Clearing saw

[Sideways]

Has anyone ever attempted to convert a weed wacker to a clearing saw?
Or built a homemade clearing saw?

I just leased a piece of hunting property that was timbered 3 or 4 years ago and is thick with small trees that are 3-4inches in diameter.
I want to cut a couple of trails into without going thru with a chainsaw
(to hard on an old man's back)

I tried running my 4 wheeler thru but they don't break and I end up getting stuck sitting on top of them

[nh DRAGON]

I found a bolt on head that had two chain ends on it. I works alright for stuff up to an inch or so. They do make saw blade that look like skill saw blades for them but you need a bigger trimmer then I have to run them.

[PHIL850]

I bought a Beaver blade for my Ryobi Trimmer and used it to cut some small trees.
the Blade is circular with a Chainsaw cutting edge. I am attempting to bring back a field
that is full of small trees, to big to brush hog and not worth anything as far as timber or firewood, in other words, around 3" stuff. I have since bought a used DR Trimmer with a 14 inch beaver blade on it, that I am going to use next spring. It's powered by a 6.5 HP Briggs, and you push it around on two weels. hopefully this will be the back saver i have been looking for. Time will tell. Check out their website to get an idea of how there machine works and then look for a used one on Craigs list / Ebay. Good luck!

Phil C.

[JohninCT]

If trails are what you want, then consider hiring someone with one of these skid steer mulchers. A few hours and you'll have excellent woods trails.

YouTube - Denis Cimaf Skid Steer Forest Mulcher DAF-180

There are a number of guys that operate mulching businesses on the "contruction equipment" forum. Maybe one of them is local to you.

[smiley]

My Dad had one of these David Bradleys with one of these brush and tree saws, plow, discs, cultivators, front mounted reel lawn mower, front mount sickle bar mower and home made snowplow. We used it for many years with good results. I remember trying the brush saw only once and that it did the job but tried to kick sideways. You obviously had to watch for dirt and stones.
Here's a link to the site. David Bradley tractors at work
Smiley

[DJ54]

I put a 5" fine tooth circular blade, from one of those 18V saws, on an old Ryobi string trimmer I wore the string head out on. I did have to make a bushing to adapt it to the trimmer shaft. Works great for cutting honey suckle, and water sprouts. Things too big for a string trimmer. I have cut a few 2 to 3 inchers.., but wouldn't want to do acres of them.

With the momentum of the blade, I only need to run it about half throttle. Works great to trim around the outside of the pasture, trimming the neighbors "stuff", to keep it from climbing up to the electric fence. Would be sweeter to have a 7" blade, but this is all I had around with fine teeth.

I do need to make a new guard for it, preferrably metal now. I broke the plastic one, when the blade grabbed, and sucked it into one of the small trees I was cutting.

Again.., I only run it, no more than half throttle, wear heavy work boots, and my Carrharts.. Hopefully if the bolt breaks, the blade will go another direction.

Don't reckon' it's any worse than the grass blades they make for them.

[forester2]

If you can find it, Gravely used to have one for their 2 wheel tractors. It used the same gear box as the 30" rotary mower and was 30" blade if I remember correctly. It was an ANIMAL!! You can buy the tractors pretty inexpensively these days. If you're patient, you can do a basal spray on these these trees using Garlon. They die pretty quickly. I do thinning and getting rid of undesireable species up to 6" dia. w/ Garlon. Backpack sprayer and deisel for a carrier.

[DanD78]

If you can find an old Bachtold weed mower they had a 24" saw blade that could be put in in place of the mower blade. They were made in central Illinois and were used to mow fence rows and field edges. These are comon at farm sales in this area. The DR field mower has taken the place of these mowers.

Dan

[2manyrocks]

3-4" inch diameter trees are getting fairly large to cut with a trimmer/brushcutter. I guess it could be done with patience. The problem you may have is binding. I have not used the type of blade with chain saw teeth to say much about it.

I had a walk behind string trimmer. It wasn't self propelled, and it was tiresome to push and pull back and forth. Would rather use a plain trimmer myself.

I also have used David Bradleys. Some of them didn't come with reverse gears, and those aren't fun either. Plus I'm not so sure of using a big circular saw blade without any guard.

Gravelys are like tanks, but I'm not sure where you'd find one with the circular saw attachment, and I don't think they have guards on them, either. The problem with using the 30" bush hog would be getting the cutter up on top of the tree to chop it, and a 3-4 inch tree is getting to be a fairly good size tree to cut.

[Renze]

We put a circular saw blade on our weed eater. IT cuts through anything, even trees. But with stuff over 2 inch its just dangerous, for yourself as well as for the wead eater driveshaft. I would just use the chainsaw for 2 to 3 inch stuff.