Brush Cutter Advice

[pdqdl]

Machine.
Brushcutter by hand is torturous

Some slopes are too damn steep, access to machines is impossible. Some small jobs just aren't worth the transportation costs to bring in a machine.

Otherwise. YES!
Brushcutting by hand is pretty tortuous, that's why my customers pay me, instead of doing it themselves.

 

[ATH]

Do you take the guard off for a 12" blade or put on a bigger guard?

 

[WearTheChaps]

Are there any how videos on sharpening the brush saw/clearing saw blades. I cannot find one that actually shows where
to put the file. Any advice would be most appreciated.

The Husqvarna filing and setting tool is very easy to use. I don't see why its not compatible with any brand.

 

[pdqdl]

Do you take the guard off for a 12" blade or put on a bigger guard?

All the guards gotta go. They just get hung up snagging into the vegetation you just cut off.

We're talking about a foray into the wild and crazy. Wood chips flying everywhere. Safety glasses underneath your forestry helmet is recommended. Big, WIDE swings, raising your brush cutter up in the air to at least 4 feet high, so as to get completely detached from the stuff you just cut off. I forbid my guys to be within 25 feet of each other.

We go one step further: we mount up fixed-length trimmer heads with .155 string, right below the steel blade. Then you swing each stroke with the leading edge of the steel blade lower than the height of the narrow trimmer head beneath it.* In this fashion, we can shell out the woody brush 3/4" or bigger, and then use the heavy trimmer line to quickly take out the weeds. It is essential to lower the leading edge with this arrangement, otherwise the trimmer line bangs into the stump you just created, and you get an incomplete swing. If you are just in deep tall weeds, nothing beats the .155 string, except perhaps the .170 or thicker, when you can find it.

No grass escapes and no saplings get left behind. I routinely cut down 4" to 6" trees by hacking them down. No, I'll not show you my stump cut pictures, 'cause they are not pretty.

By the way: the heavy trimmer line is great for stripping vegetation off of the chain link fences. Drop the RPMS to about 1/2 throttle, and it does a great job without eating up all your string. Angle the head to line up with the hollow channels in the fence fabric for best results.

Oh shucks! You cannot angle your cutting head enough to use these tricks when you have the bicycle bars mounted up. These techniques only work with loop handle brush cutters.



*When swinging to the left, lower the left edge. When swinging to the right, be sure to reverse your position so that the right edge is lowest. Some guys cannot manage that, so they only strike brush swinging to the left or to the right, according to their preference.

 

[pdqdl]

Thanks @pdqdl ....I'll try a cross blade. Normally not working in really rocky soil - but we get somewhere between a half and full day with the stock blade on the Husqvarna.

When I catch my guys sharpening a cross blade, I tell them not to bother. I grab a hammer, go over to the big vise/anvil, and I hammer out the bends. Then I tell 'em to bolt it up and go to work with it.

 

[Franny K]

We go one step further: we mount up fixed-length trimmer heads with .155 string, right below the steel blade. Then you swing each stroke with the leading edge of the steel blade lower than the height of the narrow trimmer head beneath it.* In this fashion, we can shell out the woody brush 3/4" or bigger, and then use the heavy trimmer line to quickly take out the weeds. It is essential to lower the leading edge with this arrangement, otherwise the trimmer line bangs into the stump you just created, and you get an incomplete swing. If you are just in deep tall weeds, nothing beats the .155 string, except perhaps the .170 or thicker, when you can find it.

You certainly add some good content on these string trimmer brush cutter devices. I am with ath on falling while strapped in discussion. Just for the string and not doubling up with a blade 0.105" is about the sensible limit to the size machine to use without a harness. One can just use a strap, but they don't have that sheet thing to protect your leg from rubbing. How many cc machine for what I quoted?

I know what you mean by the fixed length string holder and quick detach feature of certain harnesses. the Honda bike handle 35cc come with these features. The quick release is just extra vertical mass for their device and one would have to drill out the fixed length string holes I would think to go beyond 0.130. Maybe you are talking real short strings but those big string are for walk behind maybe even self propelled devices that have more hp to overcome air resistance.

edit later: not all harness are the same. The ones that attach at the chest and also another clasp thing more at the belt level will do a better job of keeping the danger part away in a fall or stumble situation.

 

[pdqdl]

I am with ath on falling while strapped in discussion.

How many times have you fallen down a hill while anchored to a running machine? You can toss the loop handle machines away from you as quickly as you begin to fall. When you are strapped into it, there is no escaping it.

Loop handle brush cutters are not for everyone. I'll take my biggest, heaviest brush cutter and outrun anyone with a bicycle-bar equipped brush cutter, and I won't be as exhausted either. Some folks are happy using the slower, more careful approach with a dangerous machine, and I don't fault them for it.

 

[pdqdl]

one would have to drill out the fixed length string holes I would think to go beyond 0.130.

Not while using the Oregon 55-191 manual-feed head. Unfortunately, it has been discontinued. This claims to be a replacement, but it also states that it is limited to the .130 diameter string.

https://lawnreplacementparts.com/pr...immer-head-nhc-207-2696-oregon-55-130-gb-gb21​

Maybe you are talking real short strings but those big string

Nope. I like them a bit bigger diameter than the steel disk, but they do tend to be cut down to the same length as the cutter disk. At which point they work very well together. Yes! You need a brush-cutter sized engine if you are going to run the real heavy string very long.

...are for walk behind maybe even self propelled devices that have more hp to overcome air resistance.

Nope. I've never used one of the "roll along the earth" type of string trimmers. That seems like a lot of work.

 

[Franny K]

A)How many times have you fallen down a hill while anchored to a running machine? You can toss the loop handle machines away from you as quickly as you begin to fall. When you are strapped into it, there is no escaping it.

B) Loop handle brush cutters are not for everyone. I'll take my biggest, heaviest brush cutter and outrun anyone with a bicycle-bar equipped brush cutter, and I won't be as exhausted either. Some folks are happy using the slower, more careful approach with a dangerous machine, and I don't fault them for it.

A) Never Think stumble forward scenario. The loop handle variety generally have an eyelet to use a strap. You are doing counter to the owners/operators manual.

The guy that bumped this thread from a 1 year slumber was I presume asking about sharpening of forestry clearing saw type blade.

B) If it isn't bicycle-bar equipped, is it really a brushcutter? Make and model? As far as outrun as in distance of fence line on the fuel it holds probably not. You skipped over the how many cc machine and just put my heaviest. My heaviest is a Stihl ht250 pole saw with the gearbox from a fs250 and a hoop handle. The vibration is excessive even though it has some sort of rubber mounting. The weight too that is 40cc.

 

[pdqdl]

You are doing counter to the owners/operators manual.

Yep. I one-hand 200-T chainsaws sometimes, too. I've been known to speed down the highway, and I don't always wear the PPE recommended by the manufacturer, either. I even cut overhead with chainsaws almost indiscriminately, and I've been known to cut from a ladder, too.

 

[Franny K]

Not while using the Oregon 55-191 manual-feed head. Unfortunately, it has been discontinued. This claims to be a replacement, but it also states that it is limited to the .130 diameter string.
https://lawnreplacementparts.com/pr...immer-head-nhc-207-2696-oregon-55-130-gb-gb21

Again good content. you at first stated fixed length string and the metal device you linked to is that not manual feed head. That isn't what I was familiar with which is this https://www.jackssmallengines.com/j...5698?msclkid=1ac0b3a4f6a91029ae1dd6c7b6023359
Not as good a picture as I would like to have found and is thinner than manual or bump feed devices. Guy in Palmer Mass at Haley's said that is what the highway dept uses put a bunch of strings in their rear pocket. There are kind of jaws in it and the strings pull through in one direction. Helps to carry a small pair of pilers as well as the spare strings.

 

[pdqdl]

If it isn't bicycle-bar equipped, is it really a brushcutter?

I double up steel blade + trimmer head with any straight shaft trimmer I own. The steel blade doesn't use a lot of horsepower or torque the way I use them. Obviously, a more powerful machine can do a lot more damage than a light trimmer.
If you are cutting down 3" saplings with a 23cc engine, does that not make it a brush cutter?

Make and model?

Most of my machines are made by Maruyama, and I figure you guys are not familiar with them. Anything from an ML23-S (23cc) to their B42L, which is slightly larger displacement than the largest Stihl brush cutter you can buy.

As far as outrun as in distance of fence line on the fuel it holds probably not. You skipped over the how many cc machine and just put my heaviest.

The cost of fuel running in a trimmer is tiny compared to the cost per hour of running the employee holding it. I don't recall that I have ever noticed any single brand or model of trimmer to be more noticeably efficient with fuel than any other, except that the bigger machines use more fuel per hour than the smaller ones. They cut more, too, assuming that you are working them at 100%.

I'll give you a scenario that you may be able to understand. I have a contract for weed abatement with the city. They give me a list of perhaps a hundred properties that are in code violation for not mowing the grass. We go there with one truckload of equipment, we must cut the property. Some properties will be 2k sq.feet, others might be 60K, where "K" is 1,000 square feet. We might have to cut a large yard filled with 6-foot tall horseweeds, surrounded by a fence with only a 28-inch wide gate, or we might get a 3k lot that has 18-inch tall grass with easy access.

We don't know what we are getting into on any given property, but we get paid by the "K", and the less time we spend on any job determines whether we make money or lose it. No one checks or cares about what equipment is being used, only that we must cut it, and bring the property back into compliance with city code.

That means that if you cut all the weeds down, but they are still standing 3' tall while sitting on their sides, you haven't earned your money yet. Under these conditions, you learn how to get it done the most expedient way, and you don't bother with worrying about whether the owner's manual says you can do it or not, either.

 

[pdqdl]

the metal device you linked to is that not manual feed head. That isn't what I was familiar with which is this https://www.jackssmallengines.com/j...5698?msclkid=1ac0b3a4f6a91029ae1dd6c7b6023359

I can assure you that the link I posted is for a manual feed head.
You take your fingers and manually thread in a section of trimmer line. I don't recall stating "fixed length". Even if I did, that still implies that you load a chunk of string cut to length, which is exactly what we must do with that model of trimmer head. You walk around with a pocket full of 18" long chunks of string, and you manually feed them through the holes when you wore the last one out.

There are many styles of manually fed trimmer heads. I liked the cast aluminum heads the most because they could take slamming into rocks, tree stumps, and curb lines better than any others I could find. That, and they could load the real heavy line we preferred, usually .155" diameter.

 

[pdqdl]

Additional note: the most common reason that you wear out the timmer line is because of the violent bending that occurs when the trimmer head strikes a hard object. The manually fed aluminum heads have a softer fold for the trimmer line to follow, and don't snap off the string nearly as often as the units with "eyelets". These eyelets focus all the energy of the rapidly spinning head onto one tiny spot of brass impregnated into a chunk of plastic. Meltdown is much more frequent than you can live with, and you look for a different solution.

Before too long, you discover that the wages you are paying to your staff to re-load the wasteful auto-feed heads dwarf the fuel expense of running the crew. You begin to discover that your biggest expense of every job is the time you spend stringing line into a machine that isn't running any longer.

 

[pdqdl]

Not as good a picture as I would like to have found and is thinner than manual or bump feed devices.

Yes, lower profile helps to avoid all the rocks, bottles and stumps. You failed to include the automatic feed string heads on your list of "types", which use centrifugal force to automatically feed out more string. No bumping, no manual turning nor installing, they keep the string flowing. They have a number of drawbacks, however, and have just about disappeared from the market.

Guy in Palmer Mass at Haley's said that is what the highway dept uses put a bunch of strings in their rear pocket. There are kind of jaws in it and the strings pull through in one direction. Helps to carry a small pair of pilers as well as the spare strings.

The "jaws" type of manual feed trimmer head are not very well suited for the rough cutting I described. Those are for idiots that cannot figure out how to string the other kinds of trimmer heads. Unfortunately, they are not without a host of problems, most of which take more time to fix than stringing the line through 4 holes in an aluminum "no moving parts" trimmer head.

 

[Franny K]

Zoning is considered a police power at least that is what they teach in the real estate class. You use the word idiot above yet have discussed elsewhere about the strings breaking off at the grommet. Maybe the guys at the highway dept near Palmer Ma have never been exposed to those 4 hole devices to give them a fair chance. We seem to have a disconnect about what is manual and what is fixed length though you forgot you used that term or I had a memory of prior post lapse. I don't have one close to take a picture of the jaw type that I linked at Jacks above which I don't consider manual feed. I may have the industry standards incorrect.

Manual feed string trimmer head, brush blender blade and some 0.105" Stihl line I liked enough to buy a second 3 pound spool. The price went up quite noticeably like half again and the cross section is not exactly the same. The bump feed heads at least the Husky 35 type shear off the insides beyond 35cc or so.

 

[pdqdl]

You use the word idiot above yet

I'm sorry. While that reads as an assault against anyone using those units, I intended to refer to the unqualified employees who might get properly trained, but still don't understand how they work, and fail through abuse to keep them working.

It was not my intention to imply that anyone using them is an idiot. Used carefully, and not overworked as harshly as we do at my business, they are handy and convenient to use.

 

[pdqdl]

We seem to have a disconnect about what is manual and what is fixed length

Yes, we do. I can iron that out pretty quickly.
There are 3 kinds of trimmer heads. There may be many subsets or divisions within any single heading.

• Automatic heads. These sense the length of the string in use by various means, and release more string as needed, almost completely independent of the operator's control.
• "Bump" heads: these will dispense more string as needed when the operator bumps them on the ground.
• Manual heads: These require that the operator turn his machine down, and then use their hands to manually change the length of the string.

Now I suspect that what you are calling a "fixed length" trimmer head is a very simple head that requires the insertion of a new piece of string when the previous one has been worn out. I believe that you also mean that a "manual" trimmer head would be the kind you physically loosen, then unroll more line to the length preferred, then resecured to prevent further release of trimmer line.
In my parlance, both of the aforementioned are "manual" heads.

Do we have clarity now?

 

[Franny K]

Do we have clarity now?

Basically yes, the one I pictured is designed so you pull out on the orange ring and rotate it to advance more line. Only really need to loosen or completely unscrew it if grass type stuff is wedged which can happen.

My guess is the automatic feed ones go with a guard that has a cutter built in.

 

[pdqdl]

Yes, but it is not necessary. The longer string slows down the engine, and it doesn't feed any more out.