Recommendation? Best tool for Blackberry?

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ocnLogan

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Jul 31, 2011
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I'm not sure this is the right forum, but it seemed more appropriate here than in the general knife forum.

I'm looking for the best hand tool to handle a mix of brush that is primarily your typical PNW blackberry (~1" diameter), and red alder saplings (1-4" diameter). With the size and number of blackberrys and their thorns, I'm thinking something longer will help me keep me away from the prickles. Beyond that I'm not really sure what would be best.

I've got one area that is ~20ft x 125ft, and another that is ~15ft x 45ft area. So a decent amount of space, but not acres.

I'm just not sure if this is a job for a Brush axe, Ditch bank blade, or maybe just a long machete, as I've never used any of those before. I'm also new to the area, and have never had to deal with blackberry. So my question to everyone here, is what would you want to use in this situation?
 
I've done a ton of blackberry work here in the PNW. The long machete is the ticket. 22" or longer works great. Advance by cutting a sphere in front you to keep thorns at bay at all times. Chop the runners into short lengths so you can trample them and they won't catch your legs. I like to wear duck cloth or heavy demin clothing. Wear gloves but if you're careful few thorns will get to your hands. A lanyard on the machete is great if it's sized right. If it's too long a couple twists will shorten it. I like to keep a slightly loose grip, it's less tiring and the machete changes direction faster and easier.

Sharp! Sharp! Sharp!
 
Legion, I may use a chainsaw (or other sort of saw) on the larger alder saplings. However, I can't imagine trying to get anywhere near the center of a blackberry bush with one. For reference, the blackberry bushes are ~4-8ft tall, with the individual canes of the plant being up to ~20-25ft long

Square peg, is that a normal latin style machete that you use? Or do you find some other pattern works better? Would something like a ditch bank blade be useful at all for the extra reach, or would it just be too cumbersome?

And yes, gloves, and heavy clothing are planned to help make sure the thorns are merely an annoyance, rather than anything painful.
 
For the stuff you describe I would recommend two machetes for the blackberries and a brush axe for the alder. One standard machete and one extended like Whiskey_Jims on the improvised weapons thread.
 
I use scythe. Blade type varies mostly by time of season what dictates how tough they are. Scythe keeps me mostly away from thorns and no stooping down.

Favourites are 14” brushblade with a slight crecent shape fitted in a SN9 snath. Its light enough for all the overhead work whats needed in the tall. Shorter mounds are taken with an old Kelly 30” fieldblade(incredibly tough blade for its type) on SN1 snath. Its much heavier rig, carries momentum & that comparativly skinny blade punches deep & carries thru.

Tall stuff goes easier in a two step process. Cutting high about 3’ up, then low.
My place is much like yours, rectangular patches. I cut one pass, then walk back to start over so the trimmings get thrown to my left into empty space from prior pass.

Scythe will take saplings up to about 1/2”. Beyond that, its shears or saw territory.
 
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A corn hook or pole-mounted slasher does great. Short of that, use a scythe.
 
+1 for a scythe for the PNW blackberries. You can keep your distance from the thorns, and the blade can be used to "hook" the cut canes as they are piling up, to drag them out of the way.

Where the "blackberry bushes are ~4-8ft tall, with the individual canes of the plant being up to ~20-25ft long" as described, I prefer a "ditch" or "bush" blade less than 50cm, on an aluminum or other non-heavy 2-grip snath. A longer blade just adds weight and gets in the way. Since a lot of cuts will be made above the waist level (and sometimes higher than head level), less weight is appreciated.

These big blackberry bushes are typically shaped like a spider or octopus, with the long "legs" preventing access to the center where the stalks go into the ground. With a scythe, you can work your way to the center, then slice it off at ground level.

If the blackberry thicket is a rectangular strip (for example, 12' wide by 50-100' long) along a hillside, then cutting along the uphill side will allow you to progressively roll the tangled mass of cut canes down the hill away from you as you make repeated passes along the length, until it is all cut.

The blade edge is obviously kept thicker than a blade used for grass, and it's kept sharp so that a slicing action will cut the canes (instead of a hacking stroke that can damage the edge). Avoid scything the old brown canes, they can be broken off or cut with loppers.
 
ocnLogan said:
Square peg, is that a normal latin style machete that you use?
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That's right. And don't use a ditch blank blade or brush axe. They are too much work to get the canes down to a size that can be easily trampled.

Hickory n steel said:
I think you should get a good long latin machete, probably an imicasa or a Tramontina.
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I'll second this suggestion. Our NW blackberries are monsters. Brush hooks and the like just get caught up and pull them in to you. The speed and sharpness of a good machete is what's called for. 10 foot tall of this stuff is a bitch!
Blackberries3.JPG

Blackberries2.jpg
 
Ha!!
Those are lean looking canes. Come to my place to see real blackberry. Even in winter... Damn that man Luther Burbank !!
Too bad I cant get my tractor back into my patch. Fences what I dont own, a building & retaining wall prohibit vehicular attack.
But,, this past fall I inherited an original DR walk behind brush hog. I think if I can knock down the canes enough, I can just run the DR over it. Its only about 4000sq.ft & if I can keep at it a couple times per season should be able to keep it maintained easy.
 
I recall 35 years ago viewing the morning after-math of a situation where a burglar had been surprised by my buddy's bull mastiff in North Vancouver, BC. The crook immediately departed from atop a borrowed step ladder, soiled himself and leapt over a 5 foot chain link fence into a dense 'blackberry' thicket. Pacific NW bramble bushes are impenetrable by ordinary folks. Not only did he leave his tools behind but various articles and pieces of clothing while making his escape. It would have been very difficult for the thief to have looked composed after all that, and probably caused him to think long and hard before contemplating the next job, if he ever did.
I have inexpensive telescopic rope-pulled snips (pole pruner) that are quite effective at reaching inside rose, hawthorn and bramble thickets. Once the branches are manageable in length/height a Pulaski tool makes short work of the stubble and roots. Native blackberry thickets aren't as fearsome in Ontario as are West Coast ones but small groves of Prickly Ash receive this treatment every now and again.
 
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A gas powered telescoping limbing saw worked well for me on the Northeast multi-flora rose. Grow pretty much the same way in a big bunch with long runners.--KV
 
Instead of a machete I'd suggest a corn hook or slasher. Sorry for using my own images here, but they're the easiest to grab.

rinaldi-scansano-brush-hook-3.gif


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And a photo (not mine) of a vintage American corn hook:

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That 3rd pic of the old tool is called a tobacco knife her in N.W. Ct. A surprising amount was grown here historically. Sorry for the hijack--KV
 
kvaughn said:
That 3rd pic of the old tool is called a tobacco knife her in N.W. Ct. A surprising amount was grown here historically. Sorry for the hijack--KV
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Historical industry term is a corn hook, but they were used for cutting all manner of thick, fibrous stalks. Not to be confused with corn knives or tobacco hatchets. But local vernacular is always vague at best.
 
I never could figure out why they called it a tobacco "knife". Obviously not a knife, but I've talked to a lot of old timers around here that worked tobacco as kids and that's what they call them. They're pretty common in this area.--KV
 
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