www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

OK, so I've finally caved-in to the demands for me to do something with the garden. Personally, I'm not really a gardener - in fact back at school I was once described as having "brown fingers", a reference to the fact that I was seemingly able to kill even the healthiest of plants..... My missus, bless her cotton socks, has decided that with impending retirement, I need a hobby - and that the new hobby will be gardening

So as a starter I intend to tackle the brambles at the bottom of the garden, together with various other leafy weedy type stuff. I've read that the green shoots of bramble can be successfully shredded and composted (I'll probably either burn or dead hedge with the woody stuff) so I wondered if the team had any recommendations about which garden shredder to buy. Ideally I don't want to spend loads of dosh on this (after all it isn't a woodworking toy, sorry, tool) so would a more basic shredder be worthwhile?

The other thing it looks likely that I'll need is a brush cutter. Whilst I'd like a petrol brush cutter my feeling is that the whingeing Winnie we have next door would be onto the council every 5 minutes were I to buy a 2-stroke unit, so is it worthwhile looking at corded or even battery models? If so can anyone make recommendations, please?

Thanks in advance

If you really must get a shredder (why not save everything then hire one?) don't get the one that has a spinning disc and blades, as they often and easily "clog up" get the ones like arborists use, they have "interlocking cogs" (For want of a better description) that "chew" what you put in.

With regards to a shredder I find that just putting the waste on the grass and running a mower over it shreds it to pretty small pieces. I've got a petrol mower that does the job quite decently. Lager pieces can be chopped up with secateurs, loppers or an axe . As you are retiring time won't be so much of an issue.
With regards to the brushcutter/strimmer again I have a petrol one but was recently looking at cordless models. I didn't see them working but dewalt have a range that takes their 18v batteries ( one I think ) . They also do a lawnmower that uses two of the batteries , so a 36v tool , although as I said in a thread about cordless mowers they're nowhere near as quite as one would think. However , as I believe you have the relevant batteries looking at bare units might be a thought. I believe makita also have similar tools.
One other point with regards to brushcutters. While they might seem the dogs for chewing through brambles and such a line strimmer will be of much more use. After the initial cutting back andprefferrably digging out of the roots of brambles constant watch for new shoots and dealing with them will make a brushcutter unecassary. A line strimmer on the other hand is far more delicate tool. Don't get a curved shaft one as they are awkward to use upside down , a straight one is much better because turned over they make a great for edging lawns , something many people like and pick up on.

someone-else wrote:If you really must get a shredder (why not save everything then hire one?) don't get the one that has a spinning disc and blades, as they often and easily "clog up" get the ones like arborists use, they have "interlocking cogs" (For want of a better description) that "chew" what you put in.

Saving and hiring is less attractive to me because of the small size of our two gardens and access problems (in the case of our front garden the unit would probably need to be dragged through the house - my idea is to move it into the garden and leave it there in the shed). I take the point about cog vs. disc, but what are the cost implications and do you have any brands or particular machines to recommend?

Grendel wrote:With regards to a shredder I find that just putting the waste on the grass and running a mower over it shreds it to pretty small pieces. I've got a petrol mower that does the job quite decently. Lager pieces can be chopped up with secateurs, loppers or an axe . As you are retiring time won't be so much of an issue.

We have no lawn! So we have no mower (and I have no intention of getting one). Hence the question about shredders. As to the retirement business, that is still something that I'm arguing the case against (as my "sell before" date is under 3 months away)..... because really and truly I don't want to retire, at least not yet....

Grendel wrote:....recently looking at cordless models.

Yes, I do indeed have both Makita and DW 18 volt battery systems, so any comments about the efficacy of those two manufacturers products would be very welcome. At a pinch I might be persuaded to go to Ryobi, especially as they have one or two cordless power tools that are of interest. assuming I don't retire first.

Grendel wrote:One other point with regards to brush cutters. While they might seem the dogs for chewing through brambles and such a line strimmer will be of much more use. After the initial cutting back and preferably digging out of the roots of brambles constant watch for new shoots and dealing with them will make a brush cutter unnecessary. A line strimmer on the other hand is far more delicate tool. Don't get a curved shaft one as they are awkward to use upside down , a straight one is much better because turned over they make a great for edging lawns , something many people like and pick up on.

Ah, thank you for clarifying those points (as I inferred I'm a bit of a nugget when it comes to gardening). In fact because we have various hedges and tree-type things which need periodic taming I was considering one of those 4-in-1 or 5-in-1 tools with a brush cutter, a strimmer head, a hedge trimmer head and a chain saw head. That would allow me to do the mother in law's hedges far more quickly that I can at present with a hand tools as well potentially giving me the ability to lop off smaller branches. I know all about the need to dig-out the root clumps of bramble and have a modicum of experience in that field. Persistent buggers, aren't they?

Job and Knock wrote:

someone-else wrote:If you really must get a shredder (why not save everything then hire one?) don't get the one that has a spinning disc and blades, as they often and easily "clog up" get the ones like arborists use, they have "interlocking cogs" (For want of a better description) that "chew" what you put in.

Saving and hiring is less attractive to me because of the small size of our two gardens and access problems (in the case of our front garden the unit would probably need to be dragged through the house - my idea is to move it into the garden and leave it there in the shed). I take the point about cog vs. disc, but what are the cost implications and do you have any brands or particular machines to recommend?

If you want to compost you need the spinning disk variety. It makes for finer cuttings blah blah blah .... composting small scale is difficult as you can only get so much heat in your compost. I avoid weeds/seeds and similar in the compost, I compost the stuff over 1-2 years and even then I get fairly thick compost. If you want to reduce the garden waste in order to throw it away then the cog variety is a better option. (Aldi or lidl had something fairly cheap, cheap in relative terms @£70-80 I think) cog shredder).

For the disk variety shredder, I have the bigger motor version of the bosch ones (lovely sounding motor like a V8) BUT it says on the manual the cutting disks cannot be sharpened (unlike those of the same make lawn mower). One stone went through, disk ficked and it was true, I could not sharpen it. I would still buy it [Note to self, get a spare blade].

As far as petrol tools go. Two friends of mine each had a petrol mower. They saw me using the electric one and both went and bought one. For something that takes a few minutes to do is not worth spending double the time trying to start and service a petrol engine. If you are doing "proper" gardening you will rarely need to use a strimmer, brush cutter etc. as you will keep control of the weeds else what are you doing when gardening. For an electric strimmer look for something that can use the thicker type strimming cord for cutting thicker stuff.

Other than all the above, I would suggest you find a nice fork and try to uproot the weeds than cut them up. When the fork is shiny you will know you have worked in the garden. Even better when your back hurts and the fork is shiny.

Job and Knock wrote:Ah, thank you for clarifying those points (as I inferred I'm a bit of a nugget when it comes to gardening). In fact because we have various hedges and tree-type things which need periodic taming I was considering one of those 4-in-1 or 5-in-1 tools with a brush cutter, a strimmer head, a hedge trimmer head and a chain saw head. That would allow me to do the mother in law's hedges far more quickly that I can at present with a hand tools as well potentially giving me the ability to lop off smaller branches. I know all about the need to dig-out the root clumps of bramble and have a modicum of experience in that field. Persistent buggers, aren't they?

Sorry, in my previous comment(s) I had missed the bit above. It complicates the picture and I am about to go and fuff around in my garden.

I have a 2800w Qualcast shredder it takes the med to large stuff fine, but it can clog with the finer green stuff - the same machine is sold under various brands and specs (crusher type with solid steel head)

https://www.homebase.co.uk/qualcast-sil ... 0w_p755437

http://www.argos.co.uk/product/7501935

https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb683 ... 230v/6887p

https://www.diy.com/departments/mac-all ... 091_BQ.prd

Sub £80 electric strimmer's are gutless ok if trimming the grass on a Sunday afternoon but not much else, if your looking use the word brushcutter

eg.

https://www.diy.com/departments/bosch-a ... 428_BQ.prd

Depends how much garden you have really.
If it's really a "one off" doing the brambles, then a long handled slasher will do it
https://bit.ly/2IwNwKy
I've got a "Titan" battery line trimmer, bought on offer, and amazing on grass and light weeds.
The bigger ones like DeWalt would be pretty good I reckon.
There's a test here by Chez
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjQAm6yXX7M&t=19s
I need something heavier, so I've got a Tanaka TCG 27EBS (S) bought at the end of last season to replace my old Pro Mac. So far, so good. Seems to be good quality kit. Not that noisy, but it doesn't matter here.
I've also got one of those relatively cheap units that will take different heads. I've only got the chainsaw head, and that gets occasional use. Again so far so good. Not as "nice" as the Tanaka unit, but that's reflected in the price.
I've got another couple of bits of older petrol kit, chainsaw and hedge cutter.
These days I run all the petrol stuff on the premixed 2 stroke Aspen fuel. Modern fuel degrades fairly quickly, and gives problems starting and so on if you leave it in the machines.
You can leave Aspen in the machines. It's quite pricey though.

You thought of a mini digger for a couple of days and a load of green coloured concrete?

Dave54 wrote:You thought of a mini digger for a couple of days and a load of green coloured concrete?

If only I could sneak on in past the missus....

I'm certainly leaning towards a split shaft "multi-tool" type solution rather than individual tools.

If you do go for the "multi-tool" option, watch out when you start it.
Mine has an air filter cover handily designed to catch your fingernails on when you pull the cord.
There are probably different types, but. . .

Can't you send the missus out for the day?
Fait accompli and all that!

Dave54 wrote:Can't you send the missus out for the day?
Fait accompli and all that!

She doesn't yet realise that I'm hell bent on putting in a girt great deck once I defeat the evil bramble hordes - somewhere to sit out on the warm evenings and sip a margarita watching the world drift by (like the sales pitch? ). The real reason, of course, is that I'm a joiner to the core, and I can't think of a better way to reduce my gardening commitment whilst simultaneously having a bit of "fun" (sad, I know, but I actually enjoy banging bits of wood together ) whilst at the same time doing something which comes fairly easily to me, well most of the time. The one thing that would make it perfect would be if I could find a "legitimate" reason to buy a bit of extra woodworking kit that I didn't already have - like another router or a new cordless whatnot

I wondered when the decking would come into it!
And the new kit!

Why do I somehow see this "decking" as a covered rack for air drying hardwood?

Come to think of it - that's an idea....

Then you'll need to concrete the rest to run the forklift on.
These look good.
http://www.andoverforktruckservices.co. ... 500-c3000/
Little bit of new kit. . .

ETA, I said in the compressor thread how stuff always ends up costing more than I reckoned on in the first place!