A wood saw can be used to cut tall tree branches. By connecting it to a wooden pole. The saw blade has a drilled hole in the center of the blade. This hole is for installing screws to lock the blade to the wooden pole.
In the photo above, the screws used for fastening can use screws that are commonly used for light steel roof frame (zincalum roof truss). It can also be seen that a ring was added to widen the screw pressure, especially in the path at the base of the saw.
Photo of a saw with a wooden pole measuring 3x4 cm in cross section being used to cut a branch of a mango tree.
The length of the pole affects the cutting power. The longer the pole, the more it reaches high branches and twigs. But the cutting power will be weaker, because of the difficulty in moving the long and heavy pole.
The position of the branch, which is almost vertical above the head, is a position that is difficult to cut. Due to the weight of the pole, and less pressure on the saw towards the branch being cut. The position of the branch that is slightly horizontal to the worker is easier to cut.
With a pole length of around 4 meters, the position of the branch is almost directly above the head. This tool is capable of cutting hard mango tree branches, with a diameter of around 3-4 cm. For softer branches, such as plumeria tree branches, the diameter of the branch that can be cut can be larger.
Short poles, about 1 to 2 meters, can also be very effective to reach high branches. But workers have to climb the tree first, to get close to the branches to be cut. Then with a 1-2 meter pole the branch is reached and sawed.
The weakness of this tool is that the saw blade can bend if the movement is not correct. Bending of the blade can be prevented by advancing the screw further to the leading edge of the blade. But this brings the pole further forward towards the front end of the saw. Consequently, the saw's movement can be impeded by branches in areas where they are dense and tightly packed.
Another way to prevent the blade from bending is to add a metal bar as a reinforcing spine; a 1x1 cm angle iron can be used for this purpose. The downside is that the metal reinforcement adds weight to the saw, making it more difficult to handle, especially when using a long pole.
