[Closed] Best way to clear brambles?

Regular use will often keep them at bay but maybe a run down with a strimmer every now and again.

A lot of the trails by me that are any good get completely over grown this time of year as hardly anyone rides them. 🙁

Tough gloves and sharp spade.

It aint rocket science tbf love 🙂

Remember Ash Die Back??

I'm working on a formula for "Bramble Die Back"

Will let you know when it's commercially available 😉

Chop them back with secateurs/long handled loppers . You can shift them pretty quick like this but they will be back next year. Better to dig out the roots. You won't get them all so they will creep back but it's an easier job to keep on top them, then. Knee/shin armour and thick gloves make it a lot less painfull

Goats

Brush hook, but not sure on the legality of wandering about in public with one! Only use mine at official organised dig days...

Ive got one of [url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CARTERS-TWIN-BILLHOOK-FIRE-WOOD-KINDERLING-CHOPPER-AXE-/271248800090?pt=UK_BOI_FarmingEquipment_RL&hash=item3f27b0395a ]These[/url] I keep in my backpack. comes in very handy this time of year 😀

Speak to Isreal and ask for a tactical nuclear strike as opposed to a nuke from orbit, seems the done thing these days.

one of these in the camel back http://www.sharkfoxbushcraft.co.uk/bushcraftshop/prod_865201-SHEFFIELD-CARBON-STEEL-MoD-SAS-SBS-MACHETE.html

so what views do the police take to people carrying around 12 inch lethal weapons?

I don't think digging them out is a goer - we are talking miles of the buggers!! This year is the worst I've known by a long way.

Goats

roundup will do it

Every time i ride i bring the stuff home embedded in my shins and arms. I do tell myself i'm gonna go cut it back!

folding sickle.

mind you don't chop your own knees off though...

In a somewhat masochistic way, I quite like the "badges" they make on your arms and legs...! 😳

Speak to the Reaper

[img] [/img]

Lidl have a lion cordless hedge trimmer for 50 notes this week.

I use a Stihl Swiss Bush-Hook as below to clear my trails, you can get them with a longer shaft but i prefer the shorter version as i also use it for lopping branches off. Get yourself a decent pair of leather gloves as well.

£15 or thereabouts and with a bit of work and a whetstone you can get the edge so sharp you shave the hairs from your arm, i'm still waiting on the hairs on my thigh to grow back, one hairy leg, one bald leg 😀

[img] [/img]

Spray on weed killer works well as does some parafin,but then you may have a forest fire

Traditionally - some kinda brashing hook (or a 'brushing hook' in some places) - pretty much just a curved 'machete' on a stick.

It's a mix of cutting / crushing / bashing stuff down, and they are impressively effective. Most are a basic carbon-steel, so will need the edge redoing quite often, but as a consequence they are tough, and won't chip / damage from hitting something a bit tougher/grittier.

I wouldn't go any more than a 400grit on it, perhaps not even that - the coarser, micro-saw-like nature of ~400 will help with cutting the stems - you certainly don't need it as fine as a chisel / plane / pocket-knife (as the first big wet, soil covered stem it hits will immediately take that fine edge off anyway).

Under S139 CJA 1988, you'll need a 'good reason' to be carrying it in a public place - ultimately that'll be for the Bench to decide if it comes to it, but if you [i]can[/i] demonstrate good reason, there should be no worries. Remember that your car (for example) is a 'public place', so if you have spent the day clearing a lane, (and thereby [i]probably[/i] demonstrating 'good reason'), but then call into the shops on the way home for something, [i]technically[/i] ... you'll be in breach of the Act, as you won't be able to demonstrate 'good reason' to [then] have it in a supermarket car park - even tho' you are only on the way home. That's a narrow distinction, as you'll be using the the roads to get home, but that is not an unreasonable thing to do - the Bench may reasonably expect you to take the stuff home, then go back to the shops. Have in mind the Act is really to give the Executive the power to prosecute if [i]someone[/i] is just wandering out and about with one of their mum's carving knives stuffed into their tracksuit bottoms, not to prevent citizens going about their legitimate business.

Don't rely on this bit in court 😉 , but if you do end going somewhere else on the way home, make sure it's well out of sight, in a locked boot, buried in with all of the other stuff you've used to clear the lane, thereby supporting your case that it [i]was[/i] just to clear the lane.

You ought to get (or demonstrate that you have tried to get) permission first, in case there is any potential additional case to answer, such as aggravated trespass (as a consequence of having such an article on private land).

I can imagine that a brashing hook would be hard to carry (certainly hard to carry discretely) on a bike tho' (and you'll not want to be coming off carrying one) - so you [i]may[/i] be better walking in.

... But harvest the Blackberries before you start brashing tho'.

😉

Bloody hell OCB
When I was gamekeeping we used to have these in the landrover Toyota 90 % of the year

[url= http://www.ukgardenpower.com/morris-general-slasher/ ]Hook[/url]

Can clean some crap in a day with those I can tell you!! Some of our pens were up to 4 miles around and the boss wanted to be able to walk round it in his slippers 🙂

[img] [/img]

May also be useful for commuting. 🙂

I think this thread shows a marked lack of ambition. What you clearly need is one of these fitted to your bike:

😉

Use chemical warfare mate!!

I use a spray called Timbrel (active ingredient Trichlopyr). Proper knacks it as it is brushwood/tree killer. (careful where you spray!)
Wouldn't want any drift on the neighbors 20' leylandii hedge now would we?!!

Last week we were considering a combination of drones and napalm.
Ended up using loppers, shears and secateurs instead to keep it real.
Real sweaty.

Fire, Chemicals, Fire, Goats, Pigs

It's the easy way.

Sharp brush-hook for me (the sharper the better, makes things easy). And tough gloves! I use a Fiskars one but it needed an edge put on it, it's a decent enough tool but blunt from new.

But there's probably a faster way, wish I had a brushcutter...

Pull them up by the roots with a pair of pliers; they'll be gone for the year then, and maybe next year too.
You really don't want to be spraying chemicals around in public places.
Given that brambles can grow a foot a day, cutting them back is a waste of time.