Landscapers/gardeners knife?

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crockerculinary

crockerculinary

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Hi everyone. I am curious what you all would think would be the best design for a blade meant for garden and yard maintenance. For the first time in my life I have a substantial (in urban terms) bit of property to maintain-a few years ago we tore out the lawn and planted a ton- lots of long grasses, small fruit trees, rapidly growing herbs and bushes, weeds of all sizes and shapes, all kinds of stuff that needs trimming and cutting, and I keep feeling like I want a machete or something. Clippers certainly aren’t cutting it, that’s for sure. I don’t have a ton of gardening or landscaping experience, or know much about bushcraft style stuff, so I was wondering, if you wanted to buy or design a knife for the task, what would it be? Is a machete the best bet or is there something better I don’t know about? Thanks.

(Sorry kind of a weird place for this, but thought it speaks to the design side of “shop talk”)
 
I'm a big fan of machetes. They are great for brush, can take down a small tree if needed, and are fun to use. If you are talking about more precise work with grasses, herbs, and decorative bushes, I am not sure a machete is your best bet. How many square feet/meters of yard are you talking about? Clippers are really effective even though they may be slow. How much time do you have on your hands? I've seen many an older neighbor that spends a solid 20-30 hours a week on yard maintenance for a quarter acre lot with lots of flowers, bushes, and shrubs. It can be wonderful relaxation or a hell-hole depending on the amount of free time that you have.
 
I use a pruning shears like the felco F2 90% of the time. For bigger stuff like tree branches a folding saw or a bypass pruner. If you need to cut down even bigger stuff like a tree trunk then an electric saw.
 
Defitely look into some of the japanese brands for garden cutting instruments.

Okatsune pruners (below 1 inch branch) and Silky saw (below 2-6 inch branches) are two reliable brands available on Amazon. Very sharp, reasonably cost. Value is great since the performance is great.For loppers, I like the Bahco ones I've used (use when you have to reach or cut on the ground/roots 1-2/2.5 inch branches).

Deadwooding and pruning often need differnt considerations for things like optimal saw teeth-size/configuration and diameter contraints (deadwood is worse for your tools). For grasses and soft vegetations, I don't really have any experience with Machetes, but alot depends on the specific variation of vegetation you are fighting back.

There's also power-tools, etc.
 
Good shears, couple of lightweight saws, a few axes doesn't hurt, and a chainsaw. Tried a small battery stihl recently that was very nice. Have a cord powered makita that's often useful. For example sticking it into my timber house walls today swapping out some punky wood :/
 
I would look for an old billhook, refurbish it and show that herbs who’s the boss.

There are lots of shapes to choose from:
IMG_3897.jpg
 
Crazy collection of weed-cutters in post #9 :eek:
 
For ornamental grass okatsune shears
0804190832.jpg

Pruners okatsune or felco
Hand saw absolutely silky.
Okatsune shears are incredibly sharp ootb. I was bleeding shortly after i opened the box
 
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