Iowa Hillbilly
Silver Member
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2021
- Messages
- 104
- Location
- The Hills of Eastern Iowa
- Tractor
- Case 2590, CIH 685, Case 400
So now that I have your attention... I cleared a pretty fair bit of brush this afternoon with a tool I haven't tried before. I used my Stihl 240r weed eater with a saw blade. I've used other types of blades on other weed eaters and was not at all impressed with their performance on woody brush, so I pretty much had written the concept off long ago. This blade is from a company called 'Renegade', but there are other companies making similar products which may work as well or better.
The blade is basically a circular saw blade for a weed eater. I learned that these things existed the other day from some youtube videos. They were pretty reasonably priced at ~$75 for a 4 pack so I figured why not try them out.
I tried the setup out on some land that really could use a bush hog across it, but I didn't want to use a bush hog. I didn't want to leave the bush hog stubs sticking up that might tear a tire next year. I also didn't want to bush hog it because I'm contemplating haying the ground later in the summer if this drought doesn't end and low grade hay is actually worth the effort of baling it.
I used the blade on a thicket of black locust, some autumn olive, and lot of small cedar trees. The black locusts cut great, but you really can't get to swinging back and forth like you would with grass because the cut stems fall in the way of cutting the next round. I ended up cutting about a half dozen at a time and then picked those up and threw them in a pile. The stems were about 1/2"-3/4" in diameter.
For the autumn olive it worked, but not real well. I was tough to get at the base without knocking off a ton of other branches first, which made the going annoyingly slow.
I was very satisfied with the performance on cedars. They were 3.5" in diameter and under with the majority around 2"-3". These were widely scattered and I just walked from one to another and zipped them off. Typically it took two cuts, one a few inches up the stem and another close to flush with the ground. I've left them lay for the moment and will pick them up in a few days and throw them in a brush pile.
I worked for two hours total in two sessions. The first was 45min and the second about 1:15 with a water break in between. I'd estimate I cleared a solid acre of brushy field in that time. It was above 90 degrees when I started and a little under 90 when I finished. I'm not in great shape these days, but I didn't feel too worn out when I finished and I probably could have gone a bit longer.
The blade definitely felt duller for the use, but it was still cutting well so I really don't know how well it will last.
All in all I was pretty pleased with the results. I've previously done this kind of work with a double bit axe, which works fine, but this is at least twice as fast. I think I'll do a bit more of this and I have some sumac and blackberry thickets I'd like to try this setup out on as well. I wanted to share my experience here in case it's helpful to anyone else who wants to get rid of some field brush and has a big weed eater to work with and doesn't want to do it with a bush hog. As always YMMV.
The blade is basically a circular saw blade for a weed eater. I learned that these things existed the other day from some youtube videos. They were pretty reasonably priced at ~$75 for a 4 pack so I figured why not try them out.
I tried the setup out on some land that really could use a bush hog across it, but I didn't want to use a bush hog. I didn't want to leave the bush hog stubs sticking up that might tear a tire next year. I also didn't want to bush hog it because I'm contemplating haying the ground later in the summer if this drought doesn't end and low grade hay is actually worth the effort of baling it.
I used the blade on a thicket of black locust, some autumn olive, and lot of small cedar trees. The black locusts cut great, but you really can't get to swinging back and forth like you would with grass because the cut stems fall in the way of cutting the next round. I ended up cutting about a half dozen at a time and then picked those up and threw them in a pile. The stems were about 1/2"-3/4" in diameter.
For the autumn olive it worked, but not real well. I was tough to get at the base without knocking off a ton of other branches first, which made the going annoyingly slow.
I was very satisfied with the performance on cedars. They were 3.5" in diameter and under with the majority around 2"-3". These were widely scattered and I just walked from one to another and zipped them off. Typically it took two cuts, one a few inches up the stem and another close to flush with the ground. I've left them lay for the moment and will pick them up in a few days and throw them in a brush pile.
I worked for two hours total in two sessions. The first was 45min and the second about 1:15 with a water break in between. I'd estimate I cleared a solid acre of brushy field in that time. It was above 90 degrees when I started and a little under 90 when I finished. I'm not in great shape these days, but I didn't feel too worn out when I finished and I probably could have gone a bit longer.
The blade definitely felt duller for the use, but it was still cutting well so I really don't know how well it will last.
All in all I was pretty pleased with the results. I've previously done this kind of work with a double bit axe, which works fine, but this is at least twice as fast. I think I'll do a bit more of this and I have some sumac and blackberry thickets I'd like to try this setup out on as well. I wanted to share my experience here in case it's helpful to anyone else who wants to get rid of some field brush and has a big weed eater to work with and doesn't want to do it with a bush hog. As always YMMV.
