Unless it’s a large area, a brush clearing hand tool is the right tool for most clearing jobs around the house, fence line or hunting property. But there is not one tool that does it all. Some brush is located where a large swinging motion is possible while other brush is in a small space where a small precise motion is required. The following list of hand tools have taken care of most of my small clearing tasks over the years. This particular collection is stowed in a Ridgid Pro Organizer 22 inch box which easily transports the entire collection when needed.
Fiskars has a good selection of outdoor hand tools and quite a few styles which work well for clearing brush. Although this article isn’t necessarily a review of Fiskars tools in particular, the tools that follow happen to mostly be made by them. The orange color helps locate a tool if it’s laid down in the weeds and brush. If you’re looking for tools of this type you should be able to find a variety of brands to compare but in a few cases the ones listed below seem to be the ones most readily available at local and national stores where you can pick them up and check them out.
The Box
I chose a Ridgid Pro Organizer 22 inch box to house the tools. These are available at Home Depot and online at various sites including Amazon. This box works great but it’s also a size limitation for all the tools. For my purposes, having a single container that I can just toss in a vehicle or strap to the four wheeler to take to the field is worth any compromise the shorter tool may have. One other nice feature with these boxes are their ability to attach to other Ridgid boxes and cases with the side handles which snap into the box above them.
Hatchet
You have to have a hatchet. A hatchet can deal with lots of things but isn’t particularly suited for clearing brush. If the brush is a branch and there’s room to swing then tasks like removing small limbs and branches can be done with the hatchet. It’s better suited to processing the limbs and even building things with them than the task of clearing them from the area. It can be used to cut down bushes and small trees if needed but there are more efficient tools for this.
Saw
It only does one thing but it does it better than any other tool in the box. If I needed to remove a branch larger than an inch or so, then I’d reach for the saw before any of the other tools. It doesn’t require as much room to operate as the hatchet and removes branches and limbs much faster with less effort.
Different saws have different teeth profiles and are suited for specific types of cutting. The saws for dealing with branches and limbs are very different than the teeth on saws used for construction. They’re typically larger and sharper and work particularly well on green (living) branches. If needed these saws can cut down smaller trees and can do so better than most other tools in the box. Although the color matches the others, this is not a Fiskars brand saw but they do make several sizes that could work quite well.
Loppers
It does a similar task as the saw but does it more efficiently up to a point. For limbs finger size and smaller the loppers are the tool of choice. They rival the saw for limb removal for some sizes but are much easier to use on smaller size cuts. Some loppers have telescopic handles which extend and allow more leverage giving more power when cutting. However, all loppers will be limited in the size of cut they can make by the size of the jaw opening.
Brush Axe (19″)
It’s a multi-task tool but it is the best for some cutting tasks. This unique tool could possible be the most versatile of all those listed here. It can chop similar to the hatchet but not as well. It can de-limb very well but requires more room to operate than either the saw or pruners. It even approaches some of the functionality of the machete. But, like many versatile tools, it can do it all but isn’t the best of any one specific tool. However, if I could only take one tool to the woods with me for clearing brush for a hunting lane or along a fence line this is the one I’d want.
In my much younger days I spent a year working on a survey crew and used a larger brush axe a lot for clearing sight lines through wooded areas. These were the size of a full size axe and proved useful for most clearing tasks. Since we would carry our tools by hand while clearing the lines, taking a single multi-use tool was necessary and the brush axe was a wise choice.
Billhook (13″)
The billhook works best if the brush is small and needs to be cut using a pulling action. It’s not used nearly as much as the longer brush axe which cuts much better in swinging motion cuts. It has it’s place but is rarely used. It could come out of the box and probably not be missed for general brush clearing.
Pruners
Most everyone is familiar with pruners and their function and limitation. I keep them in the box primarily for hunting blind purposes. If small twigs need trimming these work best. They don’t get used for much else.
Not In The Box
A machete is another tool that can be used for brush but it’s more suited to clearing foliage in jungles and maybe corn stalks here in the agricultural area of Michigan. Also, it doesn’t fit in the box so mine gets used for clearing a few things around the pond but not so much for woodier brush in the field, woods, or along the fence.
Other Things To Consider
Don’t forget about safety. All the tools mentioned work because they’re sharp. So, good work gloves are a necessity when clearing brush. Gloves also protect from the pokey parts of the brush being cleared. Safety glasses are another must have item. When brush gets chopped or wacked things go flying and could land in your eye. Brush itself never seems to cooperate and often can hit back and if it hits in the face or an eyeball it can be more than just painful.
Most of the tools shown here are from Fiskars but there are other good quality brands as well. One nice feature on these is the color. The orange color shows up well if the tool gets laid down and perhaps covered with the brush or other debris. Also, they will get dull so a way to sharped them, particularly the hatched and brush hook, should be included in the box as well.
Final Thoughts
Clearing brush isn’t fun but the right tool can help get the work done faster and with less effort. And although the work isn’t fun, the results can be rewarding once finished. It’s a short lived reward though. The brush will be back in a few years, if not next year, offering another opportunity to grab the box of tools and do it all over again. Enjoy.