Slashing some goldenrod.

FortyTwoBlades

FortyTwoBlades

Baryonyx walkeri
Dealer / Materials Provider
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Mar 8, 2008
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Terrorizing the local flora with an Angelo B. corn hook. It's that time of the year again. :)

[video=youtube;vnwwS4LY3Fc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnwwS4LY3Fc&feature=youtu.be[/video]
 
LOL Each time your arm got tired and the blade bound-up in the stems, I thought, "Dang, 42, just go get your scythe and take'm to the ground!" :D
 
chiral.grolim said:
LOL Each time your arm got tired and the blade bound-up in the stems, I thought, "Dang, 42, just go get your scythe and take'm to the ground!" :D
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Some of the stalks were more mature than others. It's something of a trick to establish just the right amount of force to use--too much and you're just wasting energy, too little and you get a little bound up at the end of the stroke. The scythe works great on this stuff, but it's less well suited to things like raspberry bushes, and the corn hook is more portable. Tools to tasks and all that, but the goldenrod was what I had available to demonstrate on so it's what I used. :)

This was last year before the pasture was restrung with fresh wire. The horses eat all the burdocks down so we don't have trouble with those out there anymore.
[video=youtube;_AmYZkKSSYU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AmYZkKSSYU[/video]

mtangent said:
You need a herd of cows.
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Oh no I don't. There may be critters that'll eat stuff that the horses won't, but I'd still be stuck feeding them during the winter months. ;)
 
mete said:
What a waste ! Goldenrod makes a very fine honey !
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Not on its own it doesn't. I don't have any bee hives. Also, there is freaking TONS of it here--absolutely no shortage of the stuff. A resource to one is a nuisance to another. These are in pasture space for the horses and for my purposes it's of greater advantage to do away with it. I should have been mowing it earlier when it was more tender but I haven't had time.
 
Nice video. How do you find that the corn hook performs in that work compared to a typical machete?
 
I find it does a much nicer job than a standard machete. It's about as light as a very thin grass machete but the hook keeps springy, slippery woody stems from sliding off the blade. With a conventional machete much energy is lost due to that deflection. It's why corn hooks have been the preferred sort of tool for this class of targets for well over a hundred years. :)
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
I find it does a much nicer job than a standard machete. It's about as light as a very thin grass machete but the hook keeps springy, slippery woody stems from sliding off the blade. With a conventional machete much energy is lost due to that deflection. It's why corn hooks have been the preferred sort of tool for this class of targets for well over a hundred years. :)
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A brush cutter or clearing saw works even better[emoji2]
 
A bush hog would be the ideal for high-volume work, but not everyone can afford one of those (even to rent) nor are they suitable for all applications and terrain. I much prefer the scythe for my circumstances, but there are plenty of situations where the corn hook is a more appropriate tool. However, if by brush cutter you mean a string trimmer outfitted with a metal blade then I outright disagree. There are pretty much no circumstances that I have yet to encounter where one of those rigs was more effective than a scythe, and can actually tire you faster because of having to support the weight of the tool while a scythe rests its full weight on the ground. Their chief advantage is that they require little skill to operate them, but they are dependent on fuel, are tiresome to operate, prone to failure, noisy, and unable to cut as wide a range of target vegetation effectively. Frequency, intensity, and time of the task and the location or setting in which it is performed determine appropriate tool choice. :)
 
"Frequency, intensity, and time of the task and the location or setting in which it is performed determine appropriate tool choice."

This. Well said.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on how well suited other tools would be for your goldenrod patch. I know about the corn hook and scythe, but are there others, and would you be willing to make a "top five" list, sorting them by suitability?
 
I'd be happy to! It'll have to be a little later today though, as I'm in the middle of some work stuff at the moment. :)
 
Shorttime said:
I would be interested to hear your thoughts on how well suited other tools would be for your goldenrod patch. I know about the corn hook and scythe, but are there others, and would you be willing to make a "top five" list, sorting them by suitability?
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Some other acceptable tools for the work include slashers (pole-mounted billhooks) long, thin machetes, ditch bank blades, light brush axes, heavy weed whips (bowed variety) etc.

Of those, for bulk clearing of goldenrod specifically, I'd put the scythe first, then slashers, then ditch bank blades, then corn hooks, then long thin machetes, then brush axes, then heavy weed whips. You want long reach and light weight, but also a forward curving edge when possible.
 
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