Been thinking of getting a hedge trimmer - don't mind using clippers, but
the hedges get out of control as the clippers won't cut thicker stuff.
One hedge is Box and isn't too bad, but 'pruning' it back every few years
takes ages; the other hedge is Privet which is far more difficult to
'prune'.

A decent trimmer would cut the thicker stems (say up to 15mm) so the hedges
could be shaped not to overhang paths.
Most of those with good capacity seem to be quite long and I reckon 60cm
would suffice for hedges about 50cm wide and 120cm high.

Anyway, found this:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-ahs-...-trimmer/84303
which would do the job I think.

Doing a search on it, I found that there's a 60cm version, otherwise the
same and shock! was cheapest at Homebase! shock!. With discounts this
weekend it might be about £85.

Does the team think that it'd be OK for the proposed use? Be a nice new toy
to have :-)
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

PeterC wrote in
:

....
Does the team think that it'd be OK for the proposed use? Be a nice
new toy to have :-)

You might have to go around the box with shears afterwards to even things
up a little, on the other hand you stand in pretty good stead with the
privet.

Like everything toolwise the harsher the cut the less even the result, to
do a top job with Box you'd choose something with a smaller gap between the
teeth.

On the other hand (again!) you don't want to buy to trimmers and if you're
only going to by one by the one that's going to do the best job of your
most difficult hedge - the privet.

As an aside Axminster are (were last time I looked) doing an 18V Bosch
cordless one for around the same price but only 15mm tooth spacing, you
pays your money you makes your choice.

--

All the best,

Chris

I'd have said 15 mm was on the large side to be cutting with a trimmer.

It might do it but, especially with a budget model, each time you do it will
be giving a fair kick to the reduction gears.

On May 4, 1:41*pm, PeterC wrote:
Been thinking of getting a hedge trimmer - don't mind using clippers, but
the hedges get out of control as the clippers won't cut thicker stuff.
One hedge is Box and isn't too bad, but 'pruning' it back every few years
takes ages; the other hedge is Privet which is far more difficult to
'prune'.

A decent trimmer would cut the thicker stems (say up to 15mm) so the hedges
could be shaped not to overhang paths.
Most of those with good capacity seem to be quite long and I reckon 60cm
would suffice for hedges about 50cm wide and 120cm high.

Anyway, found this:http://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-ahs-...w-electric-hed...
which would do the job I think.

Doing a search on it, I found that there's a 60cm version, otherwise the
same and shock! was cheapest at Homebase! shock!. With discounts this
weekend it might be about £85.

Does the team think that it'd be OK for the proposed use? Be a nice new toy
to have :-)
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

I wonder how long before you cut the electrical cord with it? Best to
cut the hedge twice a year at least.

On Wed, 4 May 2011 12:56:15 -0700 (PDT), harry wrote:

On May 4, 1:41*pm, PeterC wrote:
Been thinking of getting a hedge trimmer - don't mind using clippers, but
the hedges get out of control as the clippers won't cut thicker stuff.
One hedge is Box and isn't too bad, but 'pruning' it back every few years
takes ages; the other hedge is Privet which is far more difficult to
'prune'.

A decent trimmer would cut the thicker stems (say up to 15mm) so the hedges
could be shaped not to overhang paths.
Most of those with good capacity seem to be quite long and I reckon 60cm
would suffice for hedges about 50cm wide and 120cm high.

Anyway, found this:http://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-ahs-...w-electric-hed...
which would do the job I think.

Doing a search on it, I found that there's a 60cm version, otherwise the
same and shock! was cheapest at Homebase! shock!. With discounts this
weekend it might be about £85.

Does the team think that it'd be OK for the proposed use? Be a nice new toy
to have :-)
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

I wonder how long before you cut the electrical cord with it? Best to
cut the hedge twice a year at least.

er, yes, a cords is a nuisance so I'll just have to be careful!
atm it's cut (the hedge) 3 or 4 times a year.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

In article ,
harry writes:
I wonder how long before you cut the electrical cord with it? Best to
cut the hedge twice a year at least.

I eventually managed to do that. I would not have believed it was possible
to cut the cord into about 10 pieces, until I did exactly that. It had a
section of spiral formed cord, and at one instant, the loops were stretched
to the same pitch as the teeth and flicked into the cutters, falling into
about 10 cleanly broken pieces.

On another occasion, I was at the top of the ladder cutting the top of the
hedge. Neighbour came out and waved. Not having any hands free, I waved
back with the hedge cutter, neatly slicing through the cable.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article , Andrew Gabriel
wrote:
In article
,
harry writes:
I wonder how long before you cut the electrical cord
with it? Best to cut the hedge twice a year at least.

I eventually managed to do that. I would not have
believed it was possible to cut the cord into about 10
pieces, until I did exactly that.

Looking at the trimmers in the local brico today, there was
a Ryobi (I think) with a flexi cover over about a metre of
the cord, the diameter too large to go into the teeth.
Should save the cord for a few folk I know.

John

--
John Mulrooney
NOTE Email address IS correct but might not be checked for a while.

The school of experience has very few holidays.

On Thu, 5 May 2011 13:19:13 +0000 (UTC), Andrew Gabriel wrote:

In article ,
harry writes:
I wonder how long before you cut the electrical cord with it? Best to
cut the hedge twice a year at least.

I eventually managed to do that. I would not have believed it was possible
to cut the cord into about 10 pieces, until I did exactly that. It had a
section of spiral formed cord, and at one instant, the loops were stretched
to the same pitch as the teeth and flicked into the cutters, falling into
about 10 cleanly broken pieces.

On another occasion, I was at the top of the ladder cutting the top of the
hedge. Neighbour came out and waved. Not having any hands free, I waved
back with the hedge cutter, neatly slicing through the cable.

I once planed a new cord - it was on a new planer and it still had a few
kinks in it 'out of the box'. Reached the end of the wood, moved back to the
start and flicked the cord back and the kinks brought it forward to just
under the wrong place. Not terminal but annoying.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

On Thu, 05 May 2011 18:19:41 +0100, JTM wrote:

In article , Andrew Gabriel
wrote:
In article
,
harry writes:
I wonder how long before you cut the electrical cord
with it? Best to cut the hedge twice a year at least.

I eventually managed to do that. I would not have
believed it was possible to cut the cord into about 10
pieces, until I did exactly that.

Looking at the trimmers in the local brico today, there was
a Ryobi (I think) with a flexi cover over about a metre of
the cord, the diameter too large to go into the teeth.
Should save the cord for a few folk I know.

John

The one I'm looking at will take 34mm, so that's a bit of waste pipe then!
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

In message , Chris Wilson
writes
PeterC wrote in
:

...
Does the team think that it'd be OK for the proposed use? Be a nice
new toy to have :-)

You might have to go around the box with shears afterwards to even things
up a little, on the other hand you stand in pretty good stead with the
privet.

Like everything toolwise the harsher the cut the less even the result, to
do a top job with Box you'd choose something with a smaller gap between the
teeth.

On the other hand (again!) you don't want to buy to trimmers and if you're
only going to by one by the one that's going to do the best job of your
most difficult hedge - the privet.

As an aside Axminster are (were last time I looked) doing an 18V Bosch
cordless one for around the same price but only 15mm tooth spacing, you
pays your money you makes your choice.


I've got a Bosch cordless hedge trimmer. No hedge but some Yew trees to
trim. It works well for that useage.

IIRC it's 14.4V - but one reason for buying it was that the batteries
match those on my Blue Bosch cordless drill. So I have 2 spare batteries
for use with it 9or the drill)
--
Chris French

In message , JTM writes
In article , Andrew Gabriel
wrote:
In article
,
harry writes:
I wonder how long before you cut the electrical cord
with it? Best to cut the hedge twice a year at least.

I eventually managed to do that. I would not have
believed it was possible to cut the cord into about 10
pieces, until I did exactly that.

Looking at the trimmers in the local brico today, there was
a Ryobi (I think) with a flexi cover over about a metre of
the cord, the diameter too large to go into the teeth.
Should save the cord for a few folk I know.

You can slide a length of plastic hose over the cable.

I find draping the cable over my shoulder works well.

regards
--
Tim Lamb

On Fri, 6 May 2011 08:18:53 +0100, chris French wrote:

In message , Chris Wilson
writes
PeterC wrote in
:

...
Does the team think that it'd be OK for the proposed use? Be a nice
new toy to have :-)

You might have to go around the box with shears afterwards to even things
up a little, on the other hand you stand in pretty good stead with the
privet.

Like everything toolwise the harsher the cut the less even the result, to
do a top job with Box you'd choose something with a smaller gap between the
teeth.

On the other hand (again!) you don't want to buy to trimmers and if you're
only going to by one by the one that's going to do the best job of your
most difficult hedge - the privet.

As an aside Axminster are (were last time I looked) doing an 18V Bosch
cordless one for around the same price but only 15mm tooth spacing, you
pays your money you makes your choice.


How good are cordless trimmers, realistically? I just feel that a few stems
near the limit will flatten the battery rather quickly.

I see your point about coarseness of cut, but neither hedge is 'pretty' so
it might not matter.
I'm very wary of overloading a trimmer as the drive is usually weak.

I've got a Bosch cordless hedge trimmer. No hedge but some Yew trees to
trim. It works well for that useage.

IIRC it's 14.4V - but one reason for buying it was that the batteries
match those on my Blue Bosch cordless drill. So I have 2 spare batteries
for use with it 9or the drill)

Useful - perhaps I should look at Makita :-)
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

PeterC wrote in
:

As an aside Axminster are (were last time I looked) doing an 18V
Bosch cordless one for around the same price but only 15mm tooth
spacing, you pays your money you makes your choice.


How good are cordless trimmers, realistically? I just feel that a few
stems near the limit will flatten the battery rather quickly.

I see your point about coarseness of cut, but neither hedge is
'pretty' so it might not matter.
I'm very wary of overloading a trimmer as the drive is usually weak.

I have some new 18v Bosch cordless tools, driver, drill and jigsaw and
to be frank I was gobsmacked at the performance I got from them - only
just got them to replace some older and much cheaper tools. The
performance is akin to quality powerful mains operated tools of a few
years ago and knocks spots of cheap battery ones. The hedge trimmer uses
the same battery - that's how I spotted it.

But anyway I know some prefer Makita, I've just got a mains Makita SDS+
and to my mind it runs a little hot - but I have been abusing it ;-)
When I asked here a few weeks ago about comparative performance between
Bosch (blue) and Makita the general concensus was that induvidualy
particular tools ma be better from one maker when compared to the other
makers version but overall they were much of a muchness.

I've got a Bosch cordless hedge trimmer. No hedge but some Yew trees
to trim. It works well for that useage.

IIRC it's 14.4V - but one reason for buying it was that the batteries
match those on my Blue Bosch cordless drill. So I have 2 spare
batteries for use with it 9or the drill)

Useful - perhaps I should look at Makita :-)

It's whatever works for you :-)

I'm getting the 18v cordless (just checked it's in stock)

--
All the best,

Chris

On Fri, 6 May 2011 08:18:53 +0100, chris French wrote:

In message , Chris Wilson
writes
PeterC wrote in
:

...
Does the team think that it'd be OK for the proposed use? Be a nice
new toy to have :-)

You might have to go around the box with shears afterwards to even things
up a little, on the other hand you stand in pretty good stead with the
privet.

Like everything toolwise the harsher the cut the less even the result, to
do a top job with Box you'd choose something with a smaller gap between the
teeth.

On the other hand (again!) you don't want to buy to trimmers and if you're
only going to by one by the one that's going to do the best job of your
most difficult hedge - the privet.

As an aside Axminster are (were last time I looked) doing an 18V Bosch
cordless one for around the same price but only 15mm tooth spacing, you
pays your money you makes your choice.


I've got a Bosch cordless hedge trimmer. No hedge but some Yew trees to
trim. It works well for that useage.

IIRC it's 14.4V - but one reason for buying it was that the batteries
match those on my Blue Bosch cordless drill. So I have 2 spare batteries
for use with it 9or the drill)

Well, I had a look at Axminster's site and found the Bosch AHS 550-24ST.
From what was said about tooth spacing and cut, I chose 24mm as a compromise
as it should handle the 10 - 15mm bits OK (16mm spacing seemed a bit close).

It was delivered on Wednesday, used on Thursday and hacked through
everything most impressively. After about 20 min. continuous use the blade
was cold - didnn't seem to bother it at all.
2-year warranty should test it on about 6 cuts - there's harsh!

What's the best lubricant? Bosch's 'manual' (leaflet) has no information, so
I was thinking along the lines of chainsaw oil.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway