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I've recently bought a pole-chainsaw for trimming a macrocarpa pine hedge.

After about 15 minutes usage the chain was slowing down noticeably, and the bar oil tank was almost empty, meaning it used 200 mL.

Is this an error in my technique? Am I over-oiling somehow? Or is it just rubbish design?

close up of chainsaw blade and chain, with plant debris wedging up the chain
Power head is electrical, and the chain part is shaft-driven up the pole. This amount of plant was enough to slow the chain significantly, and could not be removed by reversing the chain or picking at it through the 3 access holes in the cover.

Fully assembled pole-saw
Fence is 2 metres tall, scaffold is 2.1 metres. Fully assembled polesaw is about 4.5 metres long.

Cross section of trunk
Example of thicker limbs to be cut.

Criggie
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3 Answers3

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It appears that the Pole-Saw is not the right tool for this job.

The main purpose of the Pole Saw is to cut regular, non-brushy tree limbs. Similar to this: enter image description here

Whereas your trying to cut Tree Limbs with a lot of brush style leaves at the same time. Normally this would be a job for a Hedge Trimmer but as you say, the Limbs are much too large for a regular Hedge Trimmer.

What I would suggest is a Brush-Cutter attachment such as this: TEMU Item ID: TY125436 TEMU Item ID: TY125436

Note that this is really not the best tool for the job either as it is meant to be used angled down.

TEMU also offers a Circular Chain-Saw style brush cutter attachment: Item ID: DV150735

enter image description here

Note that these are made to replace the blade on a standard Brush-Cutter attachment such as this (not sure if either of these will fit but they are an option.): enter image description here

Personally, given the Height, Thickness and that it is probably a one-time job given how long it's been since it was last trimmed, I would hire a Professional to trim the Tree / Brush limbs back.

Also please note that I am NOT a professional Landscaper and you should not take the advice to use a Brush-Cutter attachment without considerable review as it is not really meant to handle such thick limbs. But it may be able to cut enough away so that you could then finish the job with the Pole saw.

Earl
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It is what it is. I had a similar tree and similar thing happened with my pole saw (expensive HF variety). In one day I filled the oil and took it apart 5-6 times. No kidding.

I did find that cutting in a wedge shape helped tremendously. Better said than done as I couldn't get an angle to do that most of the time hence taking it apart over and over.

DMoore
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In the end, I found this is the wrong approach because:

  • Cutting vertical branches with this saw is difficult
  • The ridiculously long set of extensions suffers from both power loss and bending when used
  • It is almost impossible to see what you're cutting, even from the 2 metre scaffold as pictured let alone from the ground.

Instead I have the powerhead directly connected to the chainsaw which gives me a horizontal reach of around 2 metres max and 30cm minimum. I climb the tree and work at the top.

The trees are 40+ years old and have been topped in the past. So there's a firm horizontal surface round 25cm/0.8 foot where I can sit or stand. (no photo sorry) This lets me reach sideways about 4 metres in total. For branches that are right in my face, I either contort myself, or will use a hand pruning saw.

The biggest challenges are climbing/descending the tree itself without falling, and making sure the offcuts drop somewhere useful. I've already dropped one branch on my scaffold which broke some old plastic couplers.

Upshot - big hedges are horrible things, and getting someone else to do the work would be well worth the cost. But the costs are in-line with the difficulty.

Criggie
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