In article , Nick Maclaren
writes

In article ,
Kay Easton writes:
|
| But if I drop a cordless hedgetrimmer or do anything else silly with it,
| it's not going to cut out, is it? So is it going to be a dangerous thing
| for me to use?

It's going to cut out as soon as you release the switch, but it
will take a short while (depending on the trimmer) to actually
stop. Perhaps a second or two. No different from the corded
ones, really.

Ron Clark's approach is very reasonable. Because of the diameter
of your leg and the way that trimmers are guarded, a man's dangly
bits are really the only places below waist level that are badly
endangered.

So I should be OK then?

If it falls on your leg, you could well write off a
pair of trousers and need medical attention, but it is unlikely to
kill you or do more than leave a large scar.

Damn. Does that mean I should wear trousers to cut the hedge?

Unlike a chainsaw.

But DON'T try to catch a falling trimmer with your hands - and
that is a mistake that I came very close to making a couple of
times. The trouble is that I tend to catch falling things by
reflex, and my reflexes are fast enough to do it. Luckily, my
brain engaged in time and I pulled back ....

I dropped a knife while coring an apple the other day
Now have a scar on my finger to match the 7 in my abdomen :-(
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

In article ,
Kay Easton writes:
|
| Damn. Does that mean I should wear trousers to cut the hedge?

Up to you - I didn't - it was mainly my fingers that I was concerned
about.

| But DON'T try to catch a falling trimmer with your hands - and
| that is a mistake that I came very close to making a couple of
| times. The trouble is that I tend to catch falling things by
| reflex, and my reflexes are fast enough to do it. Luckily, my
| brain engaged in time and I pulled back ....
|
| I dropped a knife while coring an apple the other day
| Now have a scar on my finger to match the 7 in my abdomen :-(

Quite. My trick has been to take the ends of my left hand fingers
while using shears and secateurs to finish off in a hurry. Just
1/8" too close ....


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Back to the original question Well yes I've used a reciprocating electric
saw. For the less than 5 inch trees and branches I prefer it to the
chainsaw. It's much quieter, lighter and less vibration than the chain but I
still wouldn't call it light by the end of a long session. A reciprocating
blade saw while not stopping instantly you let go, it does does quicker than
most powered saws.

The one I use is the FERM Saw Which Screwfixs' own brand. Apart from being
one of the cheapest it comes with a three year guarrentee, they stck
"pruning blades for it as well as others, Oh and you can buy your RCD from
them at the same time!

The Q

The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:

But if I drop a cordless hedgetrimmer or do anything else silly with it,
it's not going to cut out, is it? So is it going to be a dangerous thing
for me to use?

It cuts out when you drop it because you no longer have your finger(s)
on the trigger switch and safty switch bar, if any.

Having a cable or no cable doesn't come into that equation.

--
Rusty Hinge
No m'lud, it wasn't a sneg. My joints creak.

--
Rusty Hinge
No m'lud, it wasn't a sneg. My joints creak.

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:

It's going to cut out as soon as you release the switch, but it
will take a short while (depending on the trimmer) to actually
stop. Perhaps a second or two. No different from the corded
ones, really.

Good ones - probably all models now - have a brake which stops the bar
if you drop it.

Ron Clark's approach is very reasonable. Because of the diameter
of your leg and the way that trimmers are guarded, a man's dangly
bits are really the only places below waist level that are badly
endangered. If it falls on your leg, you could well write off a
pair of trousers and need medical attention, but it is unlikely to
kill you or do more than leave a large scar. Unlike a chainsaw.

wince

It's unlikely to do even that to most parts of the body, even if it
doesn't stop. The blades are pretty well shielded against anything much
smaller than fingers and.......

wince

But DON'T try to catch a falling trimmer with your hands - and
that is a mistake that I came very close to making a couple of
times. The trouble is that I tend to catch falling things by
reflex, and my reflexes are fast enough to do it. Luckily, my
brain engaged in time and I pulled back ....

Very good point. If in doubt, wear industrial leather gloves.

--
Rusty Hinge
No m'lud, it wasn't a sneg. My joints creak.

alan kearn wrote:
I have used the hedge trimmer to trim the thin branches off the top
of
my 40 feet long (18 trees)Leyllandi hedge , it is now down to 9
feet
high i want to cut it back to about 7 feet. During the 14 years i
have lived in this house the hedge has bean cut back three tmes each
time to about 7 feet so some of the branches at the top are are
fairly
thick.
My Question is
Has anyone used a electric (reciprocating) power saw with the saw
blade that is about 10 inches long for cutting back leyllandi
hedges,
if so are they easy to use and do they do a good job. I am 70 years
old and i am trying to avoid using a bow saw because of aching
joints
after using one. If they are any good, which one would you
recommend.


Hmmm. Only three cuts in 14 years is making hard work for yourself. At
69 I have been spending this very afternoon trimming back my leylandii
with an electric hedge trimmer. An annual practice. In my view, the
trimmer is less tiring than using shears and makes a neater job. And
the electric trimmer is lighter than the 'professional' petrol powered
ones. Controlling the cable can be a bit of a fiddle, but after a
couple of 'accidents' (to the cable) I have taken to slinging the
cable over my shoulder and that tends to keep it away from the blades.
A recommendation? I use a cheap and nasty Black & Decker (now six
years old) but my neighbour swears by his Bosch.

--
ned

alan kearn wrote:
I have used the hedge trimmer to trim the thin branches off the top
of
my 40 feet long (18 trees)Leyllandi hedge , it is now down to 9
feet
high i want to cut it back to about 7 feet. During the 14 years i
have lived in this house the hedge has bean cut back three tmes each
time to about 7 feet so some of the branches at the top are are
fairly
thick.
My Question is
Has anyone used a electric (reciprocating) power saw with the saw
blade that is about 10 inches long for cutting back leyllandi
hedges,
if so are they easy to use and do they do a good job. I am 70 years
old and i am trying to avoid using a bow saw because of aching
joints
after using one. If they are any good, which one would you
recommend.


Hmmm. Only three cuts in 14 years is making hard work for yourself. At
69 I have been spending this very afternoon trimming back my leylandii
with an electric hedge trimmer. An annual practice. In my view, the
trimmer is less tiring than using shears and makes a neater job. And
the electric trimmer is lighter than the 'professional' petrol powered
ones. Controlling the cable can be a bit of a fiddle, but after a
couple of 'accidents' (to the cable) I have taken to slinging the
cable over my shoulder and that tends to keep it away from the blades.
A recommendation? I use a cheap and nasty Black & Decker (now six
years old) but my neighbour swears by his Bosch.

--
ned

The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:


I have never used a hedge trimmer since they seem nasty heavy things
with trailing cables. OK, you fit a RCD, and if anything goes wrong, or
you cut the cable, the power goes off and the thing stops working.

I now notice that you can get cordless hedgetrimmer, which seem a much
better option

My neighbour tried cordless before his present electric trimmer, and
found it useless...the charge didn't last long enough.

I'm not sure that the weight would be much less than one with a
cord.I'd recommend you borrow or hire one first, to see if you've got
enough upperbody stamina in relation to your height and the hedge's
height. I haven't. I normally use hand shears with no problem, on our 50
yards of hawthorn hedge about 4ft 6" high, but recently borrowed my
neighbour's mains electric one for a trial. I am 5ft 2 and found
supporting the weight of it at hedgetop height pretty hard on the arms.
It's faster, but to be honest I didn't make nearly such a good job of
the hedge as I do by hand because my arms were tired almost from the
start. I'd rather do it by handshears, slower but much less strenuous.

But if I drop a cordless hedgetrimmer or do anything else silly with it,
it's not going to cut out, is it? So is it going to be a dangerous thing
for me to use?

Power cutters cut out when you release the safety button or grip, as
others have said. However, if you tripped and forgot to let go, both
sorts would still be running as you landed.

Janet.

The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:


I have never used a hedge trimmer since they seem nasty heavy things
with trailing cables. OK, you fit a RCD, and if anything goes wrong, or
you cut the cable, the power goes off and the thing stops working.

I now notice that you can get cordless hedgetrimmer, which seem a much
better option

My neighbour tried cordless before his present electric trimmer, and
found it useless...the charge didn't last long enough.

I'm not sure that the weight would be much less than one with a
cord.I'd recommend you borrow or hire one first, to see if you've got
enough upperbody stamina in relation to your height and the hedge's
height. I haven't. I normally use hand shears with no problem, on our 50
yards of hawthorn hedge about 4ft 6" high, but recently borrowed my
neighbour's mains electric one for a trial. I am 5ft 2 and found
supporting the weight of it at hedgetop height pretty hard on the arms.
It's faster, but to be honest I didn't make nearly such a good job of
the hedge as I do by hand because my arms were tired almost from the
start. I'd rather do it by handshears, slower but much less strenuous.

But if I drop a cordless hedgetrimmer or do anything else silly with it,
it's not going to cut out, is it? So is it going to be a dangerous thing
for me to use?

Power cutters cut out when you release the safety button or grip, as
others have said. However, if you tripped and forgot to let go, both
sorts would still be running as you landed.

Janet.

Janet Baraclough wrote in message
...
The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:


I have never used a hedge trimmer since they seem nasty heavy things
with trailing cables. OK, you fit a RCD, and if anything goes wrong, or
you cut the cable, the power goes off and the thing stops working.

I now notice that you can get cordless hedgetrimmer, which seem a much
better option

My neighbour tried cordless before his present electric trimmer, and
found it useless...the charge didn't last long enough.

I'm not sure that the weight would be much less than one with a
cord.I'd recommend you borrow or hire one first, to see if you've got
enough upperbody stamina in relation to your height and the hedge's
height. I haven't. I normally use hand shears with no problem, on our 50
yards of hawthorn hedge about 4ft 6" high, but recently borrowed my
neighbour's mains electric one for a trial. I am 5ft 2 and found
supporting the weight of it at hedgetop height pretty hard on the arms.
It's faster, but to be honest I didn't make nearly such a good job of
the hedge as I do by hand because my arms were tired almost from the
start. I'd rather do it by handshears, slower but much less strenuous.

But if I drop a cordless hedgetrimmer or do anything else silly with it,
it's not going to cut out, is it? So is it going to be a dangerous thing
for me to use?

Power cutters cut out when you release the safety button or grip, as
others have said. However, if you tripped and forgot to let go, both
sorts would still be running as you landed.

Janet.


I'm using a cordless one right at this moment (well not as I'm typing this
obviously) and it certainly has it's limitations re the thickness of
branches it can cut. For a well looked after hedge I would thing they are
just the job though. Another drawback however is the charge time. It will
run for 30 minutes only (continuously) and then needs a 5 hour charge, so
basically after 3/4's of an hour (depending on how fast you work) it's run
down again.

You need both hands on the machine to keep it running and hopefully your
reaction to put your arm out if you fell would prevent to much blood loss.
It stops extremely quickly aswell when it switches off.

Janet Baraclough wrote in message
...
The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:


I have never used a hedge trimmer since they seem nasty heavy things
with trailing cables. OK, you fit a RCD, and if anything goes wrong, or
you cut the cable, the power goes off and the thing stops working.

I now notice that you can get cordless hedgetrimmer, which seem a much
better option

My neighbour tried cordless before his present electric trimmer, and
found it useless...the charge didn't last long enough.

I'm not sure that the weight would be much less than one with a
cord.I'd recommend you borrow or hire one first, to see if you've got
enough upperbody stamina in relation to your height and the hedge's
height. I haven't. I normally use hand shears with no problem, on our 50
yards of hawthorn hedge about 4ft 6" high, but recently borrowed my
neighbour's mains electric one for a trial. I am 5ft 2 and found
supporting the weight of it at hedgetop height pretty hard on the arms.
It's faster, but to be honest I didn't make nearly such a good job of
the hedge as I do by hand because my arms were tired almost from the
start. I'd rather do it by handshears, slower but much less strenuous.

But if I drop a cordless hedgetrimmer or do anything else silly with it,
it's not going to cut out, is it? So is it going to be a dangerous thing
for me to use?

Power cutters cut out when you release the safety button or grip, as
others have said. However, if you tripped and forgot to let go, both
sorts would still be running as you landed.

Janet.


I'm using a cordless one right at this moment (well not as I'm typing this
obviously) and it certainly has it's limitations re the thickness of
branches it can cut. For a well looked after hedge I would thing they are
just the job though. Another drawback however is the charge time. It will
run for 30 minutes only (continuously) and then needs a 5 hour charge, so
basically after 3/4's of an hour (depending on how fast you work) it's run
down again.

You need both hands on the machine to keep it running and hopefully your
reaction to put your arm out if you fell would prevent to much blood loss.
It stops extremely quickly aswell when it switches off.

"ned" wrote in message ...
alan kearn wrote:
I have used the hedge trimmer to trim the thin branches off the top
of
my 40 feet long (18 trees)Leyllandi hedge , it is now down to 9
feet
high i want to cut it back to about 7 feet. During the 14 years i
have lived in this house the hedge has bean cut back three tmes each
time to about 7 feet so some of the branches at the top are are
fairly
thick.
My Question is
Has anyone used a electric (reciprocating) power saw with the saw
blade that is about 10 inches long for cutting back leyllandi
hedges,
if so are they easy to use and do they do a good job. I am 70 years
old and i am trying to avoid using a bow saw because of aching
joints
after using one. If they are any good, which one would you
recommend.


Hmmm. Only three cuts in 14 years is making hard work for yourself. At
69 I have been spending this very afternoon trimming back my leylandii
with an electric hedge trimmer. An annual practice. In my view, the
trimmer is less tiring than using shears and makes a neater job. And
the electric trimmer is lighter than the 'professional' petrol powered
ones. Controlling the cable can be a bit of a fiddle, but after a
couple of 'accidents' (to the cable) I have taken to slinging the
cable over my shoulder and that tends to keep it away from the blades.
A recommendation? I use a cheap and nasty Black & Decker (now six
years old) but my neighbour swears by his Bosch.

Ned
i trim the hedge with the hedge cutters twice a year but it still
increases in height a few inches a year, so every few years i cut back
on this extra growth, this keeps it within easy reach for my twice
yearly trim.

Alan Kearn

(Nick Maclaren) wrote in message ...
In article ,
(alan kearn) writes:
| Nick
| i take your comments on board but i would like to say i am a
| very active person who jogs (pretty fast i might add) two miles every
| day and i am mentally alert.i wondered if you thought i meant a chain
| saw if so, i would not touch one of those with a barge pole, the type
| of saw i was trying to describe seems to be nothing more than a
| glorified Jig Saw. You are probably correct in saying i am foolish.
| The previous post says they are not very good for the job so it seems
| not a very good idea

They are not as bad as a chainsaw, but are still dangerous.

The reason that I stopped using a hedge trimmer was that my hands
and arms got tired, and it slipped from my grip a few times. I
was able to jump clear (my reactions are still good), but felt
that it was too risky to carry on. Your remark about using a
bow saw causing strain makes me think you are not so different.

A hedge trimmer will make a mess of your leg, but even just a
glorified jigsaw could cut through to a major vein or artery.
It isn't as likely to as a chainsaw, of course.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick
Maybe i should explain myself better i intended to cut this hedge
back over a few days not in one go. When i said aching joints i meant
aching arm and shoulder muscles that i would have to put up with over
this period. Although the bottom half of my body gets plenty of
exercise (maybe i should rephrase that)the arms and shoulders dont so
this means aching muscles.One other thing i use a 4x4 ajustable
platform that gives me a comfortable working height so i do take
safety seriously. I am having a rethink and i will probably pay
someone to cut it down for me.

Regards
Alan kearn

In article ,
(alan kearn) writes:
|
| Maybe i should explain myself better i intended to cut this hedge
| back over a few days not in one go. When i said aching joints i meant
| aching arm and shoulder muscles that i would have to put up with over
| this period. Although the bottom half of my body gets plenty of
| exercise (maybe i should rephrase that)the arms and shoulders dont so
| this means aching muscles.One other thing i use a 4x4 ajustable
| platform that gives me a comfortable working height so i do take
| safety seriously. I am having a rethink and i will probably pay
| someone to cut it down for me.

That is what I would do in your position. Perhaps I should
explain MYSELF a bit further. I have a similar physique to you,
incidentally.

As a general rule, power tools do NOT enable you to do work with
less physical strain - they enable you to do more work, faster,
but often with MORE physical strain! There are exceptions, such
as four-wheel rotovators and electric drills, but it certainly
applies to hedge trimmers and chainsaws (and hence probably the
sort of thing you were talking about).

The reason is that they need holding much more firmly and often
vibrate badly; those two things interact to cause strain and
muscular exhaustion. As that happens, and it happens quite fast,
you either have to take a long rest or run the risk of dropping
the tool. That was my problem, but I know that it is a common
scenario.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

alan kearn wrote:

snip

Ned
i trim the hedge with the hedge cutters twice a year but it still
increases in height a few inches a year, so every few years i cut
back
on this extra growth, this keeps it within easy reach for my twice
yearly trim.


Alan
Ah, that sounds better. :-)
'Must say that I am quite proud of my hedge top.
'Might not be able to play snooker on it, but it is flat and very
compact.
I always try to trim down to last year's cut and clear off all the
clippings as I go. I hope my neighbour appreciates it. He can see the
result from his upstairs windows. I can't. Although I have been
tempted to step back off my platform to admire my work. ;-)
I did allow a 'professional' to trim the hedge one year and was so
apalled at his standards that I wouldn't let another near it again.

--
ned