Renegade carbide saw blade /pro's and con

[Ax-man]

I didn't realize so many people asked so many trimmer questions in this section of the site. So here goes.

Anyone tried one of those carbide tipped saw blades for brush and how do you like it. ??

I have been thinking about getting one or two of these blades for my clearing saws. I normally use one of those tri-cut blades and I am very happy with it. In the past I have tried those plain steel toothed saw blades and didn't care for them at all . The tri-cut is much better to me than a saw blade but would like to see if a carbide blade would let me cut bigger diameter stems and multi - stemmed clump type brush like Honey suckle.

I have the right kind of clearing saws and harnesses to handle a blade like that but I'll be honest I take those guards off because they catch and cause more problems when your working in thick stuff.

Safety is kind of a concern but what I really need to know if they dull quick because I like to cut things right down to ground level for future mowing of an area I am planning to cut which is a fence row I did years ago but has grown back and some of this stuff is a little too big for my Bachtold mower and I really don't want to bushhog it till I do another cutting.

So what is the verdict on these blades. Are they as great as some people say they are???

 

[sawfun]

The tri tips I've had did not have carbide in them. I sharpend them much more than they came and they worked ok on our coastal brush, though not as good as a shredder blade.

 

[ironman_gq]

I've been using the Renegade blades for trail busting and trimming for a couple years. In my experience if what you are cutting is smaller than your thumb and/or grassy or a lot of raspberry cane then go with the Tri-Wing/ shredder blade. If it's larger than your thumb up to about 4" the carbide blades can't be beat. A lot of what I cut is tag alder that grows in clumps with a lot of running trucks and a lot of wrist poplar. Wind up the blade and swing away, the blade just blows through anything up to around 2" diameter. Larger than 2" I come at it with the right side of the blade and let it chew through it, usually takes a second or two. We cut a 12' wide trail roughly 300yds long in roughly an hour and a half this weekend through a 4 year old cutting, wrist poplar the whole way roughly 1-2' between stems that were 1-3" diameter.

The shredder type blades do work much better in grass and vine though.

Anything over 4" and I get the chainsaw.

 

[Ax-man]

Thank-you , About how long will a blade last before it needs replacing provide you stay out the dirt as much as possible.

 

[ironman_gq]

I've run the same blade for two years cutting mostly poplar and tag alder. I did run it through a couple barb wire fences when I found a roll grown into a clump of poplar but it didn't do any damage. I'd say I've got around 20-25hrs on it and it's not showing any signs of slowing down. I bought a three pack and keep the other two on hand in case I find a rock one day.

 

[Ax-man]

Again ,Thank-you . I'm going to try one as soon as I get this Shindawai trimmer/ brush cutter fixed. If it works good I'll try it on my Stihl stuff. I noticed one of those blades on a trimmer where I work part time . If I get my hands on it I am going to look at that blade just to check it out but it is buried in among other two cycle stuff that needs fixing.

 

[Ax-man]

My blade came in and it mounted right up to my new to CM/SM 35 Shindawai trimmer brush cutter for a trial run. I chose the 9 inch56 tooth hybrid blade. I wasn't dressed to do any serious brush cutting but just played around a little just see how it would cut on some Honey suckle bushes. I must say it is nice , smooth cutting and quick and got those stems right down to ground level for mowing over. The blade is still new and time will tell if it will hold up to more serious work. So far I am happy.