[poultrygeist]

While we're talking sharp and dangerous implements, can I ask advice about machetes please ?

We have a HUGE phormium in the back garden that badly needs taming and unless I cut each leaf with hand shears, nothing will touch it. I was thinking a machete may be the correct tool for the job but know very little about them other than Ray Mears can make a 3 piece suite from a Birch twig using one.

Budget up to about £20 maybe but it would need to be damn good. WOuld I also need a sharpening stone ?

Thank you

Rob

[RichardA]

very dangerous tool in unskilled hands - surely an electric hedge trimmer/cutter would do the job???. Can you borrow one.
R

[davethespread]

hi rob www.surplusstore.co.uk

[poultrygeist]

Got a leccy hedge trimmer. Sadly no 

Each leaf breaks down into fibres (flax) and clogs anything that comes near. It needs a sharp blade to cut it, either in a scissor action or slashing. I'm quite a safe sort of person with tools but respect what you're saying.
For the same reasoning, I would be wary about a chainsaw.

Rob

[Roughlee Handled]

http://www.ehow.com/how_2183127_wield-a-machete.html

[poultrygeist]

scary when you read about it. 

I still can't think of a better tool for it though.

Rob

[madcat]

I had to look up phormium but when I realised it was New Zealand flax...  got the problem!  No, a hedge trimmer will just jam up and I suspect a chain saw wouldnt like it.  Seem to remember when we had to do one, a very sharp billhook was used.  The curved blade is a bit more controlled than a machete - which would be a bit drastic, but the same principle!

Whatever blade you use, you will need a sharpening stone and to use it before and during the exercise.  The flax takes the edge off everything, and there is nothing more dangerous or tiring or frustrating than a blunt blade.  

Even if you do it with shears, you will be sharpening them at every verse end.  Flax is tough stuff!  Oh and good gloves ...

[poultrygeist]

The other alternative is to dig round the base and try and split off lumps but I don't fancy that option. It's about 10-12ft high and maybe 6ft across at the base. Never seen a bigger one. The leaves lying at ground level clog the mower if it catches them.

Looks like I need to do a bit more research and maybe find a local tool shop to advise.

Thanks all.

Rob

[madcat]

Try selling to a local landscape gardener!  That is one heck of a plant you have there...  Have you seen what they cost to buy?   :blink:

[RichardA]

because I knew nothing about this plant (see my previous response that proves I knew nothing) I looked it up and apparently in New Zealand the:
Leaves were cut near the base of the plant using a sharp mussel shell or specially shaped rocks, more often than not greenstone (jade, or pounamu). The green fleshy substance of the leaf was stripped off, again using a mussel shell, right through to the fibre which went through several processes of washing, bleaching, fixing, softening, dyeing and drying. So now you need to get some mussel shells - simple really.
R

[8doubles]

A slasher with a 4ft handle used double handed is a far better tool Rob. The blade is far enough away not to remove bits of YOUR anatomy and keeps the hands away from sharp cut growth. Machete`s are an accident waiting to happen , toes ,kneecaps etc.

[poultrygeist]

Damn !

I wanted to wear khaki shorts and a bush hat 

I'll try musselshells.com and slashers4u.co.uk

Maybe the 2nd one requires a careful google search first  :blink:

Rob

[madcat]

If you were a kiwi - yeh.  You got it.  Shorts, vest, bush hat and wellies.  'Couse you also need a tan.  And skin like leather if you are gonna tackle flax dressed like that!   

PS no corks round hat - that is for wimpy aussies.  Or so my kiwi in-laws tell me.   

[poultrygeist]

With legs like mine, I'd better skip the shorts too

[noshed]

I'm going to get one of these for chopping cabbage stalks and such for composting:
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/newton-single-edge-bill-hook