A Load of Old Billhooks

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
Oh.....good find, thank you :)

Though sites like that makes me wonder sometimes, at just how much labour and sheer hard graft that machinery spares us from these days.
I do like good hand tools though.

M
 

Laurentius

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 13, 2009
2,422
614
Knowhere
Oh.....good find, thank you :)

Though sites like that makes me wonder sometimes, at just how much labour and sheer hard graft that machinery spares us from these days.
I do like good hand tools though.

M
I don't like machinery, things like power strimmers are not better than a scythe and probably cause more injury and time off work than a scythe. I read (was it on this site) or elsewhere that a long handled slasher/billhook can fell a three inch tree at a single stroke. I can tell you from experience that is true. I have a bit of tree surgery to do which will involve me wading out into the river to remove large overhanging branches that are threatening to fall in the river at some time and block it. I could ask the Council to come and do it, but I would just sit back and watch the palaver they made of doing it. Wouldn't want to stand in a stream of water with a chainsaw. Slasher is a good tool to do this because of the reach.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Toddy

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
Very true that.

On that note though, the wee laplander saw will take down a tree with a seven inch trunk in a couple of minutes. Been there, done that :D I'm sure it could manage larger but that one I've hands on proof.

My wrists and elbows won't take me using a billhook anymore, but Jojo made me a small sickle and it's an incredibly useful tool for smaller branches. Great for stuff like elders, willows and the like.

I think hand tools, good hand tools, are well worth learning to use :)

M
 

Laurentius

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 13, 2009
2,422
614
Knowhere
Very true that.

On that note though, the wee laplander saw will take down a tree with a seven inch trunk in a couple of minutes. Been there, done that :D I'm sure it could manage larger but that one I've hands on proof.

My wrists and elbows won't take me using a billhook anymore, but Jojo made me a small sickle and it's an incredibly useful tool for smaller branches. Great for stuff like elders, willows and the like.

I think hand tools, good hand tools, are well worth learning to use :)

M
I love this old Pathe video.
. I even have a pair of leather gaiters like Dyton there. I wonder what happened to him (or his land girl assistant) I expect he died of lung cancer, that pipe in his mouth and all.
 

Nice65

Brilliant!
Apr 16, 2009
6,440
2,862
W.Sussex
I love this old Pathe video.
. I even have a pair of leather gaiters like Dyton there. I wonder what happened to him (or his land girl assistant) I expect he died of lung cancer, that pipe in his mouth and all.

I’d like to think he died satisfied in old age. That’s a lovely video, for various reasons I’ve been away from my arb background for a while, it makes me want to get back in.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Toddy

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
That was a very pleasant watch and listen :D
Informative and interesting. Thank you for the link.

Some of those old boys lasted forever. My grandpa was in his late nineties before he died, and his pipe was usually in his mouth.
Thing was though, they were smoking just tobacco, or their own herbal mix, it wasn't hyped up and adulterated with anything more than molasses, iirc.
 

Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
4,520
3,460
65
Exmoor
That's a lovely bit of hedging. I love to see a well layed hedge. You don't see it so much nowadays which is such a shame. I suppose it's so much quicker to get the tractor and flail out than to do a great job like the video. Makes me upset when I see a flailed hedge..... to say nothing of the flipping punctures vehicles get driving over the debris left on the roads.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Toddy and Snufkin

Snufkin

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Oct 13, 2004
2,097
138
53
Norfolk
Nice film that. It's always a pleasure to see someone who has mastered his tools at work.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Toddy

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE