In praise of the Air Knife.

Hi. Chardin here. I wanted to share a bit about my favorite tool, the Supersonic Air Knife®. (No, this is not a paid endorsement; this is complete adoration.)

Around 2016, while I was focusing on removals and pruning with Smart Feller Tree Works, arborists TJ Dutton and Mark Hoenigman introduced me to this very noisy powerful tool for soil work. The tool “knifes” the ground by sending puffs of compressed air into the soil. Soil can be moved, decompacted, and roots exposed with minimal impact. Take a gander (please note we’ve muted this video; Air Knife is VERY EXPRESSIVE):

The Air Knife wasn’t designed with trees in mind, but for excavating close to underground utilities. Once I started using it, the thrill of big cranes and climbing waned. I got really into what I could do with the Air Knife to improve the soil. Today I use it to regrade, decompact soil, plant, transplant, and excavate root collars. I use it to dig trenches for utilities and drain lines, too.

If I could brush my teeth with it, I would.

After years of being a climbing arborist, I’m on the ground. Instead of cutting limbs and moving logs with cranes and skid steers, I push wheelbarrows of mulch and soil. 

Goodbye glamour. Hello, tree health.