Brush cutter vs. "trimmer" converted to cutting brush?

[zuren]

I have an acre or 2 that is overrun with buckthorn, wild grapes, raspberries, multi-floral rose, and other brushy growth. I already have a Stihl FS90R trimmer where I have been swapping out a blade for the string head but when I only have a short time to work in an area, I don't want to spend half of it swapping the heads back and forth. Plus, I only have the loop handle on that trimmer which is not recommended with blades. I'm considering buying a dedicated brush cutter with bicycle bars but I'm choking on some of the prices; Stihls are pushing $1000+ and Husqvarna is just shy of $800 (looking at the 345FR).

Are there units you would recommend that don't break the bank? Husqvarna has "brush cutters" and "forestry clearing saws"; not sure what the difference is.

I'm also wondering if something like my trimmer (maybe step up to a Stihl FS130) with bicycle bars and the blade I already have would work well, or is that not advised? If I could use one of the more power Stihl trimmers as a brush cutter, I would at least have some parts redundancy with the trimmer I already own and the initial buy-in is less than the brush cutters.

Thanks!

 

[GrizG]

I had to make a similar decision a year or so ago... I faced about a 1/4 acre area at my family's property but literally miles of new rail trail development on a rail corridor that was abandoned 60 years ago. I ended up going with the FS130 and have the guards and heads for string, tri-blade and saw blades; no wrap handle or double harness. The deciding factor for me was that after the initial clearing I wouldn't need more than the string and maybe the tri-blade. This as commercial duty lawn mowers will be used on grass on the rail trail in the future and the family property will be mowed also.

If your project is essentially a one shot deal this approach might work for you too, the FS130 weighs the same as your current machine while offering about 50% more power. On the other hand, even the smallest Stihl brush cutter weighs significantly more... about 50% more for about a 20% gain in power over the FS130.

Understanding the dynamics of kick-back, wearing PPE, and by using care I've had nothing resembling a close call. Stihl has the same trimmer with a handlebar but for "around the house" use it is not practical as it is less maneuverable and bulkier with the handlebar.

Your mileage may vary...

 

[Jim Timber]

Find a rental place that has a DR brush mower to knock it all back, then keep up with the regen using brush killer on the exposed stumps.

I have the Echo 410u with handlebars and it's great for brush up to around 1.5", and takes being used hard every time I run it. That wasn't cheap either at around $600. String trimmers won't hold up, even if they're straight shaft models. It puts a lot of side impact into the shaft when you're pushing the cutter into the wood, and it's a high torque load on the gearbox as well.

 

[GrizG]

Find a rental place that has a DR brush mower to knock it all back, then keep up with the regen using brush killer on the exposed stumps.

I have the Echo 410u with handlebars and it's great for brush up to around 1.5", and takes being used hard every time I run it. That wasn't cheap either at around $600. String trimmers won't hold up, even if they're straight shaft models. It puts a lot of side impact into the shaft when you're pushing the cutter into the wood, and it's a high torque load on the gearbox as well.

The DR brush mowers work great on brush on the ground but anything in the form of a climbing vine and they aren't so good based on what I've seen of them in action.

I just got back from about two hours of cutting brush with a saw blade cutter on my FS130R. Half the time I was cutting above waist high. This as I was working on the fringe between the beaten down part of a rail trail and the surrounding brush/woods and needed to poke holes into the edge to gain access to the trunks near the ground. The vines were fun too... often cutting overhead to get them free of the cut brush.

If you use the edge of the blade guard as designed to brace the wood, and let the (sharp) blade do the cutting, I don't get any indication that it is putting undue strain on the machine. Perhaps the handlebar encourages/allows one to push harder than the blade is capable of cutting?

 

[Jim Timber]

The technique as I was shown is to rev to full RPM and then swing the cutter into the stem in one smooth motion. If your blade is sharp and you're not cutting beyond the machine's capacity, the stem just falls over without slowing the blade down.

The guard is not a cutting rest - that's a great way to jam a stem in your head and roast your clutch.

 

[GrizG]

The technique as I was shown is to rev to full RPM and then swing the cutter into the stem in one smooth motion. If your blade is sharp and you're not cutting beyond the machine's capacity, the stem just falls over without slowing the blade down.

The guard is not a cutting rest - that's a great way to jam a stem in your head and roast your clutch.

Our guards must be much different as, by design, the one on mine is intended to support the stem as you move the blade through it.

I agree with the full throttle thing... all these types of tools should be run full throttle.

 

[Jim Timber]

Got a pic? Or better yet, an owners manual which says to do that.

 

[GrizG]

Got a pic? Or better yet, an owners manual which says to do that.

Bottom of Page 14 onto 15 https://www.stihlusa.com/WebContent...ls/STIHL-FS-130-Owners-Instruction-Manual.pdf

The process is laid out in more of a narrative form at http://homeguides.sfgate.com/use-stihl-cutting-blade-82332.html

 

[Jim Timber]

I'm surprised they condone that, but whatever.

 

[GrizG]

I'm surprised they condone that, but whatever.

It actually makes it easier to cut the heavier woody stuff... for the smaller woody, reedy and cane brush I do it the way you described... a sweeping motion. A lot of what I cut is woody saplings and thick wild grape vines. When I cut woody stuff 3/4"-2" (yeah I stretch it at times) using the guard keeps the blade steady so it doesn't bind. I do it as standard practice on the heavier brush now as I found that binding definitely strains the machine!

 

[Jim Timber]

The problem is if you're in the lighter stems and you partially sever one causing it to fall over, the blade's rotation will pull it into the space between the guard and the blade and jam it up. This is hard on the clutch, but it's also hard on the gearbox as it puts lateral force with the added injury of the leverage of the radius of the blade working against the arbor and whatever's holding the bevel gears.

As a manufacturer who has to honor warranty claims from broken aluminum gearbox housings on the cutter head - I would not encourage behavior which potentially places undue strain on said components.

Aside from that, I don't think it's any easier. I think cutting on the right side is a bit tricky for new operators because of the tendency to "buck", but I don't think it's hard to hold the blade in an orientation to the wood when it's pulling away from you as on the left side. There's just no need to involve the guard and I don't think it's a better method even when you don't factor in potential damage to the unit.

But that's just me, and I'm not on the hook for broken gear heads.

 

[BC WetCoast]

When I've had to do brush clearing for non-woody type material, usually blackberry for us, I have found a hedge trimmer works best and fastest. Easy to work over your head and down low. Then come back with a brush saw for the wood material.

 

[GrizG]

When I've had to do brush clearing for non-woody type material, usually blackberry for us, I have found a hedge trimmer works best and fastest. Easy to work over your head and down low. Then come back with a brush saw for the wood material.

That is a good way to go... A couple of my associates use the hedge trimmer attachment on a Stihil KombiSystem to give the sides of the rail trail a "hair cut." That is for maintenance purposes. What I am working on is development of another segment. As such I'm encountering mostly woody brush ranging up to and including trees. At this point I'm getting rid of the brush so I can safely take down trees with chainsaws... After 60 years of non-railroad use there are sizeable trees growing on the R.O.W. so I've been using my MS461 at least as often as my MS271.

 

[GrizG]

The problem is if you're in the lighter stems and you partially sever one causing it to fall over, the blade's rotation will pull it into the space between the guard and the blade and jam it up. This is hard on the clutch, but it's also hard on the gearbox as it puts lateral force with the added injury of the leverage of the radius of the blade working against the arbor and whatever's holding the bevel gears.

I haven't had a problem with anything getting caught between the blade and guard. There is not much of a gap between them. I'll go back to what I stated previously that there must be design differences between our guards.

As a manufacturer who has to honor warranty claims from broken aluminum gearbox housings on the cutter head - I would not encourage behavior which potentially places undue strain on said components.

I guess Stihl has confidence in their products!

Aside from that, I don't think it's any easier. I think cutting on the right side is a bit tricky for new operators because of the tendency to "buck", but I don't think it's hard to hold the blade in an orientation to the wood when it's pulling away from you as on the left side. There's just no need to involve the guard and I don't think it's a better method even when you don't factor in potential damage to the unit.

For small stuff it's no problem to work off the left or right side with my machine. For the larger woody stuff that I'm dealing with it is easier to work off the left side and use the guard to steady the cut.

We obviously cannot ignore the fact that "brush" is different in different locations in terms of its type and size so our experiences likely vary. For example, a mile and a half away on the same railroad corridor much of the "brush" I cut was 2" or more in diameter with a lot of vines and thorns mixed in. I did a lot of the initial clearing with a brush axe and ditch bank blade before moving on to the chainsaw for the big stuff. The brush at my family's property was more grassy and reedy in nature and the tri-blade was fine there. The 33 trees came down via chainsaws...

 

[Jim Timber]

"Brush" on my place includes 1.25" hop hornbeam aka: ironwood, and two varieties of oak, and two of maple. I have to sharpen my blade more than once a day if I'm doing any considerable volume. I'm thinking about trying a carbide tipped blade to see how they do.

A Stihl straight shaft is what I had problems with. My Echo doesn't get bound up unless I'm swinging into already cut heavy grass with the brush blade, then it'll wrap itself up but is easily cleared.

For serious brush clearing I have a root grapple and just rip out the whole tree. There's no stump sprouts that way.

 

[GrizG]

"Brush" on my place includes 1.25" hop hornbeam aka: ironwood, and two varieties of oak, and two of maple. I have to sharpen my blade more than once a day if I'm doing any considerable volume. I'm thinking about trying a carbide tipped blade to see how they do.

I'll have to take some photos of what I'm working on these days on the rail trail. I just looked and I have no general photos of the brush. Rather I have detail photos of things that need attention like approaches to bridges, washouts, culverts, new signs, etc. That said, the brush I'm working in is MUCH denser... You cannot walk into it without cutting your way in. I stopped felling trees in the segment I'm working on now as the brush is too thick to work safely. There are too many kick back opportunities due to the density and a chainsaw is not the best tool for clearing brush under those conditions. Once the brush is cut and I get a crew of volunteers to remove it I'll go back with the chainsaw.

 

[ironman_gq]

A dedicated brush cutter or clearing saw is designed to do this work all day everyday. The gearbox, shaft, clutch, engine and handles are quite a bit more robust than a trimmer/burshcutter. For most people a large bike handled trimmer with a solid driveshaft and the appropriate guards and harness is more than adequate as a brushcutter. I do recommend having a carbide blade and a tri-wing on hand for clearing. The carbide handles the woody stuff and doesn't need to be sharpened, the tri-wing works very well for the rasberry, grass and other similar non-woody stuff that tends to choke a blade.

 

[GrizG]

This is the kind of brush with which I'm dealing. To get to the stump area of the brush I have to punch a hole in from the single track trail. Often times the stump is 4-8 feet away from the single track trail... As I cut the brush I lay it behind me so I have room to work and so I can make sure I've cut everything before moving forward. What is shown in the photo is the face that I'm working -- the trail is to the left.

Once this project is done the corridor will be mowed regularly to about 12 feet wide... fortunately getting to that point is a one time deal! There is only about 1/4 mile of this work left and then about 30 dead trees to be taken down. I was there for a while today and found that another dead tree fell on the trail... They've been falling faster than I can get to them!

 

[Jim Timber]

Too bad you can't get a root grapple in there. My tractor would rip all that out easy.

 

[GrizG]

Too bad you can't get a root grapple in there. My tractor would rip all that out easy.

In the long run this rail trail segment will be paved and heavy equipment will be used. For the next couple of years however we need to make it accessible and safe to connect the well used segments on either side. That is my favorite segment as the variety of wildlife I have encountered there is amazing... everything from small mammals like rabbits and squirrels up to whitetail and bear. Birds range from hummingbirds to bald eagles. In the water along the sides there are hundreds of turtles in three varieties... plus beaver, muskrat, green heron, bass, carp, etc. With the heavy brush many people (women in particular) will not use that segment... The falling trees are a safety hazard for sure... unpredictable! BTW, I don't mention the bears and coyotes to many...