Help please!! I made the mistake of rushing to plant a bamboo hedge that grew twice as tall as I was told. I spent the last two days trying to find a lightweight corded reciprocating saw. But 7 lbs is still too heavy and bulky. I will probably need to spend 3 times as much for a small cordless saw. Even then, I agree with tcstoehr: “...sometimes you don't have the proper angle and clearances necessary“ to remove a branch. Can you please tell me where to buy your favorite bamboo pruners? Thank you.

An inexpensive chopper will work but also time consuming to get to that point. You would need to prep and cut the correct thickness/size, then lay out flat on a cookie sheet and partially freeze, a firm freeze, but not hard. I've done it...after watching a chili cook-off and they swore by small cubed meat. If doing other things in the kitchen, not such a big deal, but i just didn't like that style of chili. (i use my meat grinder and run it through once for chili meat and double grind for hamburgers). The one i'm linking is not the one i used but similar. I ended up match-sticking first, then layed back across and pushing through again. It worked and was speedy but felt overkill when my knife skills are above average. Now it would be handy if you have a kitchen helper, say a friend with zero knife skills and is rather useless, lol, that style push slicer is idiot proof. Here is a link that might be useful: chopper

I have a Makita jig saw that I bought back in the 80's and I use it to cut anything from Formica counter tops and plywood subfloors to intricate schrol cuts in 4" dimensional lumber. Two years ago someone gave me a Rotozip for Christmas and it sat on a shelf in the workshop for the first year. One day I was working on a small countertop and I got the brainstorm to try using my Formica cutter bit in the Rotozip. It worked excellant as a Formica cutter so I then decided to try a wood cutting bit and see what this tool could really do. After making a series of intricate cuts on a scrap piece of 3/4"plywood I decided to stack two layers of 3/4" plywood and see if it would cut 1-1/2". It cut the 1-1/2" with no problem.

Expansion joints: formed gaps located against other structures and things to allow movement from (you guessed it) expansion. Control joints: when concrete cracks, and it will, you try and (yep) control where those cracks happen by giving it a "roadmap" to follow. If you are in freeze/thaw, sawcut of control joints outside is worse. The edges can chip off, even when filling the joint. Sawcut is a bit quicker for the finishers as they are long gone (they don't have to tool joints), however, the contractor has to have the knowledge; sometimes depending on weather, mix, and pour schedule the control joints are not cut in the proper time, and cracks have already appeared. You could also argue that if you have a broom finish, sawcutting joints is not as aesthetically pleasing.