# Recommendation on Brush cutting blade.



## John from Cle Elum (Apr 20, 2020)

I spent last couple of days of my corona vacation cutting heavy vine maple with a Stihl brush cutter. I need a recommendation for a blade. I have been using carbide tipped 7" circular blades. The cutters are rectangular brazed on and look like something from a table saw. I have been sharpening with a powered diamond wheel intended for table saw blades. In use, they tend to throw the cutters, chip, don't cut particularly fast and the still require sharpening after about 5-6 tanks. I have also used a Stihl circular brush cutter blade. The kind you sharpen with a chainsaw file. These cut really fast when sharp but would not hold sharpness for more than a tank or two. It finally wore out after being sharped too many times and they are Stihl expensive.

I have been looking at the Forester brand blades on Amazon. The kind with a "chain saw" type cutter that you sharpen with a round file. They make both hardened steel and carbide tip versions. 

Comments or recommendations? I still have about 6-7 acres left to do. At least 10 more days of work. Gotta work fast before it gets too dry and I have to stop work.

Thanks for any help.
John


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## Brazos (Apr 20, 2020)

I have a Husqvarna 555 and it came with the steel blade and I just touched up with a file after each use. I then Bought a 2-pack of the cheap carbide blades off Amazon for like $20-$25. They work great and once I have hit enough rocks to knock off enough teeth I toss them and put on a new one. They seem to last a long time. I never bothered to try and sharpen them. The Husqvarna uses an eight inch blade. I recently bought an Echo 410U that uses 10” blades and bought another 2-pack of carbide blades for the Echo.


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## ironman_gq (Apr 28, 2020)

I've been using the same carbide tipped blade for 3 years cutting tag alder and poplar brush. Been holding up very well including handling an encounter with a hidden roll of fencing that was buried in the long grass. I am using the finer tooth one so I have a lot more carbide cutters that have to be knocked off to really slow it down.


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## sawfun (May 4, 2020)

Depending on the power and setup on the machine, I've run hand sharpend tri blades on my Stihl fs250r and it gets the job done on vine maples, but is very slow and hard on the machine. The other setup I used was perfect, fast, and no effort for the machine, which was an fs550 with the factory chainsaw type cutters built into the circular blade. I would recommend a 45cc machine minimum & chainsaw cuttered blade for deforesting duty here in the PNW coast range with our vine maples. Oh yeah, get a machine with good AV the fs250 vibes something awful.


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## mexicanyella (May 20, 2020)

I am in the same boat, trying to find the best brush clearing blade to use on my Redmax BCZ260TS for multiflora rose and little weed trees that pop up on hillsides and other areas I can’t get the tractor on. I’m in east central MO.

I’d been using a Stihl 8-tooth grass blade, which looks like a little kid’s crayon drawing of a circular saw blade. Easy to sharpen, but a real workout on woody stems. Also, it’s heavy and the flywheel effect combined with the substandard cutting is a pain.

I bought a Stihl blade with teeth you can sharpen with a chainsaw round file and it’s much better on wood, even after it met a rock and a T post. It works about as well on thick grass as the 8-tooth: cuts through it and does very little to disperse clippings so you get a real side-to-side sweeping workout to keep the cutting area clear. It’s smaller diameter than the 8-tooth which reduces the flywheel effect somewhat.

I saw this video which intrigued me...this Renegade blade has a bunch of cooling and/or lightening holes in it, which ought to reduce flywheel effect even more, and this guy seems to like its cutting performance on a Stihl FS90:


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## sb47 (May 20, 2020)

I use to use a regular skill saw blade on my weed wacker. But the Diablo brand blades cut better and last longer then any other blade you can buy. You just have to be VERY careful of kick backs and not let it hit your leg or foot. Wear heavy boots and leg covering. I use to use my motocross boots when I was using the blade. It will cut your foot off in short order so be VERY careful.


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## mexicanyella (May 20, 2020)

What are most circular saw blades rated at for maximum rpm? Don’t corded circular saws usually spin around 5,000-6,000 rpm?


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## milkman (May 20, 2020)

This was interesting although he managed to destroy them.


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## mexicanyella (May 20, 2020)

Heh...was that the video where he tried bumping off a pipe in the ground, and a concrete block?


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## Hsvhobbit (May 21, 2020)

I’ve used and used up a number of forrester blades. I loved
That I could resharpen them but they dulled quickly. No biggie I kept 3-4 on my truck and just swapped off and resharpend at
The end of the day. Even the carbide forrester dulled though held
Up better than the plain ones. Took much longer to sharpen though. Then I fell for the hype of the renegade blades...except it wasn’t hype. I used the same carbide tipped renegade for 2-3 MONTHS before I swapped for a new one. The old one still cut just not as well as a fresh one. The renegade cuts a much smaller kerf so needs less power. 
I still have forrester blades around but they’re last ditch reserves. Fair warning though. One hit on a steel T-pole will destroy a brand new renegade...ripping 1/3 of the teeth off almost instantly.


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## Franny K (May 21, 2020)

mexicanyella said:


> What are most circular saw blades rated at for maximum rpm? Don’t corded circular saws usually spin around 5,000-6,000 rpm?


This is a fair statement, the worm drive configuration is generally less. The arbor hole is 5/8 for 7 1/4" ones, the diamond knock out seems quite rare now.
The angle of attack for the cutting edge can be more aggressive than I suspect any brush cutter specific blades.
Upon reading the manual that comes with brushcutters there is an anvil sort of thing, generally sold separately to rest the woody stem against and chew through. The rev it up full and swat it technique is not in the manual also seems to make the blade loosen up with a few unsuccessful swipes.


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## mexicanyella (May 21, 2020)

“Rev it up and swat it” sounds like munched gearbox and twisted-off driveshaft to me, but...

...it would be a cool T-shirt logo. People would see that and look it up on their phones, afraid they were missing out on a cool band or clothing line or something.


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## mexicanyella (May 21, 2020)

Hsvhobbit said:


> I’ve used and used up a number of forrester blades. I loved
> That I could resharpen them but they dulled quickly. No biggie I kept 3-4 on my truck and just swapped off and resharpend at
> The end of the day. Even the carbide forrester dulled though held
> Up better than the plain ones. Took much longer to sharpen though. Then I fell for the hype of the renegade blades...except it wasn’t hype. I used the same carbide tipped renegade for 2-3 MONTHS before I swapped for a new one. The old one still cut just not as well as a fresh one. The renegade cuts a much smaller kerf so needs less power.
> I still have forrester blades around but they’re last ditch reserves. Fair warning though. One hit on a steel T-pole will destroy a brand new renegade...ripping 1/3 of the teeth off almost instantly.



All right, that’s it, I’m ordering one to try out. Thanks for the review.


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## sb47 (May 21, 2020)

mexicanyella said:


> What are most circular saw blades rated at for maximum rpm? Don’t corded circular saws usually spin around 5,000-6,000 rpm?




Most skillsaw's are rated at 5,000rpm or more and so are table saw's. So any skill saw or table saw blade should be fine for the rpm's seen on most saws and brush cutters.


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## VirginiaIron (May 28, 2020)

John from Cle Elum said:


> I spent last couple of days of my corona vacation cutting heavy vine maple with a Stihl brush cutter. I need a recommendation for a blade. I have been using carbide tipped 7" circular blades. The cutters are rectangular brazed on and look like something from a table saw. I have been sharpening with a powered diamond wheel intended for table saw blades. In use, they tend to throw the cutters, chip, don't cut particularly fast and the still require sharpening after about 5-6 tanks. I have also used a Stihl circular brush cutter blade. The kind you sharpen with a chainsaw file. These cut really fast when sharp but would not hold sharpness for more than a tank or two. It finally wore out after being sharped too many times and they are Stihl expensive.
> 
> I have been looking at the Forester brand blades on Amazon. The kind with a "chain saw" type cutter that you sharpen with a round file. They make both hardened steel and carbide tip versions.
> 
> ...


I haven't read the full thread yet but I was recenty impressed with this review and thought I would share.


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## ironman_gq (Jun 1, 2020)

I've been using the renegade blades for several years, very happy. I've got one that I've been using for a couple years and it's going full speed even after several run ins with a roll of barbwire fence and rocks.


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