Advice on Hedgecutter

[woodyguy]

Can I ask some advice on hedgecutters. I use Stihl chainsaws but the dealer is miles away and frankly a bit useless. I see that Echo has a great reputation. I need it to cut not trim, so farm style hedges that I can't use a flail on. So the cut of the stihl hs81r seems ideal. Not really clear from the Echo site which of theirs is a cutter or a trimmer as they seem to alternate the words.

 

So can the bigger Echos handle the 38mm diameter cut of the big Stihl? Are there other models/makes I should be considering?

 

Also never used a single sided. What are the advantages as I can imagine disadvantages?

[doobin]

It might be 38mm between teeth, but you won't cut though anything approaching that size with either machine.

[slim reaper]

It might be 38mm between teeth, but you won't cut though anything approaching that size with either machine.

Agreed. if you mean to cut at more than a snails pace then around the diameter of a little finger is what I have found.

[C.J]

HS81R is ideal for farm hedges and can manage 2 years growth - any more and its saw time.

[doobin]

Agreed. if you mean to cut at more than a snails pace then around the diameter of a little finger is what I have found.

 

Ay, and that will eventually kill the gears doing that size constantly if it's hard wood.

[woodyguy]

Thanks. I'm quite happy with what the 81R can handle and take your point about two years growth which is fine with me. I'm looking for what the Echo equivalent can manage, as the website makes no mention. Any comments on single vs double sized cutters?

[woody paul]

Are you just cutting sides only, large brush cutter with metal blade will do it a lot quicker than any hedge cutter

[woodyguy]

Sides and top but interesting idea. I might try my brushcutter and see how it does. Hard to reach the top though!!

[woodyguy]

BUMP

Surely somebody can tell me how well the big Echo hedge cutters deal with farm type hedges??

thanks in advance

[Macpherson]

Don`t know anything about Echo`s but a tool that seems to have had a cool reception is the Granberg clip n trim which is basically a comb that`s bolted onto a chainsaw`s bar so you an cut bushy stuff without the scrub being drawn in, I bougth a 16" one and have used it several times now to demolish tangled scrub, this particular device is quite light weight and I fitted it my own way on a spare bar, but I knew as soon as i saw it I`d try it.......Don`t know how much hedge you need to cut or what size, but it would be easy to make up something up to bolt onto any bar, like a pole saw if it`s really high.

The only drawback is that using a chainsaw as a hedgetrimmer`s gets heavy pretty quick, might be worth knocking something up though. cheers