Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Brush Cutter  (Read 19914 times)

poppajohn

  • Joined Apr 2011
  • Fenland
  • Grass cutting, what old fellers do!
Re: Brush Cutter
« Reply #15 on: April 27, 2011, 01:19:04 pm »
We share a drum mower and cut our spare bits of land for hay. At £5 a bale this winter its worth the effort. I really encourage folk to use land for other things than just looking at it, but then I am from Yorkshire........

Coley

  • Joined Apr 2011
Re: Brush Cutter
« Reply #16 on: April 28, 2011, 09:11:12 am »

But you can get an awful lot of pleasure from looking at land esp when its yours and you know no bugger can come along and spoil it :)

poppajohn

  • Joined Apr 2011
  • Fenland
  • Grass cutting, what old fellers do!
Re: Brush Cutter
« Reply #17 on: April 28, 2011, 03:14:33 pm »
Aye but use it!

Coley

  • Joined Apr 2011
Re: Brush Cutter
« Reply #18 on: April 28, 2011, 07:35:49 pm »

I would like nowt better than to use it productively, but hay? you are looking at an investment of 7 grand for a mini baler and associated equipment, take a long time to recoup me investment with only two shetlands to feed,  now with 40 acres and a good few empty meadows the temptation to run a few cows or sheep is there but rustling and midnight scumbags are prevelant here and \i couldnt bear what has happened to others on here2 now if you know someone who is looking for some cheap grazing I'm your man

Norfolk Newby

  • Joined Aug 2009
  • West Norfolk, UK
Re: Brush Cutter
« Reply #19 on: May 03, 2011, 11:57:45 am »
An update on the decision to purchase a heavy duty brushcutter.

My wife found a machine like a wheeled strimmer and decided that's what she wanted. It's caller a DR Trimmer.  More here:

http://www.drproducts.co.uk/files/Press/S28C-111041815150.pdf

The plus points are that it has a 4 stroke engine with electric start. My wife can't manage the recoil starters on a normal strimmer. Also it has a power drive to the wheels so you just follow it up and down slopes and bumps.

It takes nylon cord up to 4.5mm diameter which goes through brambles and heavy grown very well. It can also cut a lawn reasonably well. A half acre of rough lawn took about an hour. The results weren't up to bowling green standard but were OK for a play area or similar.

It doesn't cope with very steep slopes like the sides of ditches as the angle is too steep and it overturns if run along the slope and it is about 40kg so pulling it up and down is hard. Apart from this, small slopes and rough ground are fine. I have cleaned up some strips alongside a drive and tidied up an orchard area around fruit trees.

On this sort of work the cords (cut lengths) last for a couple of hours and it uses about 1litre of fuel per hour. It has an 8hp engine (I think) which makes it more powerful than most strimmers

On anything other than really heavy weeds it can go along at a good walking pace cutting about a 20" strip. On really heavy weeds and green brambles you can keep up the speed but cut a half strip (i.e. 10" wide).

There are a couple of accessories; a tree guard, a chainsaw disk and a little tool for digging holes for bulb and similar (e.g rows of seedlings). There isn't a standard brush cutter disk as the 4.5mm cord can cope with most weeds. I found it didn't like old tough bramble stems stripping the bark and shattering the stem rather than cutting it.

It also shatters tree guards and stems so care is needed round small trees, flower beds, etc.

I am spelling this out here as others might find a machine like this useful and it is rather different from the normal strimmer.

Novice - growing fruit, trees and weeds

Le Recoignot

  • Joined Oct 2009
Re: Brush Cutter
« Reply #20 on: May 11, 2011, 12:15:50 pm »
Try a company like Mow Direct or similar, you should be able to get a dual head m/c for around £300.00 or so

Plantoid

  • Joined May 2011
  • Yorkshireman on a hill in wet South Wales
Re: Brush Cutter
« Reply #21 on: May 24, 2011, 10:46:13 pm »
12 years ago I had a strimmer that was on two large wheels almost BMX rear wheel sized ,was well balanced ..driven by an 8 hp Briggs and Stratton 4 stroke engine .
It used very heavy duty line and could be fitted with a cutting blade or a wire instead .  It was fantastic on long grass & nettles and was easy to take to tree boles, fence posts and wire fences with no problems

 There were no particular noticeable vibrations and it was easy to use for several tanks of fuel in one go.
I cant remember the  maker but I'm sure with a bit of googling you soon find one .. perhaps look for wheeled  strimmer or wheel mounted engine drive strimmer ... garden machinery . commercial garden machinery etc.

It was dam good ..took inch thick brambles away no probs and totally demolished the massivre tufts of marsh grass that grew on the property
 
 It was a bit like a light rotavator .. to adjust the cut you simply tipped the cutter into the material you want to cut ... it was also magic for scarifying the ground and flinging stones  out.

 Price wise it was about £ 280 so you'd perhaps be looking at less than £550 nowadays due to production being done in China .

 Yoiks..
just googled wheeled strimmer and found a similar machine ....a DR commercial wheeled strimmer .. almost £1,000
« Last Edit: May 24, 2011, 10:55:35 pm by Plantoid »
International playboy & liar .
Man of the world not a country

Norfolk Newby

  • Joined Aug 2009
  • West Norfolk, UK
Re: Brush Cutter
« Reply #22 on: May 25, 2011, 03:50:03 pm »
Hi Plantoid

Yup, that's the one. Actually the local supplier sells the range at quite a lot less than list price so it isn't so bad.

I am using it with the thickest nylon line I can get which is 4.5mm diameter. It cuts through most of the weeds and brambles. The only thing it messes up is old dry bramble stems about as thick as my middle finger. These it shreds rather than cutting.

Currently it is very very dry here and the machine does create a quite dusty environment. However, that is not the machines fault.

Although the cutting width is only about 0.5m or 20 inches it is surprising how much you can clear if you stick to it. As it is not tiring to use you can spend 4 hours at a time without feeling fatigued. Compared to that my similar sized cultivator is killing.

I am not against the normal strimmer but this is in a different class. There are several similar machines on the market but mine is from DR Power and I think they have some interesting equipment to offer. Their UK web site is OK but the parent (USA) site is better on information:

http://www.drpower.com/

While not all the machines are available in the UK, they show some interesting ideas and might spark ideas amongst potential users.



Novice - growing fruit, trees and weeds

tobytoby

  • Joined May 2011
  • north ayrshire
Re: Brush Cutter
« Reply #23 on: May 26, 2011, 01:22:06 pm »
Sthil and haky are best, but you have to buy the blade to fit over where the strimming head is. I bought the blade last week for £12 new. Try hiring one for a week and make sure you have a harness/decent boots and eye protection   - the blades will cut through all fence wires and cut posts ( i know as i made a mistake at the weekend?) - Have fun :)

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Brush Cutter
« Reply #24 on: May 26, 2011, 06:49:20 pm »
So if you're looking for quality, there's obviously Stihl, but who else?

In particular, has anybody tried Husqvarna brushcutters? I was in the shop today looking at chainsaws, but I also need a strimmer / brushcutter and hedge trimmer (EEEK! - not sure how the hell I'm going to afford them all, but we've no firewood for next winter, I can't see down our drive, and the garden is knee deep in weeds, so I'm going to have to come up with something!!  :o). Looking for quality though, as this is definitely one area where if you buy cheap you buy twice. I'm thinking that if the Husky brushcutter is any good, I can buy it with the rest of the kit at the same time, and hence drive a decent bargain....... any thoughts?
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

tobytoby

  • Joined May 2011
  • north ayrshire
Re: Brush Cutter
« Reply #25 on: May 27, 2011, 10:02:31 am »
Huskys are equally as good as Sthil, but it will come down to your preference - but you can't interchange heads between Sthil & Huskys.

waterhouse

  • Guest
Re: Brush Cutter
« Reply #26 on: May 28, 2011, 12:04:05 am »
I was in the local supplier and repair shop today and would say it's pretty evenly matched between Stihl and Husky - and nothing else.  Perhaps more Stihl brushcutters and more Husky saws but with a few hundred new and used machines it was hard to tell.  He doesn't sell what he can't support, and the local contractors don't go anywhere else.

Plantoid

  • Joined May 2011
  • Yorkshireman on a hill in wet South Wales
Re: Brush Cutter
« Reply #27 on: May 30, 2011, 12:18:42 am »
Hi Plantoid

Yup, that's the one. Actually the local supplier sells the range at quite a lot less than list price so it isn't so bad.

I am using it with the thickest nylon line I can get which is 4.5mm diameter. It cuts through most of the weeds and brambles. The only thing it messes up is old dry bramble stems about as thick as my middle finger. These it shreds rather than cutting.

Currently it is very very dry here and the machine does create a quite dusty environment. However, that is not the machines fault.

Although the cutting width is only about 0.5m or 20 inches it is surprising how much you can clear if you stick to it. As it is not tiring to use you can spend 4 hours at a time without feeling fatigued. Compared to that my similar sized cultivator is killing.

I am not against the normal strimmer but this is in a different class. There are several similar machines on the market but mine is from DR Power and I think they have some interesting equipment to offer. Their UK web site is OK but the parent (USA) site is better on information:

http://www.drpower.com/

While not all the machines are available in the UK, they show some interesting ideas and might spark ideas amongst potential users.





 You'll find that if you always cut clockwise or anti clock circuit the cutter will tend to throw the cuttings out to one side only ..if you keep cutting in that direction  by making a circuit you will not end up trying to cut standing stuff that has been smothered in cut stuff .
International playboy & liar .
Man of the world not a country

Norfolk Newby

  • Joined Aug 2009
  • West Norfolk, UK
Re: Brush Cutter
« Reply #28 on: May 30, 2011, 10:08:15 am »
Thanks Plantoid

I get the point.

Actually, the cutting heading is offset slightly to the left so that it is possible to cut slightly closer (relative to the wheels) on that side. This throws the debris to the right onto the land already cut so it works well this way (anti-clockwise  looking from above).
Novice - growing fruit, trees and weeds

 

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