After nearly loosing an eye through a trail last week tonight i am going to “thin the bush”

Does anyone else take gardening tools out with them, my mate has a foldable saw

The ratchet type of secateurs are good as they can cut through quite thick branches.

Folding saws are very handy though when you need to clear a large fallen branch from paths.

Got a foldable saw from aldi last year, still not actually taken it out for trailside pruning yet tho 😳

Getting whipped by tree twigs on my commute, should do something but can never be arsed

Are you thinning at the Lickys RD?
Encountered quite a lot of face slapping bush last night; it wasn’t as good as it sounds. 😐

I did a bit of trail maintenance up in the Lickeys last week.

I use a Fiskars folding saw (c.£15) and it happily went through 4″ branches in less than 30 seconds. Quite a few trees were down and blocking trails and it only takes one person a few minutes to clear it. Wish more riders did it instead of just walking around and carrying on.

Lighter than secateurs and no pointy bits to get in the way if you crash.

My foldable saw makes the odd ride with me now and again 😉

8″ folding saw

I reckon if you constantly go through nettles you acclimatize … maybe

had my 1st bramble incident 2 weeks ago, down a flight of stairs, bars caught one side, neatly twisting me into the fence – ho hum

As above – a wee folding saw is often useful at this time of the year.

After getting a thorn right through a finger nail and going septic, always carry secetuers now,descent ones from toolstation.com, good tip always point them down in your bag, if they open youre not going to spear yourself, done that as well.

Oh and its immensely satisfying to trim back a large bush, just make suere you tidy it to the side after.

my saw lives in my backpack (I ain’t being stopped twice by the same log), but is no good for pruning, it does chop up quite large logs though.

Thats my old fiskars unit, got a much better Silky Fox one now.

Occasionally my Spear & Jackson Razorsharp Advance Heavy Duty Bypass Secateurs (hey I didn’t make the name) come out to play, can’t say I’ve had many pairs to be able to recommend them over any other brand, but I know my brother bought some independently (he’s more into gardening than me). Just found you can buy folding secateurs, which might be slightly safer for the pack while riding.

I’d go for some bypass secateurs, something with good steel and a proper fit will be fine. The cheap versions out of local markets and the like, are all-but universally horrible, they are made entirely from cheese – they don’t hold an edge for more than a couple of cuts, and too much pressure (to overcome the by-now rolled blade) and you’ll break / fold the handle.

If you go down the road of a folding saw, the Bahco ‘Laplander’ (396) gets good reviews. I’ve [still] got a 396XT, and that works well on thicker stuff.

Felco FTW – had the same pair for 10 years. Best quality.
http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=felco+secateurs&client=chrome-mobile&bav=on.2,or.&bvm=bv.46865395,d.ZGU&biw=1280&bih=752&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=14469808586519077803&sa=X&ei=32KeUcqvFump0AWu0oCwAw&ved=0CGAQ8gIwAg

Ah, you lot! Just bought a Lapland 396 🙂