14 Metres of Box Hedge Trimmed by a Makita DUH523Z on a Single 5Ah Battery

14 metres from one BL1850B pack

The DUH523Z is Makita’s bare-tool version of a 520mm single-sided hedge trimmer on the 18V LXT platform. With a genuine BL1850B 5Ah battery fitted, it cut a 14 metre length of box hedge, roughly 1.1m high and carrying 18 months of unclipped growth, back to a clean face and top. The battery gauge had dropped to a single LED by the end.

The run was cut as one steady job, with the motor working for long stretches instead of being given long pauses between short bursts. That matters for current draw, because a trimmer used continuously has less time for the pack and motor to cool between cuts.

Makita rates the DUH523Z at 1,350 strokes per minute, with a 22mm cutting capacity. Box is a soft, small-stemmed job for that blade, so it never came close to the tool’s stated capacity. The low load explains why a 5Ah pack lasted for the full hedge.

Move the same trimmer into 15mm privet whips or a neglected hawthorn and the metreage falls quickly. The amp draw climbs as the stems get woody, and the total length cut can drop by a third or more. A runtime result from one hedge species carries little value when applied to another species.

The useful ratio is still clear. Soft, thin annual growth uses charge slowly. Woody material past 12mm uses it fast. A 5Ah LXT pack is generous for box, while a hornbeam that has missed two seasons of clipping will likely call for a battery swap or a second pack sitting on the charger.

Sharpening a Felco No. 2 without losing the bevel

Felco sells the 903 sharpening tool, a compact carbide-coated file, and it is handy for touch-ups. Once a Felco No. 2 has gone beyond a light touch-up, a proper waterstone gives more control over the edge.

The cutting blade has a single-bevel grind of roughly 23 degrees. That bevel belongs only on the cutting blade. The counter-blade is flat; its face should be left flat and only deburred.

A combination 1000/6000 grit waterstone is the standard stone for this job. Soak it for around ten minutes, stopping when the bubbles stop rising. Dismantle the secateurs with the Felco keyed nut and the supplied spanner so the blade can sit properly on the stone.

Work on the 1000 side first. Lay the bevel down and match the factory angle by feel, keeping the whole bevel in contact through every stroke. Six to ten passes are enough on a moderately dull blade to raise a burr along the flat side.

Then turn to the flat face. Lay it dead flat on the stone and take two light passes to remove that burr. Any lift at this stage puts a second angle where the blade should stay flat.

Move to the 6000 side for the polish. The common damage on Felco blades comes from rolling the wrist during the stroke, which rounds the bevel into a convex edge. Correcting that shape takes far more steel than preserving the original geometry with a constant guided angle.

Rust on a forged trowel

A carbon-steel trowel stored damp over winter develops surface rust quickly. A 12 hour soak in white vinegar, followed by a green scouring pad, lifts light oxidation without cutting into the underlying steel. Rinse it, dry it at once, then wipe the metal with camellia oil or plain 3-in-1.

Mounting the Hozelock Auto Reel 2401

The Hozelock Auto Reel 2401 comes with 30m of hose, a wall bracket, and a 2m leader hose for the tap connection. The rewind mechanism is usually where installation mistakes show up.

The wall bracket needs to leave the reel free to swivel through 180 degrees. The spring rewind pulls the hose back toward the reel, and the casing has to pivot toward the direction of the last pull. If the reel is fixed so it cannot swing, the hose feeds back at an angle and jams on the guide rollers.

Mark the four bracket holes at least 1.6m above the ground, which gives the hose clearance during rewind. The supplied plugs suit brick. Aerated block or render needs frame fixings instead.

Thread the 2m leader through the base, connect it to the tap with the fitted connector, and tighten by hand only. The retraction lock engages when the hose is pulled out a short distance and allowed to stop. A gentle tug releases it again.

The most common jam comes from overfeeding the hose past the internal stopper. When the rewind stalls halfway, the swivel is nearly always obstructed; the spring is usually still doing its job.

One small part sits where many people miss it. The leader hose has a small inline filter washer at the tap end. Grit from a first-season mains connection can clog that washer, and weak flow at the nozzle usually traces back there before any fault inside the reel.

String trimmers and the battery platform

Set a Makita DUR181Z beside an EGO ST1400E-ST and a Stihl FSA 60 R, and the cutting heads can look like small differences on the same idea. The Makita 18V tool takes a 78mm auto-feed bump head. The EGO 56V machine uses a line spool with fixed 2.4mm line. The Stihl runs its own AutoCut C 3-2.

In use, the battery system changes the job more than the head description. The EGO’s 56V pack gives more sustained torque in long wet grass, and its 30cm cutting width clears a verge faster. The Stihl FSA 60 R on the AK system is lighter, at around 3.4kg with battery, and better balanced for detail work along borders.

The Makita makes most sense in a shed that already runs LXT tools. Sharing 5Ah packs between the DUH523Z hedge trimmer and the string trimmer removes a second charger from the setup. Over three seasons, that cross-tool battery sharing is worth more than a 10 percent difference in cut width on a single machine. Once a voltage platform is chosen, it shapes every later cordless purchase, so the battery already on the bench can matter more than the spool fitted to the head.

Reading the runtime figure with the material beside it

Runtime claims usually put one pack against an easy load. The DUH523Z cutting box is exactly that sort of load. Any cordless tool figure becomes more useful when the battery amp-hours are written beside the actual material cut, with woody material treated as a heavier job from the start.

The BL1850B holds 5Ah at 18V, which is 90 watt-hours nominal. On box, the DUH523Z averaged a low enough draw to clear 14m before the pack reached its last LED. On 14mm-stem laurel, the motor works closer to its rated load, and usable energy per metre falls by well over a third. That puts the same pack somewhere near 8m to 9m before recharge, a different outcome from a different hedge.

The specification sheet gives strokes per minute and cutting capacity, yet the battery drain follows the plant in front of the blade. In one garden the DUH523Z looks unusually frugal; in another, the same battery can feel marginal before the hedge is finished. In the measured run, the battery gauge followed the hedge species more closely than the stroke rating printed on the carton.