What and when was your first experience of using Husqvarna products?
My first experience of the Husqvarna brand was when I was 4/5 years old. Mum and dad have a picture of me wearing dads old forestry helmet which we still have in the work shop, dated 1997. My dad used to work for a Husqvarna dealer and do a bit of gardening/landscaping which he still does. I remember one of his customers had an old rancher 61 white top which had died so dad had taken the chain off it and let me play with it pretending I was cutting down trees etc.
I have grown up around Husqvarna equipment. When I was old enough to go out to work with my dad around he bought me my first Husqvarna, it was the 125ldx spilt shaft system and it came with a strimmer head.
I worked, saved and bought myself the pole saw, long reach hedge cutter, short reach hedge cutter and the lawn edger, which is still in use today. My very first chainsaw I brought brand new when I turned 16. This was a Husqvarna 236 with a 14” bar, I loved that little saw and I remember my first job with it; I had to cut down two little apple trees. It was amazing and a little bit scary to use one for the first time after watching dad and other people use them, and of course reading your ‘how to use a chainsaw’ book which I have had for years.
Are you a professional user or do you use products at home?
I am now a professional user after three years of training to become an arborist at Morton Morel College and doing all my tickets. We now use Husqvarna products every day - everything has to be husky!
‘Husky’ actually used to be my nickname at college because all my PPE was Husqvarna. I had the technical boots, technical type c chain saw trousers, technical jacket and even my climbing helmet was Husqvarna with the radio earmuffs of course.
What is your favourite product and why?
Now that’s a very hard question - I am not sure really as they are all brilliant machines. It’s a toss-up between the Husqvarna battery top handle T536Li XP® or my custom built 560 XP®. But I think I am going to have to go with my battery kit.
I made the choice to go cordless back in 2016 when I bought my T536Li XP®, 120i, QC330 and two BLi150 batteries. I was that impressed I ordered the 115iHD4, 536LiHE3, 536LiRX and another battery and the battery box. They’re truly amazing tools, low noise, low vibrations, no fuel to mess around with and very light compared to the petrol ones. If I can I will use the battery ones over petrol any time but unfortunately there comes a time when you need that extra power so the petrol saws come out to play.
What is next on your list to get?
Long list ha-ha. I really want a 572 XP® and I’ve been looking at it for a while now. I’m definitely going to get one. I would love a 3120 XP®… my biggest saw at the moment is a 390 XP® which I use for felling big trees and on my chainsaw mill.
Why do you love Husqvarna and its products?
Why wouldn’t you? The colour, the logo, the machines. I have used other brands, but nothing compares to a Husqvarna - absolutely the best in the world, I would never buy anything else.
Do you have any stories/anecdotes relating to Husqvarna and our products?
Husqvarna have helped me through my years of growing up. Me helping dad in the workshop playing with machines, to leaving high school with my Husqvarna back pack. Then off to college with all my husky gear on. Coming straight out of college and going self-employed, setting up my tree surgery company called Ash Tree Care and using all Husqvarna equipment.
Husqvarna has helped me earn my wages and pay the bills to support my family; even my fiancé has her own pair of technical type c trousers and helmet when she comes and helps at work. When our little boy Oliver was first born, my auntie made him some little Husqvarna boots. He’s now 22 months old and is just as mad about Husqvarna as I am - he loves his little toy chainsaw and hedge trimmer.
If you could ask Husqvarna to invent a new product to tackle a task you encounter daily/weekly that would make your life easier, what would it be?
There’s one product they used to make but they don’t any more. It was the Husqvarna 272s mini stump grinder. I have a larger machine and I had a few jobs in which we simply couldn’t get the big one to the location, such as up steps or over walls. No one seems to make one small enough so it got me thinking, “I need a small machine”.
As a professional user, what qualifications do you hold?
I hold: Level one in horticulture, Level one in agriculture, Level two in forestry and arboriculture, Level three extended diploma in forestry and arboriculture, Cs 30, Cs 31, Cs 32, Cs38, Cs39, Stump grinder ticket, chipper ticket, Digger ticket, trailer ticket and even my pat testing ticket.
A huge thank you to Husqvarna Hero Jacob for answering our questions, Ash Tree Care’s website is www.ashtreecare.info. If you fancy yourself as our next Husqvarna Hero, why not share your story with us on social media?
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