Hedge trimmer


A hedge trimmer, shrub trimmer, or bush trimmer is a gardening tool or machine used for trimming hedges or solitary shrubs. Different designs as well as manual and powered versions of hedge trimmers exist. Hedge trimmers vary between small hand-held devices to larger trimmers mounted on tractors.

Types

Stand-alone hedge trimmers

The power source of stand-alone hedge trimmers can be human power, gasoline, or electricity.
  • Manual hedge trimmers are designed as large scissors or large pruning shears. They do not need anything to operate and are cheapest/most environmentally friendly.
  • Motorized hedge trimmers allow work to be done faster and with less effort than manual ones. Their cutting mechanism is similar to that of finger-bar mowers. Powered trimmers are generally designed with safety devices such that they work only when both of the operator's hands are on the handles.
  • * Gasoline-powered trimmers tend to be more powerful but can be heavier and more difficult to start.
  • * Electrical trimmers tend to be lighter and less powerful as well as less polluting/noisy, yet still require an electrical cord with most types.

    Tractor-mounted hedge trimmers

-mounted and tractor-driven hedge trimmers also exist but are uncommon. These machines consist of a moveable arm with a large hedge trimmer attachment at its end. Their cutting mechanism is similar to that of finger-bar mowers.
Such large hedge trimmers are often confused with tractor-mounted reach flail mowers, which appear similar due to the use of booms. And in colloquial language both, tractor-mounted hedge trimmers and reach flail mowers, are imprecisely called hedge cutters, or brush cutters. In contrast to tractor-mounted hedge trimmers, reach flail mowers have a different cutting mechanism and are not only used for trimming hedges but also in several other fields of application.