Brush cutter blades

[kirko]

Hey AnewSawyer,,

I've looked at using that style of helmet,,ie plastic visor on occasion,,ive not gone there yet as im concerned it would get plastered in organic material hampering my vision.Might also be a ***** to keep clean whilst on the job.
With my steel mesh visor on the stihl helmet i can just clean it up with a scrubbing brush.Although i am always amazed how i stihl manage to get crap in my eyes even with visor and sunnys.Keep us posted on it,,i do think as you mentioned it would be good when battling those annoying sappy,itchy plants
Cheers Kirko

 

[ANewSawyer]

I don't think it would be a terrible problem, just wash it off with a bottle of water. But I might be wrong. I was surprised how much gunk I saw on there just from string. We shall see!

 

[kirko]

Yeah , I'm probably a bit lazy with that sort of stuff,,It would end up in the car and the hot aussie sun would bake those nasties on.I imagine it would be ideal for clearing woody weeds though .Let me know if it fogs up
Cheers Kirko

 

[Oregon_Rob]

In my experience the strings throw the most vegetable matter. The blades just throw bigger chunks much harder.☇☇☇

 

[Homelitexl903]

So this post was primarily for discussing the beaver blade. And a few blades mentioned I will try. However it seems most people here have not used the beaver blade. I spoke with a few dealers and sounds like the beaver blade is a PITA to sharpen. My original idea of having one blade with a bunch of chains will not work. The chains (not sure what type of chain it uses) are permanently attached. So to replace a chain you actually have to break it, then respin a rivet possibly a connecting bar. I will go look at one in person. But I don't think this will work as I had planned.

Why hasn't someone designed a round blade similar to a chainsaw bar that comes apart into two sections that a chain can slip on/off with ease...

I think the beaver blade option looks awesome but I would really like someone that knows how to sharpen free hand to deal with it. I think most dealers and shops are designed and equipted for chainsaw chain off the bar. I bought a cheap chainsaw chain filing setup for hand filing with those set ups and gauges or whatever and made my chains slighty sharper then my dad showed me how its done with a quality file free hand and did decent...better than me but i still prefer the dealer to sharpen or new chain if needed. I cut stone with a special blade on a makita circular saw so I think wood blades should do fine on a brush cutter. Just drinkin beer and throwing out ideas.

 

[Homelitexl903]

Hey AnewSawyer,,

I've looked at using that style of helmet,,ie plastic visor on occasion,,ive not gone there yet as im concerned it would get plastered in organic material hampering my vision.Might also be a ***** to keep clean whilst on the job.
With my steel mesh visor on the stihl helmet i can just clean it up with a scrubbing brush.Although i am always amazed how i stihl manage to get crap in my eyes even with visor and sunnys.Keep us posted on it,,i do think as you mentioned it would be good when battling those annoying sappy,itchy plants
Cheers Kirko

Eye proctection is a serious matter. I know first hand. I was cutting massive vines that were strangling nice trees and stopped to let my saw cool down as well as myself and took off goggles and looked up to twist off cut vine and got a vine seed and bark in one of my eyes and tried to deal with it myself for a week because i didnt have insurance and ended up at the E.R. Then eye doctor. I now have a slighty lazy eyelid when im tired and less than perfect vision in that eye. Doctors can replace hearts or organs but not eyes or brains. I always use tight fiting goggles with shatter proof lenses like Wiley X now. Thats what my father was given when fighting in Iraq to help protect from anything from sandstorms to explosives. Also paintball products work well when brushcutting. The face protection with neck protector and anti fog spray work.

 

[ANewSawyer]

Kirko, it just occurred to me that the stuff I left stuck on will be dried next time I pull it out. Oops! Note to self: Clean after each usage! BTW, this is specially treated to be anti-fog and is shatter resistant according to the protector films it ships in. I wear a particulate mask but I might try it without to see if my breath causes fogging. I hope the visor stands up to the chunks thrown by a blade. I have set the mesh vibrating quite a bit with some of the hits I took. Also, I mention it being quite a bit larger than the mesh. I am hoping it stops that annoying habit the Airecut has of hitting me in the throat, hard, with chunks of stuff... BTW, I am still wearing safety glasses underneath so that if something makes it through the visor, my eyes are covered.

I think the beaver blade option looks awesome but I would really like someone that knows how to sharpen free hand to deal with it. I think most dealers and shops are designed and equipted for chainsaw chain off the bar. I bought a cheap chainsaw chain filing setup for hand filing with those set ups and gauges or whatever and made my chains slighty sharper then my dad showed me how its done with a quality file free hand and did decent...better than me but i still prefer the dealer to sharpen or new chain if needed. I cut stone with a special blade on a makita circular saw so I think wood blades should do fine on a brush cutter. Just drinkin beer and throwing out ideas.

Bold my emphasis. You don't mean regular skil saw blades on a weed eater do you? That is a no-no!!! Much to fast RPMS and Skil saw blades aren't designed to take the impacts that a brushcutter saw blade are.

Off topic: I used to wonder what the metal limit stops (blade guard) that most companies sold for use with weedeaters are for. I dawned on my the other day that a limit stop would keep you from taking a saw blade tooth to the leg.

 

[Homelitexl903]

Kirko, it just occurred to me that the stuff I left stuck on will be dried next time I pull it out. Oops! Note to self: Clean after each usage! BTW, this is specially treated to be anti-fog and is shatter resistant according to the protector films it ships in. I wear a particulate mask but I might try it without to see if my breath causes fogging. I hope the visor stands up to the chunks thrown by a blade. I have set the mesh vibrating quite a bit with some of the hits I took. Also, I mention it being quite a bit larger than the mesh. I am hoping it stops that annoying habit the Airecut has of hitting me in the throat, hard, with chunks of stuff... BTW, I am still wearing safety glasses underneath so that if something makes it through the visor, my eyes are covered.




Bold my emphasis. You don't mean regular skil saw blades on a weed eater do you? That is a no-no!!! Much to fast RPMS and Skil saw blades aren't designed to take the impacts that a brushcutter saw blade are.

Off topic: I used to wonder what the metal limit stops (blade guard) that most companies sold for use with weedeaters are for. I dawned on my the other day that a limit stop would keep you from taking a saw blade tooth to the leg.

I meant the brush cutter blades that resemble curcular saw blades. And I wear shin gaurds because I also doubt the thin cheap plastic gaurds can stop flying metal shards.

 

[7sleeper]

In my experience the strings throw the most vegetable matter. The blades just throw bigger chunks much harder.☇☇☇

You haven't used a mulcher blade on the brushcutter yet! That is just in another league at being bombarded.

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[Homeowner]

Try cutting rhubarb with 3-tooth blade, that is equivalent of ectoplasm (Ghostbusters movie thing), loads of gooey stuff all of sudden covers you.

 

[7sleeper]

Wait till you hit some snails or dog leftovers....

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[Homeowner]

Wait till you hit some snails or dog leftovers....

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Good thing I don't have such here, some snails sure, but only about 2cm long ones, not those big ones that you at southern lands have.

No dogs either in my tiny forest or yard.

Wire mesh visor seems to stop quite well most of the stuff, but some dry dirt / stones seem to go past visor and eye glasses sometimes, so I have considered wearing skiing goggles in addition to visor.

 

[ANewSawyer]

Gave the visor a good test today. It passed with flying colors except I forgot to clean it again. Well, the stuff came right off last time. I can't get used to how much more I can see through the visor vs the mesh. The mesh blocks no small amount of light.

 

[Homeowner]

Gave the visor a good test today. It passed with flying colors except I forgot to clean it again. Well, the stuff came right off last time. I can't get used to how much more I can see through the visor vs the mesh. The mesh blocks no small amount of light.

Husky claims 30% loss of light and for their UltraVision visors 20% light loss, so it is quite a bit indeed:
http://www.husqvarna.com/us/accessories/visual-protection/ultravision-safety-visor/574613501/

Haven't seen comparison of different brand visors which would block least amount of light?

 

[ANewSawyer]

It isn't just light. The visor is super clear so much so that I don't feel like I have it on. Homeowner, you would have died today. It is over 90 degrees here today. I was wearing boots, jeans, t-shirt, one of those spray painters suits with A headpiece. I cut the booties off. Then Husky helmet, safety glasses and particulate mask. I was sweating profusely in the shade without the safety gear. I wasn't actually sure that I would be able to work today. I managed to get in about an hour and I was done. My shirt felt like it weighed a couple of pounds extra.

Speaking of safety gear, I do think some shin protectors would be a good idea. I had a circular saw blade lose a tooth on my miter saw and it took a chunk out of the thin metal guard.

Just so this is on topic: One of our fine members here, @chuckwood , pointed me in the direction of a US domestic source for true shredder blades: http://championcutter.com/blades.html I bought mine off Ebay but I want to contact the company about trying there three tooth version.

 

[Homeowner]

It isn't just light. The visor is super clear so much so that I don't feel like I have it on. Homeowner, you would have died today. It is over 90 degrees here today. I was wearing boots, jeans, t-shirt, one of those spray painters suits with A headpiece. I cut the booties off. Then Husky helmet, safety glasses and particulate mask. I was sweating profusely in the shade without the safety gear. I wasn't actually sure that I would be able to work today. I managed to get in about an hour and I was done. My shirt felt like it weighed a couple of pounds extra.

Speaking of safety gear, I do think some shin protectors would be a good idea. I had a circular saw blade lose a tooth on my miter saw and it took a chunk out of the thin metal guard.

Just so this is on topic: One of our fine members here, @chuckwood , pointed me in the direction of a US domestic source for true shredder blades: http://championcutter.com/blades.html I bought mine off Ebay but I want to contact the company about trying there three tooth version.

I think that those clear visors block only 1-2% of light at most, so it is huge improvement over mesh visor.

We had yesterday over 80 degrees and I slept most of the day indoors, only dared to go outdoors at night when it was 60 degrees, can't imagine how anyone could do anything at 90 degrees, sweat pools into eyes at those temps without doing anything!


My cheap trimmer came with set of blades, one was triangular one, it lasted few minutes when one of 3 blades turned 90 degrees pointing toward the sky, ate trough thin metal guard quite well.

Those blades were made from old car fenders, or at least felt like such when I bended it straight by hand.
Proper three tooth versions are probably much thicker, so that hitting bit thicker brush is not going to bend them?

Good thing that I'm still bleeding, might be cooler weather when this bleeding stops and then might get one of those better three tooth blades for weeding and light brush cutting.

 

[7sleeper]

Normal thickness starts at 3mm. If I remember correctly my japanese versions were out of sks 5 steel.

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