| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Jonnyboy |
Brushcutter recommendations?Something petrol powered that is good for clearing rough ground, including nettles, docks, rushes, biiiig thistles etc, etc.Budget £100 - £200. I've an old 'robin' petrol strimmer and find that it doesn't have the torque and grass etc, collects around the 'spinny bit' so one with a blade might be useful. |
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| dpack |
i was about to suggest a long light sharp billhook
or pigs 
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| Bernie66 |
http://www.ryobi-direct.com/acatalog/strimmers.html
Go for it |
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| Bernie66 |
Specifically
http://www.ryobi-direct.com/acatalog/30cc_Petrol_Brush_Cutter_Special_Offer.html |
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| Treacodactyl |
Why not try a scythe or at least have a go? No petrol, keeps you fitter and no noise! http://www.downsizer.net/Projects/A_sustainable_home/Why_everyone_should_own_a_Scythe/ | ||
| Jonnyboy |
Thanks bernie, that looks good and I like Ryobi.
TD, you make a good point and I have a billhook/slasher but the areas I need to control are fairly hilly so it makes using them difficult. |
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| StuP |
Last weekend, for the first time, I applied my (sparkly new) scythe to the lawn and my (sparkly new) cutthroat razor to my face. The scything went really well!  
Honestly, using the scythe was hugely satisfying and I can't recommend it enough. |
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| tahir |
I'd scythe if possible, if not go for a Stihl or Honda (they now have a 4 stroke which is much cleaner emissions wise) | ||
| Northern_Lad |
Or be a real man and make your own V8 version! Fruit trees? What fruit trees? |
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| gil |
Excellent ! Glad to hear it. Good, innit ?
And for a petrol driven, I'd also go for a 4-stroke Honda strimmer/brushcutter, especially given tough stems in the ground cover. If scything that kind of thing, a stone blade is good (halfway in toughness between a grass blade [for lawns] and a ditch blade [heavy duty]) |
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| dougal |
which includes a chainsaw bit too, and delivery. |
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| Jonnyboy |
I'm very tempted by the ryobi, you can get a tiller atttachment for it as well. | ||
| Gervase |
...and a hedgetrimmer...and a tea-maker...
My worry is that it would be a jack-of-all trades and master of none. After looking at the Ryobi "Swiss Army Strimmer" we eventually went for a 27cc Kawasaki, with a three-pointed 'shuriken' type blade for really heavy brush and a sort of circle with squares sticking out for thistles, nettles and such like, as well as the line-in-a-cartridge basic strimmer. All I can say is that it does exactly what you would want it to do, with minimal vibration, for hour after hour if necessary, in the face of some serious abuse. Makita machines are also really well made and reliable, as are Stihl. One brand I'd avoid, having had some experience with both hedgecutter and chainsaw, is McCulloch - their motors seem to be very temperamental. |
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| gil |
That's what you get with the Honda 4-stroke. No problems changing between them either. |
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| Jonnyboy |
I was thinking about that, but as most of these garden power tools are basically a similar engine with a different attachment, I'm not convinced that it would be a poor substitute.
I have a McCulloch chainsaw, apart from being quite thirsty it's been alright. Although unless you regularly sharpen it it does have a tendancy to 'wander'. |
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| dpack |
shtil if it needs a motor | ||
| Treacodactyl |
I don't know if you've sorted this yet but I was emailed this offer: http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=30005 |
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| offroading.net |
Just bought a stihl FS45 strimmer, not too big but man enough for the long stuff, cost £110 from my local farm parts place, just found this on google (never used them but has info)
http://www.qualitytoolsltd.co.uk/stihlbrushcutters.html |
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| Kitchenwitch |
We bought the smaller Stihl brushcutter last summer, as our garden is nearly all strimmer-ish rather than mowable. It's this one, and so far it's great - hours of obsessive research on the interweb suggested that it was between Stihl and Husquvarna, and this one won out because its guarantee was longer.
I should add that it also has a metal head which makes mincemeat of anything up to and including reasonably large trees. We use it with the strimmer cord mostly, but if you have serious stuff to get through, I'd have no worries! |
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| judith |
We have the FS45 too. It is great for grass, docks and other sappy stuff, but definitely won't handle brambles. It struggles too with thistles and large quantities of nettles - you will spend more time replacing the broken string than you do strimming, and the stringy stems of the nettles keep wrapping themselves around the head. |
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| tahir |
You can get tghicker line that's less prone to breaking | ||
| Jonnyboy |
I'd go for one that can use a blade as well as line. |
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| tahir |
Ours has got a blade, never used it though. Whats the benefit? They seem to have very little cutting depth. | ||
| Jonnyboy |
It gets through the tough stuff with breaking. The blade is usually smaller than the line diameter. Prob so you can try and cut too much at once |
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| Nick |
Thick line won't go through decent brambles, my blade will go through your foot. | ||
| guyandzoe |
My wooden leg would stop it. Which the original didn't.
guy |
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| vanessa |
 yeuuk!
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| offroading.net |
I have a 3 blade thingy on the end, oo-er |
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| Contadino |
You can get heads for strimmers that have two short (perhaps 20 cms) lengths of bicycle chain on them. They'll cut through brambles or anything else tough with no problems, and have a greater diameter than the metal blades.
They make them in my local agricultural shop, but I've seen them boxed up in my local hardware shop too. |
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| Jonnyboy |
Forgot all about this, but I ended up getting the Ryobi brushcutter with tiller attachment. Only remembered because I used it to break up the beds tonight.
Great bit of kit, hard on the arms as it wants to run along the soil rather than dig in, but when it digs it is great at breaking up the soil. beats the life out of digging! |
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| Pel |
If anyone wants to get something a bit bigger (between £500-£800), we have 3 at work stihl FS450, FS400 , FS500.
The FS450 i think is the best, not sure if we just managed to get a dodgy FS500 but it would start but never get up to speed, had to be sent back to the manufacturers. The FS400 is a bit small for the work we do. You can put on circular saw blades, the three point blades, and use the string as well. This size machine cuts gorse bushes that are about 10ft high and small trees (trunk 15cm diameter). Have to wear gloves and the harness though as there is a lot of vibration and its heavy. The machine will work all day, full tank of fuel lasts about an hour doing gorse and scrub clearance. Personally, i can only last 2 hours before having a break as i find it gets heavy, but the men at work go all day. |