Brush cutter or strimmer

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Brush cutter or strimmer
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onemanband

Joined: 26 Dec 2010
Posts: 1473
Location: NCA90

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 14 9:44 pm Post subject:

stumbling goat wrote:

Brambles, lots of brambles to deal with, then consider a hedge trimmer?

Use it like a knife slicing through the brambles left to right and up and down.
sg

Yes I've used that method on 8 foot brambles - slashing in a figure of 8 motion, then cutting at ground level.
But Piggyphile may find that harder work than a scythe.
However I've just bought one of these with one of these attachments Lovely bit of kit, starting is a cinch.
I got it primarily for tall hedges, but using the shoulder strap and with the blade angled parallel to the ground you could trim at ground level without bending. Only done a little bit of that so far, so not saying that's the way to go but worth a thought.
They also do a brush cutter attachment (click on Kombitools on first link)
And they also do a 'scrub cutter' which seems to be a shorter blade version of the hedge trimmer.

Last edited by onemanband on Tue Jun 24, 14 10:14 pm; edited 2 times in total

onemanband

Joined: 26 Dec 2010
Posts: 1473
Location: NCA90

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 14 9:52 pm Post subject:

Cathryn wrote:

We've got a stihl brushcutter. My 80 year old + mother used it until very recently. I had given up trying to stop her. Now we both get a man in.

It is however well balanced.

It has never occurred to me to empty out the petrol or whatever fuel it takes.

It just starts and has done for many years. The main problem is losing the various bits and pieces for it.

My machinery-man is allways going on about emptying the fuel tank - it's cos they took the lead out the petrol and the additives they now use leave a goop behind that blocks the tiny carb jets.
He's right but I ignored his advice and my strimmer and trimmer both started on last seasons fuel.

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 14 11:02 pm Post subject:

onemanband wrote:

it's cos they took the lead out the petrol and the additives they now use leave a goop behind that blocks the tiny carb jets...

Apparently there is quite a lot of alcohol in petrol nowadays and it dissolves things.

Apparently also the super-unleaded fuels usually have less, but they are not consistent with it: not even within a brand.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15966

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 14 7:34 am Post subject:

We have Stihl professional brushcutter that has an interchangeable head so that you can use a brushcutter or strimmer head. We also bought a flail head, but after a rather nasty accident HSE have decided they cannot be used, although they are amazing for very rough areas.

You don't want one of those bent home use things that look like a cross between a metal detector and a vacuum cleaner as they really won't be man enough for the job.

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 14 7:39 am Post subject:

Mistress Rose wrote:

We also bought a flail head, but after a rather nasty accident HSE have decided they cannot be used...

HSE cannot stop you from doing anything on private land unless you are endangering somebody else.

Ty Gwyn

Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4613
Location: Lampeter

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 14 8:01 am Post subject:

Hairyloon wrote:

Mistress Rose wrote:

We also bought a flail head, but after a rather nasty accident HSE have decided they cannot be used...

HSE cannot stop you from doing anything on private land unless you are endangering somebody else.

Private land has nothing to do with it regarding HSE,

Its the case when you employ someone,the owner could trim his hair if he so wished ,and HSE could not stop it.

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 14 8:13 am Post subject:
Even if that private land is being used as a business?

Ty Gwyn

Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4613
Location: Lampeter

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 14 8:35 am Post subject:

Nick wrote:

Even if that private land is being used as a business?

If the business is a Sole Trader,No.

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 14 9:22 am Post subject:
I'm surprised. I'd expect the insurance companies to insist on that. Ah well.

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 14 9:27 am Post subject:

Nick wrote:

I'm surprised. I'd expect the insurance companies to insist on that.

Which insurance would be involved?

Not employer's liability if there are not employees.
Public liability should not be too concerned if customers do not visit the site.

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 14 9:33 am Post subject:
Fair enough, I suppose.

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 14 9:47 am Post subject:
As far as I am concerned, if any individual wants to make a bid for a Darwin Award, then that is entirely his choice and an infringement of his human rights if the state prohibits it.

gregotyn

Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area

Posted: Sat Jul 12, 14 10:14 am Post subject:
At the end of all this, pigs are the answer- they clear the lot and you have a blank "canvass" oops-garden to design and build for yourself and you get to eat the tools of clearance!

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Sat Jul 12, 14 12:10 pm Post subject:
employers liability also covers students and volunteers 'working' in your business/premises. And the H&SE have a duty of care to ALL including visitors - this is why you have to display your insurance cert in areas accessible to the public.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15966

Posted: Sat Jul 12, 14 7:04 pm Post subject:

As far as I understand it, we can use the flail head on our own land if it is not within danger distance of any land the public or anyone else can use if we use it as private individuals effectively at out own risk. As we know of the dangers, we would be expected to ensure nobody else was in the danger area or we could be guilty both morally and legally of negligence in case of an accident. If we use it as a company, even on our own land, we could be liable if any damage or injury is done and our public liability insurance might not be valid as HSE has decreed it is dangerous, and HSE would jump all over us. Having read about the accident, it seems the people involved were doing everything wrong, and the flail head was badly worn. Unfortunately HSE took the view that the brush cutter was not manufactured with the flail head as a standard part, therefore the flail head is 'banned'. I don't know what they did to the company involved in the accident, but if I had been the HSE officer, I would have thrown the book at them, as they were using unsafe working practise with even a strimmer head.

Edited once.

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