Chainsaw to cut saplings?

The problem with cutting this brush, is that you will end up with 3-4 acrea of 1-2"stumps. In addition to tire damage, etc., they will just be something to stumble over and will likely have re-growth, which you will be re-cutting next year.

When I clear out brush by hand, I wait until spring when the ground is soft, cut the brush to about 3' stump, then use and ax and loppers, to cut the horizontal roots, which are right under the ground surface. I'll use the stump for leverage and just work the whole thing out. Gone for good and now I can mow or spray any new shoots.

Of course I done a lot less than 4 acres.

If I were you I'd offer a good ole' boy some cash, to bring his small dozer or blade.

Good luck

Here we got rental places rent a small dozer weth a tilt blade ??? Or a backhoe last on i used was 130 a day 24 hours i can dig a lot .

Here is what takes the stumps too.

IMG]http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k285/just_sawing/IMG_5682.jpg[/IMG]

When your finished

I agree, the forestry mulcher is your best bet.... you can probably find one in your local area to hire and when you consider how fast they will clear your lot, the cost should be worth it.

For doing it by hand try some Fiskars geared lopers. They work great.
http://www.fiskars.com/webapp/wcs/st...atalogId=10101

Kentuckysteader,
The two best ways: agmantoo is lowcost and safe as long as you use common sense and do not rush the job, just sawing a little costly but fast and does a good job.

The worst way is the chainsaw I worked at a saw shop and if you saw the injuries some of our customers had from unsafe use of chainsaws you would run the other way. I use a chainsaw often but the idea of cutting small sapplings and brush is not good the brush will cause some real kickback.

Glenn

Imagine what a few weeks with an ax and a brush fire would do for the waistline and upper body tone....

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III

I purchased some ratcheting loppers before Christmas that very easily, with no force at all, cuts through 2 to 3 inch sized limbs. I am female with less than stellar hand grip/strength following a wreck with a stupid drunk driver. This has made a huge difference for me and I recommend them.

dawn

God bless the inventor of the DR mower!! DH has cleared about 6 ac of brush/saplings/green briar/honey suckle/wild grape that we could not even wallk into w/our used DR.

Patty

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I use a stihl weedeater with a blade on it to cut saplings on my hillsides. I can cut saplings up to about 1 1/2 inches easily with my dull blade.

Id use a matock and cut off what I could below the ground level then Id use a tractor and a lot of chains to pull what I could out by the roots.
When chaining use a zig zag pattern and hook multiple stalks to each pull.

What I am trying to clear is brush and bigger trees. Elm tree brush. I am taking out all the small stuff with lever loppers and dragging it out and then can get to bigger with a chain saw. But I am only doing a small area like 1/4 acre is my guess. Can not drop trees till cleared of the brush I feel for safety. Some apples in the mess too. I want the apples saved.

If you use a chain saw be careful to cut as low as possible and flat - don't make tiger stakes that can hurt people, animals and vehicle wheels.

Another solution, that works especially well after the ground hardens from frost, is to drive a tractor or bulldozer over the saplings. With the bucket down about a foot or two from the ground I just drive forward. Our 48hp tractor will push over fairly sizable trees. Just go slowly and watch that they don't come back at you either tumbling or whipping.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org

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and your back!

I cleared about two acres one winter with a chainsaw, my back is never going to forgive me. As spring approached and the foliage began coming in.....on what I had cleared over the long winter as well as the stuff I hadnt got to yet. I opted to bring in a man with a small dozer. 75 bucks later the entire 5 acres was clean and ready to be sown in grass! I recall a saying I once heard from an old timer: "Work is for mules, fools, and tools." Over the years I have come to understand the meaning of that phrase all too well. Using the proper tool is nearly always the best route to take. In the case of clearing off overgrown land, hand labor is not on my menue, ever again. Dozers are so cool!

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I used a brush cutter on the end of my weedeater when I was clearing the acre for my house. Anything that was too big was cut by chainsaw. It all worked very well. Chris