Hi,

Normally at this time of year I would desert my local trails for the peaks.

Partially because I could and partially because of the brambles and nettles.

This year with a tiny baby and lockdown I’ll be there for loads of summer.

If I clear the brambles with scheres how long will they take to grow back?

It’s in my local woods, so carrying a machete or the like is off the cards.

Is it worth it?

Cheers!

It’s in my local woods, so carrying a machete or the like is off the cards

Why? I use the Fiskars below, it comes with a big plastic housing, and is excellent for whacking down brambles at the base, which means you won’t see them again til next year. It fits in my wee ergon backpack, just a couple of inches popping out the top.

I’m sure if someone questioned you using it, you could easily explain that you’re doing a wee local service and keeping paths wider for folks to pass each other.

Secateurs are OK for brambles. Quite slow but you can target the base so its minimal wasted energy. That’ll keep them down for the year and they should be a little slower to return next year.

Or put on hi Viz and use a brush cutter

I’ve done this with extendable hedge shears and worked up quite a sweat, it should last until next spring if you hack em back well, unless we get an Indian summer.
A machete wouldn’t cut brambles well anyway, they’ll probably still scratch up your forearms.
You might get a few dog walkers thanking you and a few comments about the local council being useless like I did, and I have to agree, a couple of guys with weed wackers could have cleared it a damn site quicker.

A machete wouldn’t cut brambles well anyway, they’ll probably still scratch up your forearms.

You wither weren’t using it right, or it was blunt.

A proper machete, as opposed to a brush axe pictured above, is the most versatile of my tools, and the most effective for the kind of trail encroaching overgrowth were talking about here.

Consider your swing and foot position for safety though!

A brush axe has a slight advantage on more woody overgrowth, but not by much, but I prefer the machete because its lighter and less tiring to use.

IME its best to cut more aggressively than you need to, because if you titivate around the edges, you’re back where you started in about 2-3 weeks.

The most effective is a battery powered hedge strimmer, some of which you can get for about 100 quid. These are very effective for widening trails, and no where near as noisy as the petrol stuff, so are better for some off-piste work.

Thanks,

I’ll get backpacked and tooled up!

Any suggestions for the quickest hand tool way to do it? The brush hook or something like this?

My favourite bit of trail has brambles up to eye height now.

Hi vis & machete early morning ride, try following the brambles back & cut them close to the ground.

Won’t fit in your bag, but can keep your distance, have a good swing and rake the debris.

Timber- that looks like something out of a peasant rebellion!

That or man arrested for carting a concealed weapon about.

This was last month in the woods in question.

Mad axe man attacks mountain biker

For trail clearing how big/long a blade would be recommended? I started looking but saw they come in lots of lengths and got images of Rambo!

Hedge secateurs are the work of Satan. Clog up, get blunt and inevitably jam on something just thicker than they should be use for and get bent. Plus the big ones are tiring to use. Nice for pruning a bit of privet but not the right too for this job.

Battery hedge trimmer. I clear/maintain quite a bit of bike trail at our local spot. Mechanisation has been a revelation, particularly for bramble. That and a pruning saw in the pocket, though this is very rarely required, is so easy to carry you’d be grumpy if you hadn’t brought it.
I have a worx one. It’s ‘ok’. If I was buying again I’d probably go Ryobi, but the 2 worx batteries (1.5ah ), last long enough for me to have had enough, and will fit in a jeans back pocket when not in use.

I’ve bought the fiskars thing up above. I’ll give it a go this week and see how it goes.

If that doesn’t do the job I’ll cart my petrol powered hedge trimmer in. Its massive, bulky and makes a right racket. I suppose I could lash it to a rack, but I’d rather not!

I occasionally carry secateurs. For brambles if you can get towards the base you can cut out quite a lot with just a few cuts. They grow in long lengths that become loops I would have thought careful cutting is better than hacking. Depends on where you start from of course.

As pictured by timber. We use to use them on the rivers and brooks and amazing what you clear once you get the hang of it. Every van still carries one as they are a very versatile tool.

What’s that called? Google image search thinks it’s a hockey stick!

Edit – found it Irish slasher

https://singletrackworld.com/2018/10/5-trail-ticklers-to-keep-your-trails-in-tip-top-condition/

Portable tools (plus they’re just nice tools) here ^^

We just call them p hook. We actually modify the heads to fit onto a Wolf pole.

Just got the Fiskars XAR bill hook and it will definitely do the job, bramble clearing for me later today!

Cutters are only a temporary measure, as the bramble plant will grow multiple new shots from the cut. I tried a fold up scythe (I really like it as an idea), unfortunately it was too fragile, but I’m interested in these:
Bramble/Nettle cutter
but am not convinced it conducive to dog walking. I almost brought an electric hedge cutter last, as this does seem the proper tool for the job.

When I had an allotment with loads of overgrown brambles, this was one of the most effective tools…

Grass Hook

This is what I use 😋

Just bought one of these, for the garden – tempted to take it to the woods…

https://www.screwfix.com/p/mac-allister-mgtp18li-18v-2-0ah-li-ion-cordless-grass-trimmer/5071r

Brambles will laugh at you, I wouldn’t.

Brambles laugh at commercial brushcutter cord never mind domestic. If you want to brushcut brambles then get a blade fitted.

Ultimate bramble basher is a good old flail 🙂

@z1ppy I have one of those, but i’m not convinced it’s the best tool for the job. I think the one posted by @timber above would be more effective.

Pro’s of the bramble cutter:
Light weight, flexible, discreet (it doesn’t look like you’re out to kill someone in the woods)
Con’s:
I feel the curved edge needs to be longer to get more cuts per swipe, it’s not that sharp but I guess that could be rectified, it does tend to bind in brambles if it’s dense

Brambles laugh at commercial brushcutter cord never mind domestic. If you want to brushcut brambles then get a blade fitted.

I did wonder.

Here’s my portable trail clearing kit. I wanted some stuff I could carry in a backpack so I can have tools for keeping routes I do regularly open. The saw and secateurs are great for branches / bramble. The billhook I just got with the intention of clearing nettles, I had to import it from the US as you can only get the larger size here – the alternative would be something like a machete but I wanted something that didn’t look too much like a weapon… I also like Fiskars stuff, who doesn’t?

I’m also going to get some gloves / gauntlets because with the small tools you really have to get in there, risking a bramble attack!

Thanks for the recommendations of the fiskars machete thing.

I’ve had a go with it a couple of times. It took about 2h to clear a min of trail that’s been bramble lashing me since lockdown. I guess that’s what I expected!

One swipe puts paid to most brambles/ nettles/ holly and the like. There is a wee bit of gorse and that took a bit more effort.

It’s easily enough work and satisfying enough that I should get some occasional use out of it and have less savaged shins.

Thanks again for all the suggestions : )

Got a bosch 36V hedgetrimmer and it gets used a lot more than our nice Echo brush cutter as it’s just so much easier. Thus a battery powered hedge trimmer gets my vote and you can lash it to your backpack or if you get inventive tie it to your bike somehow and jam the trigger on. Trim one side on the way up and the other on the way down. (joking, don’t do this…although I might have a go on the farm rather than get the topper hooked up to the tractor!)

Ive just picked up a makita 36v chainsaw to go with it for general clearing around the farm as I am so sold on battery tools now.

My father and brother cleared my last houses back garden (while I was at work), of 6 tall bramble with a hedge trimmer and rake. One held the bramble pack and the other chopped the stems at ground level.. Hedge cutters are unrated.

@Marc tbh I haven’t tried one, but thought it looked more useful/less dangerous than a my scythe (I do dog walking/trail clearing duties together)
Man I want one of @Fooman mini fiskars clearing hooks, for no good reason, not seen those before and a lot more subtle than a full size brush hook.