What Size Chainsaws Are IDEAL for Trimming Hedges??

[Hatchville Homesteader]

The problem with sickle bar hedge trimmers is the maximum size twig they will cut is pretty small, so if you are doing any deep trimming they don't work. There are special blades for trimmers that will do the job and chainsaws will as well but they are not for the faint of heart and you have to keep the chain tight or it will come off regularly.

At that point loppers or a hand saws should be used if cutting back past the foliage …unless it’s a rejuvenation prune. Then it’s time for a chains saw, other than that it will look like a hack did it.

 

[HarleyT]

Gotta have at least 6 cubic inches, for sure, Muff modded and some port work is what the pros do to their saws for Hedges, slotting the cam gear can get another whole HP of torque on the blades, and you can pull a 60". Sharpening them? Ya gotta hand file those bad boys with a 1.25 round file, its the only way. The guys that race Hot Trimmers will even square grind with 1.5 triangluar pattern filing, but they dull alot faster, but they are running jet fuel and alcohol at 16:1.......

What kind of hedge?

My wife laughs at 6 inches...

 

[nick 55]

I'm a REAL person!

If you're from El Paso and would like to confirm it, feel free to come by and give me a pinch!

And, THANKS for checking out my blog. I publish regularly. (Do my articles really sound like AI?)

If you are real and asking these kind of questions then you probably shouldn’t be writing about them at this point. This is akin to me writing about commercial pilot ops as a student pilot. Posting topics to multiple message boards and compiling the info on your own site isn’t really much different than crowd sourced info like Wikipedia.

My suggestion is gain some knowledge and experience, then sponsor this site as a technical contributor.

 

[Old2stroke]

At that point loppers or a hand saws should be used if cutting back past the foliage …unless it’s a rejuvenation prune. Then it’s time for a chains saw, other than that it will look like a hack did it.

Would you really want to trim a 1/4 mile of hedge with hand saws and loppers? How "hacky" the job looks depends on the skill of the hacker and some guys are REAL good with a chainsaw.

 

[Mad Professor]

Stihl 090 or Dolmar 166

 

[EchoRomeoCharlie]

You need a custom hot saw with a hopped up dirtbike engine in it....nothing short of that will work.

 

[HansFranz]

The problem with sickle bar hedge trimmers is the maximum size twig they will cut is pretty small...

An INCH diameter? (That's what my Poulan will cut, and I've done it many times, though it's less than ideal, since it needs to "gnaw" on it for a while ... I believe you want to keep the throttle way down when you do this, because there's some kind of clutch that allows the cutter shear to "stall" -- i.e., not make a complete reciprocation -- without stalling the engine...)

The main problem with sickle bar cutters, in my opinion, is that they tend to make users trim improperly. If you keep trimming and trimming to the same general shape and size, the stems keep splitting and splitting until you have a "balloon" of green on the outside that completely shades the interior of the bush/shrub/hedge, so it all dies inside from lack of light and ventilation and then it gets all ate up with aphids and the fungus that grows on the aphid honeydew...it all turns black...at that point the bush will be in pretty bad shape. You really need to go in and take off entire limbs from time to time to "thin out" the bush so that sunlight and fresh air can penetrate into the interior. (That's where a chainsaw can be handy, but ya gotta be careful -- twigs hitting the top of the tip of the bar can cause kickback, and as mentioned before, can cause the chain to come off, especially if the saw is turned on its side...)

 

[Hatchville Homesteader]

Would you really want to trim a 1/4 mile of hedge with hand saws and loppers? How "hacky" the job looks depends on the skill of the hacker and some guys are REAL good with a chainsaw.

Do the job right... or don't do it at all.

 

[HarleyT]

I got the scythe attachment for my Stihl trimmer, and it works good. The also have a similar "hedge trimmer" attachment. Just bolts right on the end of a Stihl trimmer.

 

[9050lx]

You need a custom hot saw with a hopped up dirtbike engine in it....nothing short of that will work.

Maico 760

 

[rocketnorton]

 

[Seachaser]

"right tool for the job" = hedge trimmer.

This. Rechargeable 80v to be specific. I’ve had poor luck with chainsaws.

 

[muddy42]

This is a strange thread! Yes you can use a chainsaw to aggressively cut back an overgrown hedge and I do this regularly. Importantly this works when you are cutting a few feet of wood off not just leaves and sticks. As people say, there is an elevated risk that the chain could come off and you might be reaching or cutting in an odd way. So personally I'd want a small saw and chain (maybe 35 cc and 15 inch bar) and full PPE and thorn proof gloves. Check the chain tension regularly.