trail clearing technique and tools

[ArlyA]

The pretreated stuff does work. My oldest pretreated clothing are T shirts from Insect Shield. I estimate they have been through about 50 washes and are still working. When I used to spray my clothing with Permethrin, I'd get about 4 or 5 washes out of it before it faded and became ineffective.

I liked it enough that I now have several pairs of pretreated pants, short and long sleeved shirts, and socks (Farm to Feet Boulder "No Fly zone" socks are great!). It's been nice not have to keep track of when the last time I sprayed my clothing was.

How do you know its still working?

 

[two_bit_score]

Time for a new thread guys...

Umm, nah.

 

[John_Mc]

The pretreated stuff does work. My oldest pretreated clothing are T shirts from Insect Shield. I estimate they have been through about 50 washes and are still working. When I used to spray my clothing with Permethrin, I'd get about 4 or 5 washes out of it before it faded and became ineffective.

I liked it enough that I now have several pairs of pretreated pants, short and long sleeved shirts, and socks (Farm to Feet Boulder "No Fly zone" socks are great!). It's been nice not have to keep track of when the last time I sprayed my clothing was.

How do you know its still working?

The same way I knew the self-applied spray was working, and I assume the same way you know your self-applied treatment is working: I don't find ticks on me, despite working in areas that are heavily infested with ticks. As further indication: I often do trail building and maintenance, felling trees, clearing brush and processing firewood with 2 or 3 friends who do not treat their clothing or buy pre-treated clothing. They are regularly finding multiple ticks on them.

I've not noticed problems, but I'm probably going to retire those oldest T-shirts this year. They are getting a bit ratty anyway.

 

[2manyrocks]

Spraying for ticks is one thing.

I don't do facebook, but last night my wife showed me a picture of three copperheads on the side of a tree posted by the local emergency response department warning people in our area of Middle Tennessee that they are now active. If it weren't for them being circled in red in the picture, I wouldn't have noticed them on the tree bark.

So no more going in the woods for me until cold weather returns unless absolutely necessary.

 

[Zork]

I used my Branson 3520 bucket to bend over brush and 3" saplings, drove over it and my box scrape plucked them out. Removed minimal soil/ material, then went back with snips and a riding mower. The tractor meandered through less dense scrub so the trail is not straight.

 

[ArlyA]

Not sure where I posted this review but today, I can't locate it. This is a mini battery powered saw review of the Makita XCU06SM1.

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I had tested a few battery saws over the years and wasn't very impressed with them. Low power, poor battery life and heavy in general comes to mind. This past summer while I was clearing brush from a closed down manufacturer's site that had trees growing into fences and steel laying everywhere in the brush and weeds. An elderly fellow stopped by to chat (common practice at this location) and he showed me his mini battery powered stihl saw he had just got. I kinda liked it! What I didn't like was the manual oiling of the bar which I'd lose that little oil bottle in seconds and it used Stihl little batteries but did see these low powered little saws as a safety thing working among all the steel there. After doing some research I ended up with two Makita XCU06SM1 Lithium-Ion Brushless Cordless 18V LXT with a 10" baras seen in the pics. I already used Makita 18 volt tools and you could find aftermarket batteries with very large capacities for them at reasonable prices. Another plus is these Makita XCU06SM1 had bar oil tanks, kick-back brake, top handle, super light in weight and setup very much like normal saws have. These are really made for limbing and short runs before the motor overheats. Nonetheless, when we need to pack a saw in, we'll take one of these or carry one in my 6x6 while working in snow and I think we'll need to do minor sawing. These are so light in weight and small, they add next to nothing to your pack. Makita claims weight is only 7.2 lbs. with battery. One handed sawing could become normal with these. (not safe, don't recommend)
Down side.
When used like a normal saw, they'll overheat and shut down in minutes. This is why I got two but they really are made for just limbing. It has pretty modest power.
there specs

• Compact top handle design built for the professional tree care industry
• Makita-built outer rotor brushless motor direct-drive system provides high power efficiency
• Variable speed trigger and high chain speed (0-4,720 FPM) for improved cutting performance
• Torque boost mode for cutting dense material
• Captured bar nut and lateral chain tensioning for convenient operation and maintenance
  
  
  
  
  

 

[kenmbz]

Arly, does the slow chain speed affect the cutting time or is it reasonable ?

 

[ArlyA]

Arly, does the slow chain speed affect the cutting time or is it reasonable ?

I'm not sure, seems I hold it at max all the time. But its not a power house.

 

[ArlyA]

As stated earlier we are opening up a short loop this summer which has billions of maple shoots coming up which are to large for our .155 string. Today I stopped by our favorite Stihl dealer who is assembling a tool end for us with a steel cutting head for the above mentioned maples. Haven't used one in years!. Will post pics of that when available.

 

[MossRoad]

As stated earlier we are opening up a short loop this summer which has billions of maple shoots coming up which are to large for our .155 string. Today I stopped by our favorite Stihl dealer who is assembling a tool end for us with a steel cutting head for the above mentioned maples. Haven't used one in years!. Will post pics of that when available.

Many years ago when I worked at the airport, the owner of the FBO where I worked bought a large string trimmer with a metal blade to cut off trees that would grow out next to the bases of the T-hangers. That seems to be the place where maple spinners and Chinese elms accumulate, just like houses and barns.

He promptly put several holes in the metal siding when he'd get on the wrong side of the tree VS blade spin. The blade would grab and throw itself into the siding. He declared it a failure and took it back.

 

[kenmbz]

I use a renegade blade on my Stihl FS110 handlebar brushcutter. The autumn olive shoots laugh at the .095 string. This blade also does a decent job on long grasses, where most saw type blades fail.

 

[2manyrocks]

Chainsaw cutter style blade is easier to resharpen, but be cautious of buying one that is too heavy for your power head. Won't spin up as fast. Harder on the saw. This is what I bought most recently that seems to not be too heavy. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Y32ZM58/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These chainsaw style blades are effective, but throw debris so an arborist style helmet with face shield is recommended.

 

[kenmbz]

Chainsaw cutter style blade is easier to resharpen, but be cautious of buying one that is too heavy for your power head. Won't spin up as fast. Harder on the saw. This is what I bought most recently that seems to not be too heavy. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Y32ZM58/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These chainsaw style blades are effective, but throw debris so an arborist style helmet with face shield is recommended.

Those are great on thicker stuff, but I found it got bound up by Stiltgrass (tall and thin).
Does this particular one do well in tall grass?

The worst with the saw blades are when they throw the thorns like darts...

 

[ArlyA]

I use a renegade blade on my Stihl FS110 handlebar brushcutter. The autumn olive shoots laugh at the .095 string. This blade also does a decent job on long grasses, where most saw type blades fail.
View attachment 798988

Just to be clear, .095 string is good for your house and garden but not worth taking into the woods. We are waiting for the 170 heads to arrive but still have a roll of .155 to use up.

 

[ArlyA]

Chainsaw cutter style blade is easier to resharpen, but be cautious of buying one that is too heavy for your power head. Won't spin up as fast. Harder on the saw. This is what I bought most recently that seems to not be too heavy. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Y32ZM58/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These chainsaw style blades are effective, but throw debris so an arborist style helmet with face shield is recommended.

These do not work in the rocks.

 

[John_Mc]

THe string works great for grass and smaller weeds. If you need to remove tougher stuff, you really need a metal blade.

I'm not really a fan of the chainsaw style blades on these trimmers. They rob too much power from the trimmer. I tried one when the blade that came with my brush cutter saw wore out. I never bought another - I didn;t even keep resharpening it until it was all used up. I use a blade that looks a bit like a circular saw blade: easy to sharpen - uses the same 7/32" round file as my standard 3/8" pitch chainsaw chain (NOT the file for the 3/8" low profile) - and takes a less power to run.

There are definitely different quality levels of these blades. I use the Maxi style (which are made in Sweden). Both Husqvarna and Oregon sell them. These tend to be what the pros use when doing brush clearing and timber stand improvement work. I use these to cut buckthorn saplings (which is some seriously hard wood) up to about 2" diameter. I'm softwoods, I can go significantly larger.

Husqvarna used to sell a cheaper blade they called "Scarlett" (I'm not sure of they still do). It looked somewhat similar to the Maxi, but the steel was not as good - it just would not hold an edge as long. One came with my brush cutter years ago, but once I tried he Maxi style, I stopped using Scarlett and similar styles. Strangely, I can foten find Maxi blades cheaper than the Scarlet style.

Carbide tipped blades last longer in clean wood, but if you hit a rock or bit of metal, they are generally done: you can't easily resharpen them. In our rocky terrain, they just weren't worth it.

Husqvarna and Oregon Maxi Blades:

Husqvarna Scarlett Blade - Easiest way to tell the difference is to look closely at the gullet: It's a little different than the Maxi style. THe Scarlett just feels more "tinny" when you pick it up. This type just does not hold an edge as well as the Swedish-made Maxi.

 

[kenmbz]

I found I wore out these type of blades too quick and spent a lot of time sharpening them.
I get a lot of hours out of the carbide ones, and hit rocks and hard woods and some of the teeth might chip, but the blades still work pretty good.
I have the Stihl scratch, The style above and some others and I would be resharpening them constantly. Work great for an hour or so then sharpen.
The maxi style blade was not good in the tall grass we have here.

I would like to try the thicker line now that most of the 2-4" stuff is cut back on the trails.
Think I might need something a bit bigger than my FS110 for that though?

 

[Rockbadchild]

These do not work in the rocks.

you need masonry diamond blade for cutting rocks

 

[John_Mc]

Those are great on thicker stuff, but I found it got bound up by Stiltgrass (tall and thin).
Does this particular one do well in tall grass?

The worst with the saw blades are when they throw the thorns like darts...

Fore stuff that is to heavy for string, but which wraps up around the saw blade styles, I use one of the 3 pointed metal blades. It works pretty well from grass up to seedlings and small saplings.

 

[kenmbz]

Fore stuff that is to heavy for string, but which wraps up around the saw blade styles, I use one of the 3 pointed metal blades. It works pretty well from grass up to seedlings and small saplings.
View attachment 799004

I tried one of those, after about 15 min I threw it out.
The blackberry vines and autumn olive saplings would slow that down too much to be useful. I have a pretty tight mix of tall grass and saplings, and have seen these work great for others, but not here.