Hand held brush/thisle cutter

[Rustyiron]

Figuring that the chop saw blade was fairly hard, I used a 1" die in the iron worker and "eye balled" the center and punched it out. My trimmer is an old FS-90 that also is about 30 years old (time fly's) and the blades that came with it were no where near 10". The chop saw blade was old and not good enough for trim work anymore and it was really just an experiment, that worked. The big blade sit's below the plastic guarding so clearance was not a problem and the blade develops a decent bit of inertia when wound up and will damnear spin you in circles on bigger stems.:laughing:
I've got a pretty red Freud 60 tooth waiting in the wings :thumbsup:

 

[Oldpath05]

I can tell a few things after a little use, first the neg. The harness waist buckle is no good, spent 1/2 hr trying to keep it looped around my waist, that will be changed to a better buckle of some sort, something thats adjustable quick and holds. But the buckle that hooks on the cutter is good and quick.

One thing I also notice is this cutter is designed for people are 5'-8" to 6' tall. At 5'-5" I got this thing buckled up around my armpit, I'll try sliding the handle bar and center hitch down a couple inches see what happens, if that doesn't work out, go to plan B. The book says length is 70.8" dont know what they measure from but I measured 67" from center of Blade Housing to the end of starter housing. But the balancing hitch point measurement is what I think is important, from BH to hitch point, I measure 51-1/4", for my height I think that should be 6" shorter and still balance, the only way I can do that is add weight near the BH.

Couple positive things, it starts great, not that loud, the blade is louder than the motor when cutting wooded brush. The handlebar can be moved easy for transport. It has 21 ounce fuel tank, nice. 25 ccs is plenty for 1 brush, but it will cut 3" with a few swipes.

 

[Wagtail]

You need something that will run a blade, and not a grass blade. Pick one of these (or an equivalent model of a different brand):

STIHL Brush Cutters - Professional/Homeowner Use Brushcutters and Clearing Saws | STIHL USA

You definitely need the bicycle bars on a brush cutter due to the torque of the blade.

Agree with Pappy. I have a Stihl, straight shaft, 'bicycle' handles with a harness that buckles across my chest. It came with an interchangeable 3-point solid blade, which I need due to the proliferation of (bloody ) bracken.

The solid 3-point blade works great! (DEATH to Bracken!)

The chest-harness and 'bicycle' handles practically eliminate hand-numbing & debilitating vibration.

As a disclaimer, I bought a Stihl because my one-and-only local 'mower' shop only stocks them; no other reputable brands available in town & it's a 2 hour trip into the "Big Smoke".

 

[whitexc]

Anyone try these....?

NEW 8" BRUSH CUTTER TRIMMER BLADE 22 TOOTH 1" or 2mm arbor FREE SHIPPING

 

[Rustyiron]

After using the carbide chop saw blade, I'd call that a notch or edge, not a tooth. It's cheap enough to try though.:confused3:

 

[Oldpath05]

Anyone try these....?

NEW 8" BRUSH CUTTER TRIMMER BLADE 22 TOOTH 1" or 2mm arbor FREE SHIPPING

I saw that one, probably a Chinese knock off. The Echo brand blade is the one I bought with my brush cutter, it says made in Japan, guess the Japanese workers get paid a lot more than the Chinese workers, or maybe when the name Echo is on the blade it cost more and I thought Echo was a cheap brand, not after seeing the price on these brush cutter blades.

Looking at my brush cutter today I noticed it said (Assembled in the USA), didn't say where the parts came from, probably Japan, wonder if it's ethical or politically correct to put a Chinese blade on a Japanese brush cutter, from a distance they both look the same to me.