Saws, cultivators, shredders and other indispensable helpers on the personal plot

Recommendation points

• Summer cottage – a place to relax
• Cultivator or something versatile
• Choosing a chain saw
• Choosing a garden shredder

On the street, winter is in full swing, snow, frosty weather. But the time has come to think about the personal plot. Spring is fleeting, thaws will come after the cold weather and every day will count. It is for this reason that it is worth taking care of the garden tool in advance. All this equipment may well be classified as a construction tool, of course, with minor reservations. After all, at a construction site you simply cannot do without a saw or a shovel. But garden tools such as trimmers, scythes, cultivators, garden shredders are rare guests at the construction site..

A modern home garden is not only about cucumber and tomato beds. More and more our dachas are becoming similar to European ones – smooth, neatly trimmed lawns, well-groomed trees, flower beds. All this beauty is achieved by hard work and you simply cannot do without the use of special tools and equipment. Let’s get back to the fact that a number of works on the site await us in the spring and to complete them we need:

• cultivator, and maybe a soil cultivator,
• chain saw (gasoline or electric),
• garden shredder.

These tools, with the right selection, will be simply irreplaceable in your work, and with proper care and proper use, they will serve you for many years..

Summer cottage – a place to relax

Exactly so, and not otherwise. Even if we use part of the land for growing vegetables and fruits, working on a personal plot should be enjoyable, and not turn into exhausting work..

It is possible to process the land plot in spring with a shovel. However, this work requires significant physical effort, and is it worth spending energy on something that can be easily done with the help of a cultivator? Naturally, this technique is quite expensive, but health and free time costs even more. If you plan to grow potatoes on the site, then there will be one choice – a powerful cultivator, which will allow you not only to easily process the site in spring and autumn, but also to plant, dig up the fruits of your labor. However, urban dwellers prefer not to burden themselves with such agricultural work. For a flower bed or lawn, a cultivator can be a real disaster. So what to do, you ask. Let’s take a look at a few different options that are on the garden equipment market..

Cultivator or something versatile

At the moment, there are a lot of different models on the cultivator market. But, since we decided that we do not need to cultivate large areas and we are not going to seriously engage in agriculture, we decided to consider several options for cultivators with electric and gasoline engines and something new – a combined tool for working on a personal plot.

Among the petrol-powered cultivators, our attention was drawn to the Solo 501H. SOLO is a very famous German brand. This manufacturer equips its products with gasoline engines of such brands as HONDA, B&S. The cultivator we have chosen at first glance may seem like a toy. However, this impression is misleading. There are several modifications of this cultivator, which, despite their very small size and low weight, are equipped with an air-cooled 4-stroke gasoline engine, which significantly outperforms 2-stroke, cheaper engines in performance and durability. Engine power 1.1 kW (1.5 l / s).

With a mass of about 12 kg. This cultivator allows you to cultivate a strip of land up to 25 cm wide, to a depth of 15 cm, which is quite enough for processing the same flower bed. Thanks to the 4-stroke petrol engine, this cultivator has very low noise characteristics, low fuel consumption and low combustion emissions, especially when compared to the cheaper 2-stroke engine. This cultivator has a very high productivity. Within an hour, you can use it to process up to 2 acres of land. In addition, this model has a very easy start and is equipped with a special anti-vibration system. Solo 501 cost is about 22,000 rubles.

Small cultivators are equipped not only with gasoline, but also with electric motors. As an alternative, we have chosen the electric cultivator EH 600/36 (02415-20) from GARDENA. It was this company that became famous all over the world for its quality tools for personal plots. There is no doubt about the reliability and durability of GARDENA products. The cultivator has a very low weight – only 8 kg. The power of this product is only 600 W, however, thanks to the gearbox, the cultivator allows you to work the soil to a depth of 18 cm, with a working width of 36 cm.

The cost of this cultivator model is about 11,000 rubles. Naturally, the noise of this cultivator model is much lower than that of the gasoline model. However, do not forget about such an important indicator as power. The electric cultivator is designed to work on prepared, light soil. Large tree roots, clay dry soil can become a serious obstacle for this product, and under an hour and an insurmountable obstacle. This should be considered when choosing a cultivator. There is another factor that can affect the choice – electricity is not always available in the country..

It turns out that electric cultivators are weaker than gasoline cultivators, not every work can be done with such a product. But there are even more interesting types of garden tools. These are not just cultivators – they are multifunctional devices based on a gasoline engine.

As an alternative to cultivators, we decided to choose the products of the German company STIHL – the multifunctional system MM 55 and the combi system KM 55.

The multifunctional system MM 55 STIHL combines several gardening tools at once. This device is a 2-stroke engine, which is fixed on a special frame and allows performing a number of very different operations when changing working tools. First of all, consider this product as a cultivator. To do this, we need to purchase and install on the MM55 multisystem a special cutter for soil cultivation (weight about 2 kg, order code 4 601 740 4605) As a result, we get the opportunity to process a strip of soil up to 22 cm wide and up to 15 cm deep. the cutter is ideal for tackling heavy clay soil. To work with such an attachment on the multisystem, you must additionally install special counterbalance wheels (weight about 4 kg, order code 4 601 730 4500). They will allow you to increase the effort that is applied to the tool by the operator and make your work on soil cultivation easier..

But the advantages of this garden tool did not end there. In addition to the standard cultivation function, you can purchase a device for aerating (fluffing) the lawn (weight about 2 kg, order code 4 601 740 4600), which will allow you to professionally care for the lawn, allows young grass to grow freely, “breathe” the lawn, strengthens the root lawn grass system.Using a special nozzle for removing moss (weight about 8.6 kg, order code 4 601 740 4601) you will completely clean the lawn from the remains of leaves, roots, moss growth – everything that interferes with the growth and development of a healthy lawn. with these attachments it will look clean and well-groomed.But this is not all the capabilities of the MM 55 multi-system. Any home plot has paths.Special sweeping rollers will allow you to get rid of a variety of debris without any effort. These rollers are of two types:

• for sidewalks, lawns, paths (weight about 4 kg., order code 4 601 740 4604)
• for uneven surfaces with a natural finish (natural stone, etc.)

We have given you the weight of additional tools. The weight of the multisystem itself is about 8 kg. For this engine, you will need to purchase a special oil that is added to gasoline. The only drawback of this garden tool is the high cost (about 13,000 rubles) and the need to purchase all attachments separately. It is for this reason that we have indicated their factory order code. The cost of each nozzle is from 2000 rubles. But, you must admit, with fairly similar parameters to cultivators, the multisystem performs much more diverse functions..

The firm Shtil has in its arsenal another interesting tool, with the help of which it is possible to comprehensively solve almost any issues related to caring for a personal plot. The combi system KM 55 STIHL (or its more modern analogue KM 56) has a huge advantage over cultivators – an abundance of various attachments that this tool can use, ease of replacement, ease of maintenance. In addition to the consumables described above, you can additionally purchase an attachment in the form of a chain saw for pruning trees, an attachment for caring for shrubs (hedges), a attachment for cutting grass to the combi system. But you won’t be able to fully process the land plot – a soil milling cutter has a very small grip of the surface to be treated. And the cost of a complete set of all equipment can become an obstacle to choice. The engine itself costs about 12,000 rubles, and the whole set of additional equipment will cost more than ten times the cost of the tool. But it is not at all necessary to have a complete set of replacement attachments..

Having weighed all the positive and negative aspects, we came to the conclusion that it is precisely the universal tool that is needed in the household – the MM 55 multisystem..

Choosing a chain saw

Since it happened. Since we now have a gasoline tool in our household, why not compare a gasoline chain saw with an electric one. We are not going to work in logging, and in order to prepare some firewood for the fireplace or to heat the bathhouse, there is no point in acquiring a saw of enormous power.

As an example, we took a SOLO 635-35 chainsaw and an AKE 40-19 S BOSCH electric chain saw.

The SOLO 635-35 chainsaw belongs to the category of light household saws, its weight is only 4.2 kg. The length of the saw part (bar) is 35 cm. Some users may think that this is not enough, but this is a deeply erroneous opinion. With this saw, if necessary, you can cut a tree with a trunk diameter of 1 meter. Agree – it is almost impossible to find such trees on garden plots. The saw has a fairly powerful 2-stroke engine (1.9 hp / 1.4 kW). This engine is very economical. With the correct setting of the saw, correct sharpening of the chain, 250-300 grams of fuel mixture (gasoline and oil) will be enough for you for 1 hour of work. The saw has excellent balance, is equipped with a special anti-vibration system, an automatic lubrication system for the saw head. The cost of this product is about 8500 rubles. As consumables, you will need to additionally purchase a special chain sharpening kit, chain oil, 2-stroke fuel mixture, an additional chain and a candle. During operation, chain oil is consumed the most. It is worth making sure that it is always in sufficient quantity.

Electric chain saw AKE 40-19 S BOSCH also belongs to the category of household saws. It has a powerful collector electric motor (1900 W), the weight of the saw is about 4.5 kg, the length of the saw part (tire) is 40 cm. A distinctive feature of this saw is a chain tensioning mechanism without the use of additional tools. It should be noted that not only the performance of the saw, but also the wear of its parts and mechanisms, as well as your safety, will largely depend on the correct tension of the chain. It is this mechanism that allows the chain to be tensioned in accordance with the requirements of the operating instructions. There is no such mechanism on a gasoline saw and you have to independently study the procedure for adjusting the chain tension. The cost of an AKE 40-19 S BOSCH electric chain saw is about 6,000 rubles. You will need the same consumables for it as for a gasoline saw except for 2-stroke oil and a candle.

These two saws are a great choice for your home garden. The choice is extremely difficult to make. You just need to decide:

• whether you will use the saw when traveling outdoors or not,
• how often the power is cut off at your site?

And don’t be intimidated by the need to start a gasoline saw. It’s really just a matter of acquiring certain skills. If you are in doubt or do not want to pay much attention to the maintenance of gasoline equipment – purchase an electric saw.

Choosing a garden shredder

The last choice left is the electric garden shredder. This technique is not yet so well known and popular among our population. Many have never even heard of such garden equipment. In fact, a garden shredder will not only allow you to dispose of a variety of waste in the garden (branches, foliage, grass), but also give you the opportunity to make an excellent fertilizer for your plants with your own hands. What is a garden shredder and what you need to look for when choosing it?

As an example, consider the products of BOSCH – the silent garden shredder AXT 25 TC and the garden shredder VIKING GE150, which also belongs to STIHL..

Both shredders are equipped with special feed mechanisms for material (branches, grass). But the design of these mechanisms is very different from one another. A completely new principle of operation of the mechanism is used in the AXT 25 TC shredder, which allows faster processing of material than traditional shredder mechanisms. In addition, the BOCSH shredder has a 53-liter special container for collecting shredded material as standard. This shredder can easily process branches up to 45 mm in diameter. The motor power is 2500 W. The weight of this garden tool is 30kg. Cost – about 15,000 rubles The VIKING GE150 chopper has a weight of 24 kg. Engine power 2500 W. But the diameter of the branches that the shredder can handle is somewhat smaller – 35 mm. In addition, this garden tool does not have a container for collecting material. Its cost is about 13,500 rubles.

Both tools are equipped with wheels, which allow transportation to the place of work with maximum convenience, the body on both shredders can be easily removed and allows you to easily service the cutting mechanism.

Despite the fact that the product of the BOSCH company has a higher cost, we prefer this particular shredder:

• modern design,
• high performance,
• availability of a container for collecting material,
• convenient, foldable design (minimum volume during storage and transportation)

These are the factors that influenced our choice. It is worth noting that there are also cheaper garden shredders available. However, they cannot process grass, fallen leaves. And the branches of large diameter are simply too tough for them. Shredded branches, foliage, grass, fruits can be laid in special compote pits and independently prepare an environmentally friendly and healthy fertilizer for plants in your garden plot. In addition, the shredder will save you the trouble of burning branches and foliage, you will not need to think about disposing of all the waste that remains after pruning trees and shrubs..

We can sum up a little – for spring work in the garden and on the personal plot, we have chosen:

• multifunctional system MM 55 STIHL for its versatility, great capabilities, compactness, ease of use;
• electric chain saw AKE 40-19 S BOSCH for its reliability, 2 years manufacturer’s warranty, ease of operation and maintenance;
• garden shredder АХТ 25 ТС for its “omnivorous”, compactness and high productivity.

These tools will allow you to easily tidy up your site, will not cause much hassle in maintenance and will be reliable assistants in your daily activities. Maintenance costs of this equipment are minimal. It’s just that after each work you need to pay a little attention to the tool – clean it of dirt, shavings, if necessary, lubricate, clean the air filter of the multifunctional system.

These are just a few of the garden tools we can talk about. There are also pressure washers, lawn mowers, watering and irrigation systems, and much more. But we will talk about this in more detail next time..