS1_4ODum35nyeQVCuVIOsxQJUB5mefhoCKyTw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I’d tried panel saws before I bought the one above, and it was way less work and therefore easier on the shoulders. Nor is it all that heavy.

So far it’s looking like a good sharp hand saw for the intial attack and a cheapo reciprocating saw for the dismemberment and disposal.

Privet, Lilac, Rowan, Holly, Rhododendron – all will die. None will be spared.

Mwaaahaaahhaaahaaa. 😉

THe neighbour has a scorpion – it’s ok but wouldn’t fancy having to chop trees with it. Live trees are much harder to cut than treated fence posts in my experience.

Maybe that titan one might have a bit more go to it. I did trim a stump the other day with a normal hand saw because I couldn’t be bothered to get all the chainsaw gear out- as it was a brand new saw it wasn’t too bad. Would say it went through better than the neighbours scorpion would have done – although maybe he’s using an old / blunt blade.

I was going to suggest the JawSaw too

Location?
Sure one of us on here will pop over for beer/pizza tokens.

Which kind of bastard names their children Privet and Rhododendron?

This guy’s dad?

No one said Beaver?

THe neighbour has a scorpion – it’s ok but wouldn’t fancy having to chop trees with it. Live trees are much harder to cut than treated fence posts in my experience.

Sounds like the wrong blade for the job. Fresh wood wants a nice open gap between teeth.

Reciprocating or Sabre saw should do it. Just use the right blade.

A decent pruning saw on a pole can take down branches reasonably safely and efficiently. Even a hand saw up a ladder takes a bit of care, the falling part can easily hit the ladder. Pole saw does take a bit of time and effort but you probably don’t have all that many high branches to cut though really.

What you really need most of all is a van to take the remains to the local tip. Cutting it up to car-sized pieces will be the tedious bit.

Surely the least load on your shoulders is a flame thrower?

according to my mate Buzz

His surname had better be “Saw” or there is going to be trouble !

The small Fiskars axe with free blade sharpener is razor sharp, does a pencil sharpening better than stanley copy bladed knife, just watch no one gets a miss timed amputation

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KEz355keJ0[/video]

Hire a Bosch tyranno

Recip saw is garbage for cutting trees regardless of blades.

I found the chainsaw to be the only thing that made it not a hateful task.

If money’s not an issue you might want to consider a battery chainsaw. Little bit* safer than a petrol saw, but still able to do most of the work of a decent petrol saw.

*Still a chainsaw, still very dangerous and I would still recommend some ppe.

Neighbour lent me one of these. Pukka piece of kit and made short work of even quite substantial chunks of tree.

https://hurst-iw.co.uk/products/3042?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&variant=8819978435&gclid=CjwKEAjw-LLKBRCdhqmwtYmX93kSJAAORDM6RAE5-7qOnvJoK_1yioSHKOt_bdftiDtH2Qh3sns6RxoCfdXw_wcB

I did a similar job last year. Mahoooosive front hedge (might be stretching the term as it implies some level of order) cut down. Prepare for a miserable weekend or two. Don’t underestimate chopping it all up to take it away.

Note: the same tree looks much larger laying down on the ground than when in the ground vertical

I used a mixture of bow saw, axe, panel saw, heavy loppers and a heavy dose of bad temper.

Did I say, prepare for a miserable time? I’d get someone in next time

For a dozen bottles of Arran blonde (or schiehallion, I’m no fussy!) I’ll bring the chainsaw and cut it all doon for you.

Drop me an email if ye want me to pop over, no worries.

We have one of these and its pretty handy without as much risk from kick back etc.
Aligator