Forum menu
As much as a £100 Macleod would be nice, what building tools would you all recommend for a much tighter budget? Is spending £10 in B&Q too cheap?
My list of essentials is: spade, bow saw and dirt bags. Any advice? Cheers!
To a large extent it depends where you are, what type of trails you are building and soil type
If it actually involves rocky soil and digging, then In most cases I suspect a decent mattock would be your best all rounder
a decent mattoch of some sort.
depending on terrain, one with a pick on the other side if it's dr/stoney, or the other shape with a short vertical blade if it's more likely to be rooty
i nice foldin saw is often better than a bow saw, ut depends a bit how big you'll be cutting, and if you're caryying tools on your back to get there.
loppers are good. quick.
not much of those are 10 quid in B n Q tho...
I don't spend too much as I like to stash them in the woods. So cheapo spade, rake and mattock in any colour then tape them up to hide the bright colour they will no doubt come in.
Rubble sacks or a gorilla tub for soil and old buckets.
And as above a Bahco Laplander folding saw with a bright material added so you can find when you drop it...
We used to get long handled army trench spades for about 6 quid. Just did everything with it.
[img] 
[/img]
What mugboo says, cheap mattock, spade and rake, leave them stashed in the woods. Only spent decent money on a fiskars folding saw and brush hook, which go in my pack.
Does anyone remember the spaddock from Dirt magazine? It was was a mattock with the end of a spade welded on it, an amazing tool apparently.
<div class="bbp-reply-content">
To a large extent it depends where you are, what type of trails you are building and soil type
If it actually involves rocky soil and digging, then In most cases I suspect a decent mattock would be your best all rounder
This but if softer soil sand/loam swap the mattock for something like this:
</div>
Nobeerinthefridge is right, bushhook too, I use this for Holly bushes, I hate the buggers, they steal trails. I use a stihl Swiss bush hook, fits nicely in a Camelback Mule. Plus that way you are ready come the zombie apocalypse...
Cheers everyone! I was a bit unsure about stashing tools in the woods incase I end up losing them, but this would definitely be the easiest option. I'll go for a folding saw instead of a bow saw, and may even splash out for some of those marking flags to help lay the trail out so I build corners facing the right direction...
I'm doing a proper scouting mission in the imminent future to find out what the dirt is like the further down you go and if there's any good spots for a borrow pit or four
Bow saw is great for big jobs- removing mature fallen trees frinstance- but for most things a folding saw and a brush hook will cope. And a totally bog standard cheap hand saw is probably 9/10ths as good as a bow saw.
As above- cheap mattock, cheap shovel, these 2 will deal with anything. I really struggle with a mattock to be honest, I'm not powerful enough to drive one all day. If I was buying one for myself now I'd either get a light one, or I'd cut the axe side off, I basically never use the axe anywya
(if you think you're going to be axing, just get a bloomin axe!)
And I did like my chillingon hoe, especially for cutting drains, but they're not that cheap and- yes I know this isn't an expensive tools thread, but a chilligon is halfway to a rogue hoes rhino and they are basically work multipliers, I'll get more done in 2 hours than I would in 3 with other tools. So I'd say go cheap or go expensive, don't go halfway, personally.
IKEA blue bag for dirt, decent saw as long as possible to fit in your back, cheaper ones blunt quicker and can double the time to cut, careful cutting at low level that you sent hitting dirt or stone which blunt them. Spade with a flat back is better for packing down.
Just bought a Bahco Laplander (folding saw)...only this week seems like a decent bit of kit but haven't been out in the real world yet to test it .I paid £20.00 including a £4.50 delivery charge ..
A digging hoe of some variety and a folding saw were my favourite combination for most jobs, where I was building was decent soil with some roots and not many rocks though. I've got through some pretty reasonable sized trees with a folding saw, just have to sometimes work from many different directions. I also managed to snap one and have the snapped off bit go into my arm so I don't saw top down vertically anymore!