Doing it for the kids
Member
A saw would definitely be faster I would say but I really love my shear. Most of my hedges have a ditch under them so I don’t have to go fishing for branches after. I can normally do a couple of hundred metres of 4” 15 foot tall stuff in an afternoon
Yes as detailed above, its quite easy to crowd the shear back to vertical (or actually not quite vertical) and gather up branches sticking out sideways and shear them off.
A saw will definitely be quicker if all the work you have to do is the sides of hedges where there is no ditch and fence, or bank next to the hedge, and you can just let the material fall to the floor then come along with a telehandler and push it all up. But if you want to reduce the height of the hedge, clear old wire fences, clear patches of brambles, pull out the odd plant where its self set in a ditch, sort the material into brushwood for burning and larger timber for firewood, clear ditches, then the shear grab is the tool. Like @Wombat I wouldn't be without mine.
For example last winter I cleared my side of a boundary hedge which had a large deep ditch on my side, I was able reach over the ditch, vertically shape up the hedge, keep hold of all the material cut off and pile in a neat line for pushing up, also to clear the ditch out too with the jaws, clearing brambles, pulling the odd self set elderberry bush out of the ditch, dragging the jaws down the line of the ditch to clear the bottom of accumulated debris etc. All you could have done with a saw was fill the ditch with branches.
The other thing to remember is the more work you can do with the excavator, the less work you have to do with a wheeled loader. And given we are often working on hedges at the wettest time of year thats a great help. I can get on hedge work with the excavator and grab when its far too wet to even consider a wheeled machine, sort everything into neat lines, all ready for a quick shift with the telehandler when the ground conditions allow.
Edit: and you can also do roadside hedges (within reason) as the material is held by the grab, so isn't going to fall out into the road.
ok you are starting covert me....
will a 7.5t machine be big enough though? we don't have to clear trees its more hedges that missed out on a hedge cut a few years back?
what kit do you have and how much...!?
TYIA