Pole saw help

[DMF]

Stihl, Husky, Echo, whatever... who has them and what are the pro's and cons? I need to cut back some of the limbs overhanging my fields. Thanks for the help!

 

[AlanB]

I know nothing about what you have to do, but you may be suprised at how quickly the regular old handsaw works. I want a pole saw something fierce but the reality is for us, for the amount that we do, I just knock it out with an old style wood one with extensions, somebody "borrowed" my good fiberglass one and has not returned it....

If you do go for a polesaw. They range between $200 for a Poulan pro / Ryobi / cheap type brand to around $500 for a good Echo / Stihl / etc quality brand.

Still not sure which way I will go if I decide to get one. The cutting head accessory to go on my commercial Tanaka trimmer is $200 just for the cutting head.

 

[RedRocker]

I've got a Stihl and it's a great tool. It helps to have a strong young person to operate it though.

 

[HomeBrew2]

I have a cheap Remington electric that I use my little Honda 2000i genny with. I don't have a tree farm so it's more than enough machine for me. It will cut 6" oak with no prob. About $90.

 

[Hootie]

I own a Husky straight shaft weedeater. I was talking to my Husq. dealer and he fixed me up with an attachment that involves taking off the weedeater head and sliding on a pole saw head and off i go. Works great. He simply had to drill a hole in the shaft for the attachment screw and that was it.

 

[BB_TX]

I have had an Echo for about 5 yrs. Works great and no problems.

 

[Jarrett]

I have a cheap Remington electric that I use my little Honda 2000i genny with. I don't have a tree farm so it's more than enough machine for me. It will cut 6" oak with no prob. About $90.

No offense here, but I've used one of those and absolutely hated it. With the motor being on the end with the saw it puts all the weight out front. This makes it very difficult (to me at least) and tiring to lift it and cut a branch 10' or so off the ground.

 

[CharlieTR]

Done this a lot at my former home that had 35' Live Oak and one giant elm.
Tried everything short of weaponry. Had three brands of hand pole saws (the kind with saw and clipper with rope). Took two of them back due to major design flaws. Remaining pole saw got twisted by falling limb.

Tried a Toro weeder with pole saw attachment (always liked Toro stuff).
The gas tank on that unit had the screw-on-lid totally pointing down. Guess what? It leaked and I could not stop it. Kept using it unit the chain twisted off the bar for the fourth time in 2 hours. After that I took both back and sold the house.

 

[jwnge]

I have a cheap ryobi with a quick attach sawzall type blade. It cuts up to 4" limbs. I have cut lots of oak limbs and what I like best is you just replace the blade when it gets dull. No chain sharpening.

 

[Birdhunter1]

I've got a Stihl HT 101, it extends to 15', I've cut limbs 10' off the ground with it that are 12" diameter. It does get heavy and it helps that I am young (26) but if you get a shoulder strap that attaches/detaches quickly and easily to be able to take it off to eitehr extend the boom or to hold the machine overhead to get those higher limbs. Also I fabbed a handle to attach to the boom on this thing about where your non-engine operating hand will hold the boom to steady it, the handle works well and takes alot of strain off of your lower back when running this thing for longer periods of time.

I cleared off about 1 mile of fence/tree line on my farm this summer with it and I still have a bit more to do but I'll wait till this winter when I don't have the snakes and bees to deal with as much.