This weekend, I decided the take a couple of diseased dogwood trees down. There were six trees lining the curb in fron of our house, which is undergoing re-construction/remodeling. I decided to try and compare two of the tools in my BOB and see what kind of a job they each did.

The trees were not large. The highest branches were about twenty feet off the ground, the thickest trunks were about 6 inches around. Many of the branches and some of the trunks were dead. Each tree had multiple trunks. I decided to cut down a few trunks with different implements, to see how each performed.

The first was a cheap box hatchet, purchased in a pack of three, for about $20, so each one cost about $6-7. See: http://www.garrettwade.com/shopping/prod...roductID=111019

The second tool was a Coldsteel kukri, also a cheap tool purchased for about $12-14 from botach. See: http://www.coldsteel.com/97kms.html and http://www.botachtactical.com/costkuma.html

There were two other tools used to cut down some fo the trunks. One a pruning saw: http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1278989
and also, the one that did most of the work, http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/Heavy-Duty-11-AMP-Reciprocating-Saw/EN/index.htm

None of these tools was ideal for the job, but the last one was good enough. Anything larger and I would have been looking to rent or borrow a chainsaw. Since the house is gutted, buying one is not a good option, since I have no where to keep it.

How did they each do? Well, the good news is that each one fo the can and will cut down a small tree. If I had any of them and wanted to get through a trunk or branch 6 inches in diameter, I am pretty sure I could do it and do it within 5-10 minutes.

Between the kukri and the box hatchet, the hatchet won hands down. Both had been recently sharpened, but the hatchet has more weight at the head, that is spread out over the kukri. That really seemed to make all the difference.

The pruning saw was not recently sharpened. Indeed, it has been sitting under a tarp in the back yard and was a little rusty (as I said, I have no place to keep things right now). But if you had your choice between a pruning saw and either of the other hand tools for cutting through a branch or tree trunk, take the saw. It made short work of almost anything I tried to cut with it.

The reciprocating saw was simply not the right tool for the job, but the power it had made the job easier. I've got at least one more of these trees to take down. I may try something else out on it.

One thing none of these tools did very well, split the wood. The profile is all wrong on each of them. I got some of it split hammering the kukri, box hatchet and a kabar, but it was a real struggle. I only tried splitting it to see how it went. Each was really too thin to do a decent job.

I have some pictures, if I can figure out how to move them from email to this thread.