Mowers are fantastic for lawn maintenance but are designed to trim only some spots.
A Brush Cutter is one of the most helpful lawn care tools you may have on hand. Handheld brush cutters can not only trim the margins of your yard like string trimmers, but they can also be fitted with blades instead of lines to take down thicker types of growth:
- Prairie grasses that grow tall
- Ferns and reeds
- Brush and shrubs
- Saplings and small trees
Because handheld brush cutters can chop down more prominent, more hardy plants, they require more care and a few more tips and considerations than a typical string trimmer.
Brush Cutter Safety Equipment
A word of caution: nothing in this article is intended to replace the instructions in a product manual or the Brush Cutter use and safety training required by many outdoor professionals and volunteers. Always read the product documentation before using it and follow all safety training guidelines.
If that sounds harsh, it’s because brush cutters are solid pieces of equipment. The amount of safety equipment required and suggested when utilizing one tells you.
OSHA specifies the following pieces of safety equipment:
Hearing protection is provided by a hard hat.
Eye protection is essential (mesh face shields are acceptable, but they provide more security when paired with safety glasses)
Furthermore, many workplaces and professional organizations require brush cutter users to wear long pants or chaps. The shins and lower legs are pretty close to the line and blades of a brush cutter and should be protected as much as possible.
There are also pieces of safety equipment that are strongly recommended, if not necessary, on most job sites:
- Boots (steel toe, non-slip) (steel toe, non-slip)
- Gloves with padding (for protection and absorbing vibrations)
- If you work in public places, you should wear a safety vest.
With the proper equipment, you’ll be well on putting your brush cutter to good use.
Brush Cutter Blades and Accessories
As previously stated, a brush cutter can use a line to trim grass around the perimeter of a property. Aside from the high engine power, the actual benefit of employing a brush cutter is the option to adapt it with metal blades.
Brush cutter blades of various sorts are best for cutting different types of growth:
- Grass and weeds have edges with eight or fewer teeth.
- Thick weeds, brush, and bushes require blades with 9-40 teeth.
- Brush small trees and saplings: blades with more than 40 teeth (also known as circular saws).
The tri-blade, often known as a brush knife, is an exception. Because of its design, it can cut through scrub brush and reeds. Brush knife attachments from certain manufacturers, on the other hand, are lightweight and built for cutters with lesser horsepower motors (around 25 ccs). Use just the brush cutter blades that come with it.
You should adjust the debris shield or deflector when changing the blade (which should always be done while wearing gloves). The plastic screen that covers the string or blades closest to the user’s legs is known as the deflector. There is a deflector intended to accommodate each type of brush cutter attachment:
Cutting blade deflector:
High-visibility deflector: for use with string trimmer line and grass blades; automatically trims line that has been dragged out too far from the head.
Deflector with skirt: for use with string trimmer line, grass blades, and brush blades; protects against flying debris but not metal pieces.
Deflector for the limit stop:
Holds the cutter steady against tiny trees when used with circular saws.
Every cutter blade will also specify the arbor size. The size of the arbor is based on the diameter of the hole in the center of the edge that the mounting screw goes through. The most common arbor size is 1″, but you should always check the manual for your cutter to find out the arbor size of its blades.
After you’ve equipped your cutter with the appropriate attachment for the job at hand, the following topic to address is how to use cutter blades.
