Two models sit under this page. The TG2 is 800 mm wide with six knives and suits carriers of roughly 1.8 to 2.5 tonnes; the TG1 is 1,200 mm wide with nine knives and suits roughly 2 to 5 tonnes. Both are rated for fine hedge and young growth up to about 20 mm, and neither is a branch cutter. That 20 mm figure, not the width, is the whole of the buying decision, and getting it wrong is the most common and most expensive mistake made with this family.
| Model | Cutting width | Knives | Carrier (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| TG2 | 800 mm | 6 | 1.8–2.5 t |
| TG1 | 1,200 mm | 9 | 2–5 t |
Why a light knife head beats a heavier tool on fine growth
The instinct when specifying a hedge program is to buy capacity in reserve: choose something rated well above the material so nothing can stop it. On fine vegetation that instinct costs money, and it is worth understanding why.
A knife system cuts by making a very large number of small shearing actions as it is drawn along a face. On soft annual growth that produces a dense, even finish, the sort a landscape supervisor signs off without argument, because each stem is severed cleanly by a blade moving fast past a fixed edge. A heavier shearing or disc tool applies far more force to each stem but applies it less often, so on the same soft growth it pushes material aside, leaves ragged ends, and finishes a hedge face that looks chewed rather than clipped. The capacity in reserve does not improve the work; it changes what the work looks like.
The second cost is in the machine underneath. An oversized head on a fine-growth program pushes the carrier up a class, which pushes up the float, the fuel, the ground pressure on a park lawn and the space needed to turn between a footpath and a fence line. On the sort of site where a TG is used, a school boundary, a roundabout, a cemetery, an orchard row, physical size is the limiting factor long before capacity is.
The third is speed. A head that can be run fast and held lightly against a face is drawn along at walking pace with the boom doing little more than steering. A heavy head has to be muscled into position, settled, and moved deliberately, and over a kilometre of formal hedge that difference in handling shows up as passes per hour.
Buying rule
On genuinely fine growth, buy the head that gives the finish and the access you need, not the head with the largest number on the data sheet. Reserve capacity is only useful if the material actually calls on it.What the 20 mm class means, and what happens above it
Twenty millimetres describes the vegetation the knives are designed to shear: this year’s and last year’s growth on a maintained hedge, young shrub growth, orchard row regrowth taken annually. Push a knife head into a 40 or 50 mm woody framework and three things happen in order. The finish goes first, because stems are torn instead of cut. Then the production rate goes, because the head stalls and has to be worked back and forth. Then the knives and the drive go, because they are absorbing loads they were not designed around, and that repair is not covered by the saving made on the original purchase.
The practical consequence is that a TG belongs on a maintenance cycle, not a reclamation job. A hedge clipped every year stays inside the class indefinitely. A hedge left for four years has grown out of it, and the first pass belongs to a heavier tool: the BF cutter bar at 30 mm or the TRI bar at 100 mm, after which the TG comes back and keeps it there. For a council that inherits a backlog, the honest plan is usually one reclamation season with a hired heavier head and then the TG on an annual cycle.
Choosing between the TG2 and the TG1
Both models cut the same class, so the choice is about carrier and access rather than capability. The TG2’s 800 mm head swings in spaces the TG1 cannot enter: between a footpath and a fence, under verandah lines, in a courtyard garden, in tight orchard rows. The TG1’s 1,200 mm head and nine knives cover half as much face again per pass, which on a long formal hedge or an open verge is the difference between two passes and three up a tall face.
The knife pitch is the same on both, six knives across 800 mm and nine across 1,200 mm, so the finish does not change with width. What changes is how many times the machine has to travel the hedge, and that is the number to work with when comparing them: count the passes the actual job needs, not the metres.
Circuits, brackets and the questions to ask
No flow or pressure figure is published for the TG in our model data, which makes the quotation conversation more important than usual. Ask Machinery Specialist for the current data sheet for the exact model, give them your carrier’s make, model and auxiliary flow setting, and get the requirement back in writing. Confirm which circuit the head uses, how the return is arranged, and whether any case drain is specified, since a continuously running motor returning through a control valve rather than to tank is a known way to cook seals. The method is in the hydraulic matching guide, and the 1 to 5 tonne class page covers what a mini excavator can run continuously.
Mass is rarely the constraint with a hedge trimmer, so the bracket conversation is about geometry instead. A tilting or angle-adjustable bracket lets the head sit flat against a vertical face, a sloping batter or the underside of an overhang without the operator contorting the boom, and on an eight-hour clipping day that is the difference between a straight hedge line and a wavy one. Ask whether the angle adjustment needs a third hydraulic function, because that is a carrier question as much as an attachment one.
The programs this head is bought for
Formal hedges, park and reserve boundaries, school and hospital grounds, roundabouts, landscaped verges and the annual clip on orchard and shelterbelt rows. In every case the client is buying an appearance, which changes what matters in the specification: finish quality, the ability to reach the top of a face cleanly, and not marking turf or paving with the carrier.
Pricing follows the same logic. Hedge work is quoted by the metre of finished face, but the metre rate has to carry the parts of the day that are not cutting: setting up pedestrian management on a footpath, moving the machine between beds, and blowing or raking clippings off hard surfaces before the crew leaves. On a built-up verge, pedestrian control can cost more per hour than the machine, which is the practical argument for the wider head where access allows it. See council parks and urban vegetation and farm shelterbelts and orchards for how these programs are usually scoped, and the tender rate guide for carrying the non-cutting time into a rate.
Because the machine and the head are small, mobilisation is cheap: a mini excavator and a trimmer travel on a plant trailer, which suits a council program spread across many small sites in a week. That is a real commercial advantage over a larger corridor tool, and it is worth weighing against the metres per hour when comparing options. The transport and mobilisation guide covers when machine size starts to bring float and permit costs into the picture.
Where the TG stops
Above 20 mm it is the wrong tool, and above 100 mm the whole continuous approach stops being relevant: individual limbs are cut one at a time by a CS pruning head, and material that has to be lowered rather than dropped is grapple saw work, as the pruner versus grapple saw comparison explains. Clippings from a TG are light and fall harmlessly, but the tool still throws material, so exclusion zones, applicable WHS procedures and the manufacturer’s instructions apply, particularly beside footpaths in use. The mechanical pruning buying guide sets out the full ladder from this head up to the 420 mm class, and the BTD disc trimmer covers the heavy continuous end of it.
Knives, knife bolts and the drive are the consumables. Ask for a knife set price, the sharpening interval expected on the species actually being cut, and whether knives are held in Australian stock for the model quoted. On a seasonal council program a full spare set on the truck is cheap insurance, because a knife damaged by a fence wire on Tuesday should not cost the rest of the week. The wear parts guide covers what to price before signing.
Confirm before ordering
- The program is annual maintenance of growth inside the 20 mm class, not reclamation of a neglected hedge
- Any backlog priced as a separate reclamation pass with a heavier head
- Current TG hydraulic requirement obtained in writing for the exact model and matched to the carrier
- Return arrangement and any case drain confirmed, with the return to tank rather than through the valve
- TG2 or TG1 chosen on access and pass count, since both cut the same class
- Angle adjustment type settled, and any third hydraulic function it needs
- Turf and paving protection considered for the carrier on landscaped sites
- Spare knife set priced and held in Australian stock
- Pedestrian management and clipping cleanup built into the metre rate
Frequently asked questions
Why not buy a heavier head so nothing can stop it?
Because on fine growth a heavier head gives a worse finish, needs a bigger carrier than the sites allow, and handles more slowly. Reserve capacity only earns its keep if the material actually uses it.
My hedges have not been cut in four years. Can the TG catch up?
Not sensibly. Once a woody framework has formed the first pass belongs to a BF or TRI, and the TG then holds the hedge on an annual cycle.
Is the TG1 a bigger cutter than the TG2?
No. Same vegetation class and same knife pitch. The TG1 covers 1,200 mm of face per pass against 800 mm and asks for a 2 to 5 tonne carrier rather than 1.8 to 2.5 tonnes.
What flow does it need?
Our model data publishes no flow or pressure figure. Get the current data sheet for the exact model from Machinery Specialist and confirm it against your carrier's auxiliary circuit before ordering.
Will it damage a park lawn?
That is a carrier question rather than a head question. The attachment is light, so the marks come from tracks and turning; plan access and consider matting on soft or irrigated turf.
Does it collect the clippings?
No. They fall where they are cut, and hard surfaces need blowing or raking before the site is handed back.
Other mechanical pruning to compare
Compare models side by side with specification graphs →
OMEF BF cutter bars
Extremely light reciprocating cutter bars (40 to 46 kg) in 1.2, 1.5 and 1.7 m widths for 30 mm class vegetation on 1 to 5 tonne carriers, built for linear metres rather than branch diameter.
OMEF TRI pruning cutting bars
Comb-style shearing bars for 4 to 10 tonne excavators in 1.6, 1.9 and 2.2 m widths. All three cut the same 100 mm class; the difference is linear coverage per pass.
OMEF BTD disc hedge trimmers
Rotating-disc trimmers for continuous woody vegetation up to about 150 mm on 3 to 10 tonne excavators. Two, three or four discs set the working width and the production rate.
OMEF CS100 forestry pruner
The compact 360-degree forestry pruner for 1.6 to 3.5 tonne excavators: 120 kg with a 100 mm cut for orchards, councils and light tree pruning.
OMEF CS200 forestry pruner
A 200 mm hydraulic pruning head for 3.5 to 6 tonne excavators: 210 kg, 360-degree rotation and enough capacity that the fall of every severed section has to be planned.
OMEF CS300 forestry pruner
Where pruning crosses into selective forestry: a 300 mm cut on 6 to 10 tonne excavators at 340 kg, for large roadside limbs, plantation edges and utility vegetation.
OMEF CS400 and CS400H forestry pruners
The heavy pruning heads: 400 mm (CS400) and 420 mm (CS400H) cuts on 10 to 24 tonne excavators. Serious limb and stem capacity with no holding grapple, so piece planning is the buying question.
Get a recommendation, not just a price
Send us your excavator model, hydraulic figures, tree species and typical diameters. We will come back with a carrier-matched configuration and a written specification you can compare against any other quote.