Hedgetrimmers

Cleaning, fixing, using, repairing, best and worst of your mechanical aids in the garden...

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Kev
KG Regular
Posts: 26
Joined: Sat Sep 16, 2006 7:57 pm
Location: Aberdeenshire

What sort of hedgetrimmer do my learned friends recommend?
I have a cheapo petrol trimmer which has a double sided blade about 2ft long, it works fine on the beech hedge but on the lawsons cypress and (dreaded) leylandii the damn stuff just pushes away from the bar and then springs back after.
I don't mind waving the thing about for hours as long as I can look at it and its trimmed tidy but it's hard work on the shoulders when I have to keep going over it to cut it.
Would a really good quality trimmer cut first time?
And I don't want to drag any wires around.
Kev
Mole
KG Regular
Posts: 184
Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2006 9:01 pm
Location: East Devon

Hi

Have you tried sharpening the cutters, and adjusting/lubricating the tightnes of the cutter bars? I find that this helps my trimmer do the conifers etc.

Stihl are good.

Cheers

Mole
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Clive.
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Location: East Lincolnshire.
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Hello,
At work we grade our hedgetrimmers..with newly purchased machines the preserve of trimming the Yew hedges. After some years of use on this job when they are starting to show a little wear they get downgraded to Beech hedge cutting. The Beech gives the blades more of a jarring..and Hawthorn if left to harden rather than having 2 trims jars the blades even more.

One thing that we always do at the end of each day when using a hedgetrimmer is to try to stop the machine with the blades apart such that the back of the blade is visible and it can then be washed clean to remove the build up of green "gunge". The blades are then allowed to dry off and sprayed with WD40 or a light oil.
This cleaning stops the blades being strained/worn by jacking apart by the gunge on the blade back.

We use electric machines at work but I do have a general purpose Stihl petrol machine at home for use on field Hawthorn.

I believe that within the Stihl range there may be hedgetrimmers with differently geared blade speeds to suit specific types of trimming.

All the best,
Clive.
Kev
KG Regular
Posts: 26
Joined: Sat Sep 16, 2006 7:57 pm
Location: Aberdeenshire

You can't get the blades apart on my el-cheapo trimmer, otherwise I would sharpen them, I do clean them after use with wd40.
It looks like I will have to buy a decent one, Stilh is a name I would seriously consider.
What I really want though is to find a farmer with a flail trimmer who would do the top for me.
Thanks, Kev
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