Fencline AND Treeline cutter!!

[PaulChristenson]

This is what I use... I have some 300ft of hawthorn hedge I like to keep straight.

It works nice. It cuts the top of the hedge perfectly straight, no way I could do this by hand, trust me it was a LOT more wobbly on top when I used to do it by hand!! Used to take all weekend to cut that hedge, now 2 hours tops.

1. Do you have a remote kill capability?

2. How do you trim the sides?

 

[OhioTC18]

Have to admit, that is ingenious.

 

[quincy]

Hi Paul,

No "remote kill" apart from the switch on the handle of the trimmer. (but I have to get off the tractor to shut it down). I do have full control of the throttle, using the nylon cord that runs through the pulley and back to the tractor seat. This allows me to stop the blades of the trimmer when i want but the engine obviously continues to idle.
This idea came up out of necessity. My back aint what it used to be and I find it hard going to lean in over the top of the hedge when I cut the top. Nine times out of ten, my back would hurt for days after I would cut the top of the hedge by hand. (and 9 times out of 10 my wife would complain about how wobbly top on the hedge was!)
This started off as an experiment one day whan my back started hurtin early on as I was cutting the hedge. I downed tools and headed for the welder. It was a 20 min job to make up the "arm" using whatever scrap was on hand. I just never got around to developing it further as it works pretty good as it is. I am lucky I have a fairly level lawn, so as I drive along, I only need to make one height correction about half way down the hedge (raising the bar about 2 inches).

I still cut the sides of the hedge by hand. I dont mind doing that so much because the trimmer is kept in at close quarters and doesnt require a lot of reaching. Its cutting the top that kills me.
Some day when I have no other project on the go, I may develop it further. with a hydraulic actuated arm that i can raise and lower the trimmer from the tractor seat and make an adjustable head so I can cut on the vertical... I think about that every time I cut the hedge, but thinking about it is as far as I've got apart from a few dooodles in MS paint...