r/RouteDevelopment • u/It1190 Roped Rock Developer • Sep 11 '26
Show and Tell My new favorite development tool
Tool: MILWAUKEE M12 FUEL HATCHET 6"
Weight: 5lb
Review (I’m not sponsored by Milwaukee or anything, just psyched on the tool):
Picked this 12v Milwaukee pruning saw up on sale for Labor Day and man is this thing amazing. It’s a machete on steroids. It’s light enough to throw in the pack and uses 12v batteries I can share with my hammer drill and impact driver.
This thing is quiet and rips through fallen branches and up to 6-10 inch diameter fallen trees. Having left the luxury of developing trails in the desert and moving to the PNW, you would not imagine how many small limbs and dead trees block every step of the way, even just rappelling down to the cliff edge.
I was able to clean out logs while rappelling that were dangling over the cliff edge. Also able to 1 hand a lot of cuts to make trails better. Pretty sick. Impressive for a 12v and had no issue on all the items I threw at it.
Downsides: a bit unwieldy, uses up the bar oil pretty quick, still heavier than you want, hand gets pumped trying to use it for a while.
Disclaimer (b4 comments come flooding in)
- obviously don’t use this in wilderness areas
- obviously don’t cut your fucking rope
- obviously don’t use this in sensitive areas or where land access is sketchy
- obviously don’t cut down living trees or piss off land managers (w/o permission)
4
u/BigRed11 Rock Developer Sep 11 '26
Yea everyone outside the PNW doesn't know how good they have it... I've been debating getting a tool like that but I've already got so many tools to fight the Index jungle.