Stihl Brush Knife Longevity

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dman535

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I dug out my FS85 with the brush blade on it. The blade itself has a lot of scale and the steel retainer cut just let loose on it - and will need to be replaced.
- Does the blade itself look salvageable or does that level of corrosion indicate a cause for concern?
- What do you folks think of this blade vs. the Stihl tri-blade I have been using:
Champion Cutter Brush Blender:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/351769198841

stihl.jpg
 
Someone hasn't been caring for their O P E properly. :innocent:

I have a 1 hp bench grinder with 10" wheels on it. One side of it has a wire wheel on it. Within just a few minutes, that blade would be shiny as new again. After that was done, I'd hit it with a good file and it would be ready for service again.
 
Salvageable? That would classify as "nearly new" around here! :laugh:
Clean with a wire wheel, sharpen, balance and it's good to go for many more hours. If you don't want it to look like junk in the future, just hose it down immediately after use.
 
Angle grinder mounted wire wheel is the way I deal with such a "horrific situation". And yes that would still count for me as problem free part use.

7
 
Clean it up and see how it looks. You be the judge.. The metal looks pitted to me . I myself wouldn't use it even though the edges still look good. The reason I say I myself won't use it is because of the excess rusting. Those blade can break off a tip and then you have a piece of shrapnel flying at you or something else. I know a guy that had that happen to him, got him in the leg. He didn't give me all the details but ever since I heard that I carefully inspect my tri-cut brush blades like the one you pictured. They work great . I am just passing this bit of information about the broken blade as a second different opinion.
 
Ax-man said:
Clean it up and see how it looks. You be the judge.. The metal looks pitted to me . I myself wouldn't use it even though the edges still look god. The reason I say I myself won't use it is because of the excess rusting. Those blade can break off a tip and then you have a piece of shrapnel flying at you or something else. I know a guy that had that happen to him, got him in the leg. He didn't give me all the details but ever since I heard that I carefully inspect my tri-cut brush blades like the one you pictured. They work great . I am just passing this bit of information about the broken blade as a second different opinion.
Click to expand...


Good point and advice! :rock:
 
I agree with Ax-man.

My Husqvarna 345FR spins at just under 9,000 RPM. If you grind on that blade, you have a very good chance of getting it out of balance. That is not good at those rotational speeds.

Even more importantly, blades are cheap - arteries in your legs are expensive! I would hate for you to hit a 2" sapling and send a broken blade tip back at you.

You can probably buy a new (non-OEM) blade for less than your labor costs to clean up the old blade.
 

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