blade on a string trimmer

[stayalert]

I was at a community event last Sunday sprucing up a cool old school house and property....One of the gals brought a really nice stihl trimmer with a balde on it....this blade has about 8 or ten teeth and appeared to be working very well.....Other blades I've seen had many many small teeth and one tool I used about 30 years ago had three teeth.....Whats the conventional wistom on blades for trimmers? I've got a beuty little shindiawa string trmmmer that I havn't p[ut the blade on yet.....Was thinkijng fewer teeth would be a whole lot easier to sharpen.....Whaddaya say?
Rob "stayalert" M
Norwich, VT

 

[mark1]

I don't know if more or less is better?
I remember my aunt only had 8 teeth but the dentist charged her the full price to clean em!.

 

[1bush2hog]

Trimmer blades vary depending on what you will be cutting -

If you are cutting tall grass and weeds then you can use one like the fourth one from the bottom - It works great, does not collect debris as much as some of the others, and is easy to sharpen

STIHL Incorporated United States -- Products -- Trimmers -- Manufacturing and Selling The World's Number One Chain Saw

Make sure your trimmer can accomodate whatever blade you choose

 

[petertang]

Finally, a subject I can actually post an opinion on!
I use the brush knife (3 point blade) on my stihl brushcutter and it does wonders on blackberry vines. The interesting difference between this and a string trimmer is the motion--up down instead of side to side. Although it works with a side to side motion, it not only cuts but shreds in an up/down motion. Wear eye protection at the very least (I wear a chainsaw helmet--hardhat, ear protection, mesh faceguard).

 

[stayalert]

Finally, a subject I can actually post an opinion on!
I use the brush knife (3 point blade) on my stihl brushcutter and it does wonders on blackberry vines. The interesting difference between this and a string trimmer is the motion--up down instead of side to side. Although it works with a side to side motion, it not only cuts but shreds in an up/down motion. Wear eye protection at the very least (I wear a chainsaw helmet--hardhat, ear protection, mesh faceguard).

Indeed. I also reccomend steel toed boots when using the bladed trimmers. In 1983 I was clearing a field with a bladed trimmer. I can hear the sound and see the toe of the boot I was wearing at the time. The trimmer hit the toe and put a nice clean slot right through the leather exposing and scuffing the nice steel toe....No injury but boy was I glad they required steel toed boots where I was working at the time.....

 

[unit40]

Your trimmer is designed to handle certain implements. I have Stihls. Some have an Autocut string head, others have a poly-cut head with the plastic knives and a piece of string, and then there are saw blades that we use as well as a power scythe, which is one of my favirites. I will even use an adjustable hedge trimmer head on my 85 to mow down tall grass and small brush. It just lays it down without making a mess. We also have some of the triangular brush blades but I personally don't like them...more like hacking and bushwacking and hard on the trimmer.

 

[koop]

The 3 pt. blade is the best choice for things up to 1 inch diameter. I think it is also the hardest on your machine. The blade also tends to get out of balance if not sharpened evenly. If your cutting a lot of saplings get the blade that looks like a circular saw blade. It is easy to sharpen with a chainsaw file.

 

[Al Schrader]

Don't ever put a fixed blade into your string trimmer unless you like trips to the Emergency Room.

I knowed this girl what had teeth like a mule. She could eat corn on the cob through a picket fence.

 

[nikdfish]

We use the Stihl disc blade that has teeth notched like a chainsaw blade's profile (but are not chain saw teeth...). You can resharpen it with a chainsaw file. It does a great job on bamboo, small saplings and bramble canes. It has been a great time saver but does require careful use and a stabil working position away from any bystanders.

Nick

 

[bcp]

Finally, a subject I can actually post an opinion on!
I use the brush knife (3 point blade) on my stihl brushcutter and it does wonders on blackberry vines. The interesting difference between this and a string trimmer is the motion--up down instead of side to side. Although it works with a side to side motion, it not only cuts but shreds in an up/down motion. Wear eye protection at the very least (I wear a chainsaw helmet--hardhat, ear protection, mesh faceguard).

Same here. I have two string trimmers with factory blade options. One is the 3-point and the other is circular with 8 cutting edges. The circular one will not do much moved up and down. The 3-pointed one does as he says. The circular one works great within about an inch of the ground. The higher it gets, the less effective it is.

Bruce

 

[Gary Fowler]

String trimmers designed for steel blade use are about as safe as any other machine using a steel blade, i.e. skil saw, table saw band saw, chain saw or even a hand saw. Keep guards in place and obey the safety rules and they work fine for heavy stuff like briars, small saplings etc that string trimmers wont cut. I also use the gator blades in steel (not the white plastic) and they work pretty good but not as well as the multi-tooth saw blades. Keep them away from wire, rocks and dirt and metal fence post and they stay sharp a long time.

 

[2458n]

The trick when running the three bladed one is to flip it over when it starts to act dull. You have a sharp side ready to go.