Can anyone recommend a chainsaw please?

[Mattyboy]

Between my neighbour and myself we have a hedge around 120 feet long and 3 feet wide which needs tidying up. I want to take 6 feet off of the top and quotes are coming in at £1,000 +. We are on the north side and down a hill so I want to take allot off to get more sunlight in the garden.

As I am happy to do this myself, can anyone recommend a chainsaw for such a job, electric/petrol make/model etc? There's allot of choice and mixed reviews on the net. I guess I am willing to pay circa £100.

Many thanks

 

[upsidedown]

How tall is the hedge? And what type ? I've done quite a few and they can be tricky especially if you have to work at height ?

 

[Mattyboy]

Many thanks.

Various bushes such as hawthorn (nasty stuff) holly, sycamore and Poplar. Most is fairly do able with shears, hand cutters and a trimmer but I will have to cut through up to 6 inch diameter trunks. The height is about 15 feet but it thins out allot beyond 10 feet. So I will have around 3 foot of thick stuff to get through (from around 8 foot off of the ground) and then 5 foot of easier stuff. The ground around the hedge is flat and paved so there's no problem using steps.

I need something fairly straight forward to put together and operate as well!

Thanks once again.

 

[upsidedown]

Not too bad then, watch out for the ones where the trunks are 6 inches in diameter , there will be fair bit of weight above you. For your budget I'd suggest hiring in as you'll get more power/ reach for what will be essentially a one off job . Talk to these guys if you have a local branch , maybe take some pictures to show them, hire for the weekend and take plenty of breaks , coffee and chocolate biscuits ( others are available) are obligatory
https://www.hss.com/hire/p/long-reach-tree-pruner

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Wear the safety kit and don’t cut above chest height.

Seen people cutting branches above their heads, Darwin Award dangerous.

If you buy or hire, get a spare chain or a chain sharpening kit, they go blunt very quickly.

👍

 

[backwoodsman]

Quite frankly, as someone who has worked in the arboricultural profession for 40 years and as a former chainsaw instructor, I'd simply say your life is worth more than £1000. Do not buy or hire a chainsaw unless you have had the appropriate training to use one. And obviously you haven't, else you would not be contemplating using a chainsaw on a set of steps. Simply - don't.

Ps; if you feel you really must do the job yourself - buy yourself a decent handsaw. For stuff up to 6 inches it will be just as good and way, way, safer.

 

[chrisd]

Some ok chainsaws online/ garden centres for £100, I used to hire and sell some and the best makes are much dearer. As has been said, use the protective helmet with ear defenders and visor also the proper chain saw gloves as they should save your hands if the chain breaks. Make sure the saw has a safety brake in case of kick back, this is vital. I purchased an Aldi extendable pole hedge trimmer to keep the growth down for about £70 and it came with a lithium battery and charger and is a decent tool for keeping it in trim a couple of times a year

 

[Slime]

This is the one I've had for a few years now,

https://www.homebase.co.uk/bosch-ake-40-s-electric-chainsaw_p153645

It's been superb and has defeated several tall trees to date.

Warnings!!!
Go slowly and safely and only cut when your perfectly balanced.
Cut at lower than chest level.
Buy some spare chain oil, it uses the stuff pretty quickly.
NEVER EVER EVER let the chain touch soil, it'll be blunt before you can say 'Bollocks'!
Oh, and buy a spare chain.

Good luck.

 

[backwoodsman]

Ps: there is no such thing as a minor chainsaw injury ...

 

[Tashyboy]

This is the one I've had for a few years now,

https://www.homebase.co.uk/bosch-ake-40-s-electric-chainsaw_p153645

It's been superb and has defeated several tall trees to date.

Warnings!!!
Go slowly and safely and only cut when your perfectly balanced.
Cut at lower than chest level.
Buy some spare chain oil, it uses the stuff pretty quickly.
NEVER EVER EVER let the chain touch soil, it'll be blunt before you can say 'Bollocks'!
Oh, and buy a spare chain.

Good luck.

Got exactly the same as this. However i use vegetable oil. Cheaper and better for the environment. 👍
Deffo listen to the safety advice. before you buy. Google chainsaw injuries ( images).
That aside look at loping secateurs, decent saws etc. Dont just rely on a chainsaw. Good oid luck getting rid of the excess. 👍

 

[Bunkermagnet]

I would go th either way, and buy or hire a long pole petrol hedge trimmer, and use a new hand saw on the trunks needed cutting.
You’ll be surprised how effective the petrol hedge trimmers can be, I bought an Echo pole trimmer that’s about 6ft long with fully angle adjustable blade.

 

[Crazyface]

Quite frankly, as someone who has worked in the arboricultural profession for 40 years and as a former chainsaw instructor, I'd simply say your life is worth more than £1000. Do not buy or hire a chainsaw unless you have had the appropriate training to use one. And obviously you haven't, else you would not be contemplating using a chainsaw on a set of steps. Simply - don't.

Ps; if you feel you really must do the job yourself - buy yourself a decent handsaw. For stuff up to 6 inches it will be just as good and way, way, safer.

If you ignore this, well....just don't. Trunks are just 6 inches (what are these?) then a decent hand saw will eat them and MUCH MUCH safer.

 

[USER1999]

Chainsaws scare the beejayus out of me.

I have a reciprocating electric saw. Think electric carving knife. With the right blade, (not the one it came with) this will go through up to 6in. It is way safer to use. I use it for cutting small trees in the garden.

 

[patricks148]

Quite frankly, as someone who has worked in the arboricultural profession for 40 years and as a former chainsaw instructor, I'd simply say your life is worth more than £1000. Do not buy or hire a chainsaw unless you have had the appropriate training to use one. And obviously you haven't, else you would not be contemplating using a chainsaw on a set of steps. Simply - don't.

Ps; if you feel you really must do the job yourself - buy yourself a decent handsaw. For stuff up to 6 inches it will be just as good and way, way, safer.

as above.

get a professional in it will be safer in the long run and they will probably do a better job, not to mention take it all away.

 

[User62651]

Quite frankly, as someone who has worked in the arboricultural profession for 40 years and as a former chainsaw instructor, I'd simply say your life is worth more than £1000. Do not buy or hire a chainsaw unless you have had the appropriate training to use one. And obviously you haven't, else you would not be contemplating using a chainsaw on a set of steps. Simply - don't.

Ps; if you feel you really must do the job yourself - buy yourself a decent handsaw. For stuff up to 6 inches it will be just as good and way, way, safer.

As another who has worked in the forestry industry (for ca. 30 years) listen to this man. I've done the basic chainsaw courses and refreshers a few times and have a decent amount of working experience, putting a saw in the hands of a novice without full PPE is high risk, add a ladder/steps and height and reaching with it adds another level of risk.
40 metres per second a revving chainsaw chain travels at. There are teeth about an inch apart. Not hard to imagine what a slip can result in. There are numerous machine checks you need to do before starting cutting and you really need to know about kickback zones, chain tension, handling and cutting techniques.

Blokes will be blokes of course and many will use a chainsaw untrained and unprotected and get away with it, would strongly suggest you don't though.

Silky handsaws with curved blades are very effective tools, 6" they will handle fine.

 

[DRW]

£100 is not a lot of money tbh for machinery. I have cut down over 100 trees and hedges of over 300 foot in our garden(often tie and pulling down the trees or hedges for extra safety).

Hawthorn is as you say very nasty(we cut them down completely and replanted the hedges tbh), and hawthorn is a hard wood to cut by hand. Popular is very soft! With sycamore fairly hard, cutting by hand is mega heavy work tho, we gave up on that idea almost immediately.

When working at height or wanting to cut from above your head, I would always use a long reach chainsaw from the ground, as it is so much safer. To buy new they are fairly expensive tho.

I initially bought a Mitox long reach, which was okay and if you have time etc, will get the job done. You maybe able to buy second hand at your kind of budget at a guess.

EDIT :- Similar to this(we actually had a mutli tool one, think it is the 281MT IIRC):-

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mitox-28...h=item25f04eea53:g:Z9EAAOSwZ2laqRHX:rk:1:pf:0

One thing we used a lot of and is very good, is a Jaws lopper(wont cut 6 inch stuff but copes with thinner stuff with ease and its heavy duty) :-

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jaws-Tel...h=item3b10d4a399:g:PAoAAOSwhHJbIACZ:rk:2:pf:0

In the end brought a Stihl chainsaw/long reach ones, which is way over budget, but are so much better.

Hope that helps and take care.

 

[Mattyboy]

Thank you all. I am doing this myself as its actually the neighbours hedge (which our old neighbours neglected) so I don't want to pay £1,000 for something that they should - but they have just had their second child and I guess they have better things to spend their money on. Also, this wont be something that I won't do over a weekend. This will take months. Having said that, I did google 'chainsaw injuries'.....hmmm....

I think a hand saw will be a wiser option. We see people down the range or on the course without a clue and in chainsaw speak, that would be me (but bad golf doesn't cost a limb!).

Would this be any good?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-FISK...=item5ad443ee2f:g:wIQAAOSwkGVZsnWH:rk:45:pf:0

 

[Slime]

As maxfli65 said, have a look at a good quality silky, they're very good tools.

You can go cheap https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wilkinson-...=1542039462&sr=8-1&keywords=silky+pruning+saw

Or more expensive https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wilkinson-...=1542039462&sr=8-1&keywords=silky+pruning+saw

They're much better than a bow saw at getting to fiddly bits!

I hope this helps!

 

[DCB]

Quite frankly, as someone who has worked in the arboricultural profession for 40 years and as a former chainsaw instructor, I'd simply say your life is worth more than £1000. Do not buy or hire a chainsaw unless you have had the appropriate training to use one. And obviously you haven't, else you would not be contemplating using a chainsaw on a set of steps. Simply - don't.

Ps; if you feel you really must do the job yourself - buy yourself a decent handsaw. For stuff up to 6 inches it will be just as good and way, way, safer.

Best answer you are going to get here. Unless you are certified you may not even be able to hire a chainsaw from a reputable hire company. £1000 looks a good option IMO

 

[upsidedown]

I use one of these for the high work
https://www.worldofwolf.co.uk/produ...Fix-TVhKu0xg73P4y5zHzf8JrTPzcTKBoCeSgQAvD_BwE