"Chainsaws"

I have a Shindaiwa T270 trimmer/brushcutter (fantastic engines BTW) and with a Sandvik brushcutter blade (non-carbide, with a tooth profile that resembles a chain saw and sharpens with a chain file) it will go through a 2"+ tree in a fraction of a second.

Even after snagging the blade on some rusty fence wire that was hidden in with raspberry bushes and doing a number on the blade it still rips through trees. The trick with this appears to be just running full speed and wacking the blade into the tree. If you try to ease into the tree it cuts as you would expect and takes a few seconds, but if you wack into it it just goes right through.

The first time I found this out was with about a 2.5" dia tree about 12' tall. I was clearing the small stuff around it and wanted to take it down as well so I was just swinging the trimmer back and forth figuring if I hit the tree it would just nick it and bounce off. I hit the tree, it went straight through faster than I could blink and the tree was coming down a second later.

It's actually kinda scary how well it works...

W.P.

Old Nick wrote:

On Fri, 05 Nov 2004 10:51:16 GMT, "Pete C." vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

I found belting the tree with the blade works like that too. In fact the most effective (and dangerous) way is to feed the blade into the tree to cause "kickback" and it just slams through the tree. Probably not recemmended though

The beauty of these old blades is they are free, or damn near!

***************************************************** Have you noticed that people always run from what they _need_ toward what they want?????

My Ryobi weed whacker was designed to use a three lobed balde with a

1" hole. The blades have a caution printed on them that says not to sharpen them. Phooey! First, I bored out a 7" carbide toothed blade to 1" to fit the Ryobi. It worked great and the TCT blades are 5 bucks compared to 12 bucks for the Ryobi tri-lobed blade. So I decided that I'll never use anything but the TCT blades. I machined away material on the mounting hub to accept blades with 1/2" holes. The TCT blades are surprisingly robust. It's hard to knock teeth off and even when dull will cut through 2" alder trees. I'm sure they will remove toes too. The Ryobi has a long shaft whis good because you have to try to get the business end close to your body. Since this setup is so dangerous nobody should do it and just use me as an example of foolhardiness. Eventually there will be a blurb in the local paper about some guy cutting off his foot with a weed whacker and it'll be me. ERS

Old Nick wrote: ... 7" TCT tipped blades ...

...

Hmmm, what do you suppose this is doing to the "whipper snipper"? I wouldn't think that its bearings and its flexible shaft were designed for this sort of loads. Let us know in a few years if it has stood up. I'd like to try it, but I think that I'll wait for the long-term report. Bob

I use a 14" saw type blade on my Jonsered 60cc brush cutter for over

18 years now. Its an awesome brush cutter. I just start swinging it and stuff just gets cut like its butter. I have cut up to 4" diam gum and sycamore trees with it already. Anyone ever see that big 24inch blade that went on the fronts of the old Gravely 2 wheel tractors........man that thing eats up brush..........but not a single guard on it anywhere, just that big old saw blade on the end whirling around................of course its not made anymore.........probably due to the dumbing down of most folks today and their lack of knowing what they were doing........

Visit my website:

expressed are those of my wife, I had no input whatsoever. Remove "nospam" from email addy.

On Sat, 06 Nov 2004 02:03:28 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@coldmail.com (Roy) vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

I was looking at the chainsaw / polesaw attachments for a brushcutter. They cost a fortune! I was wondering about grabbing out the old dead Poulan, but then I remembered I ran it over out of revenge.

I have seen a picture of the tractor-mounted bastards ahrr ahghrh ahrrgh! My main problem with them would be what happens if it jams, or hits the ground.

***************************************************** Have you noticed that people always run from what they _need_ toward what they want?????

If you can fit your weedwhacker with a shoulder sling it becomes almost impossible for the blade to reach any part of your anatomy when the weedwhacker is hanging from the sling.

Yeah. Stuff like that was pretty effective at cleaning out the shallow end of the gene pool.

Ya know, maybe there's a relation here.

The contrast with Japan is striking. You can get second degree burns in a Japanese bathroom and a small child could kill himself in a minute. While I was there I visited a factory making geta (Japanese wooden shoes.) The place was a museum of old power tools and an OSHA inspector would have fainted dead away. (OB metalworking content) Everyone working there seemed to have all their fingers.

--RC

That which does not kill us makes us stronger. --Friedrich Nietzsche Never get your philosophy from some guy who ended up in the looney bin. -- Wiz Zumwalt

Throwing them through backwards is done all the time with the bigger saws in forestry . Lots of different attacks to get them to fall into open holes in spacing operations . Ken Cutt

Generally speaking if you have a grip on the trimmer it won't bite you directly. It will throw all kinds of junk in all directions and demands eye/face protection. The greatest danger is to have a bystander wander into the danger area. I have heard of a case where the sawblade equipped trimmer kicked up and struck a bystander that the operator was unaware of. The injured person survived but if he had need of open-heart surgery there would have been no need to cut flesh or bone. As to the shock load on the trimmer. Firstly no 'flexible shaft' machine will ever stand up to this use. Secondly the blade (relatively heavy - in fact the heaviest object in the power train) acts as a shock absorber/flywheel. Regards. Ken..

On Fri, 05 Nov 2004 07:37:01 -0800, Eric R Snow vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email Actually I reckon the TCT circ saw blades are _asfer_ than thos silly

3-4 bladed things. I have one that came with my Ryobi, and it's a dangerous bloody thing! Also it hands out far more shock load to the saw, IME.

***************************************************** Dogs are better than people.

People are better than dogs for only one purpose. And then it's only half of ofthe people. And _then_ most of them are only ordinary anyway. And then they have a headache.........

On Sat, 06 Nov 2004 07:39:25 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@TAKEOUTmindspring.com vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Not a Yakuza-run factory then!

***************************************************** Dogs are better than people.

People are better than dogs for only one purpose. And then it's only half of ofthe people. And _then_ most of them are only ordinary anyway. And then they have a headache.........

The sickle bars you mentioned just cut the ground, cut the wire or cut the leg or arm. If they don't cut it the tooth breaks. Just hope it breaks into the ground. :-)

Martin

I do use the sling. It keeps my body parts away from the business end of the weed whacker and lessens fatigue so I can cut longer. ERS

On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 10:38:18 -0800, Eric R Snow vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Given what I have heard called a "sling" stop boasting!

Actually, I gave the Ryobi the big A and bought some Italian branded (but probaly Asian built anyway) machine whose name I have never heard and have now forgotten. Vastly superior quality, but has no handlebars. I am going to _have_ take the bars off the Ryobi and put them on it. They are the D's Ks.

I also have adapted the Ryobi weed head to this machine.

Ryobi build _good_ machines; well designed and powerful. The old Ryobi is a lot more grunty than this thing;..... but not quality.

***************************************************** Dogs are better than people.

People are better than dogs for only one purpose. And then it's only half of ofthe people. And _then_ most of them are only ordinary anyway. And then they have a headache.........