Of course those guys have a point to prove, but I guess everyone does. From personal experience ITRW snow doesn’t matter, 3/4- is beyond belief.
Turns out my cousin has taken up barefoot running in the very north east of england (aka Berwick). I haven’t spoken to him (about this) yet, however according to his mother he did hit a patch of gravel. Nasty.
There is no May in Berwick; it’s 55.7702° N, in US terms it is here:
Yet he has a girlfriend (also barefoot, by the account of my aunt) and a bike. (He also has a whole load of other stuff, of course, a job, healthcare, a family who can be relied upon, strength, health and secondary things like that.)
@jbowler, Being a bit ‘hippie’ in my dress sense, I own ‘pocket belts’. Handy things! Especially for carrying phones and secateurs while in the garden, or concerts… (remember those??)… Phones, not secateurs in the latter.
They’re all pruners up to but not including the MS362 at the top (which is a harvester). The bottom two are, I believe, “hand pruners” in USian, secateurs to the rest of us. The Spear&Jackson loppers(IRC that is USian, though I am losing my ability to discriminate the two languages) are new because some low life ripped off my previous pair. The saw above is basically the next step up, I’m not sure I should have put the machete above it or even in the group; it’s more the younger sister of the sythe. The very new MS261, which is definitely still a pruner, is a replacement for my trusty Stihl 026 Pro, bought for me by my mother when I moved here in 2001 and sadly deceased; I think it was pining after my mother left.
The Spear&Jacksons are amazingly good; the bottom of the handles pull out, almost doubling the leverage. I wouldn’t use the bypass pair on anything thick - the leverage will bend the blades - but they’re great for reaching up into fruit trees and dropping embarrassingly large branches on the noggin. On the other hand, if the anvil prunes don’t work (they have a ratchet!) the good ol’ saw just above will cut through pretty much anything alive. In Oregon we just have to remember which side of the branch to sit on while we do it.
