Not only does Stihl produce some of the best hedge trimmers in the business, but they also offer pro-tips on how to use and maintain your trimmers in their Practical Knowledge article series. These articles include tips on keeping the trimmer blades sharp, how to shape newly planted hedges, taming tall hedges, and ideas for topiary.
General Trimming
Keeping your trimmer in good working order makes it last longer and is also healthier for the hedges you’re cutting. Dull trimmer blades make ragged cuts and tear foliage instead of cutting through cleanly, which doesn’t look nice and can invite disease. Stihl recommends having dull hedge trimmer blades professionally sharpened, which we can do here at Richardson Saw’s service department.
Cut the vertical sides of hedges first with an up-and-down sweeping motion. This trimming tip holds true whether you’re using a standard or extended reach trimmer and for all heights of hedges. Sap from the hedges you’re trimming will gum up the blades if it’s not cleaned off, so remember to clean cutting blades before you put the trimmers away.
Small Hedges
Mid-size and smaller hedges are typically pruned with either hand-held clippers or a powered hedge trimmer. For most hedges, using a powered trimmer will save huge amounts of time and effort. We carry electric, battery, and gasoline-powered hedge trimmers from high-quality brands like Stihl, Echo, RedMax and Shindaiwa.
When you cut the tops of the hedges that are chest-high or lower, hold the trimmer at a slight angle (about 10 degrees from the horizontal) and sweep back and forth to move cut leaves and branches out of the way. If you’re using one-sided hedge trimmers, you can install a metal sweep on one side of the blade to cut down on clean up time. Some styles of one-sided hedge trimmer already come with sweep attachments.
Large Hedges
Long-reach hedge trimmers make it possible to trim hedges taller than chest or shoulder height with your feet firmly planted on the ground. Many extended reach trimmer styles have a cutting head that swivels so you can cut the tops of hedges even if they’re above head-height. Stihl’s extended reach trimmers have a 135-degree adjustable working blade range with 13 lockable points.
You can also use extended reach trimmers to cut hedges that are a lower height, but hard to reach. This includes hedges that are on the other side of a flower border or too wide to reach across with a standard hedge trimmer. Extended reach trimmers with fixed-position cutting heads work well for these tasks.
