When to Replace Brush Cutter Blades

There are four situations where it's necessary to replace your brush cutter blades, and I discuss all four in this video. I've seen people try to sharpen blades until there's almost nothing left to try to put off buying new blades, and there are times when it's just not worth it.

The first scenario requiring blade replacement occurs when the tips have been worn past a certain point, and that will vary from cutter to cutter. Check your owner's manual. On the cutter discussed in the video, once you've worn off over 1/2" from the original cutting edge, the manufacturer recommends replacement. Of course, they're trying to sell new blades, so I take that with a grain of salt. Most blades turn up on the opposite side from the cutting edge...you MUST replace the blades if your ever into that point. Once you try to sharpen the part that tips up you'll get a very uneven cut that you won't like.

The second scenario that requires blade replacement is if you bend a blade. This happens when you encounter some obstacle at full PTO speed and something has to give. It's easy to bend a blade, and you'll know it when you engage the PTO after the impact. The whole machine will shake like a banshee and you'll feel it in the tractor seat. Occasionally, shaking of that sort could mean the blade just got tucked up under the stump jumper, check that first, but if the blade had been bent it's time to replace both blades.

The next situation where blade replacement is necessary parallels the last one. That's when the blades have been sharpened unevenly and one weighs more than the other. If you start seeing the machine wobble, that could be the problem. Always try to sharpen each blade the same, and that's easier said than done when you're operating an L-head grinder underneath a machine (ALWAYS WITH JACKSTANDS HOLDING IT UP!!!). Once one blade weighs a significant amount more than the other, you're going to get excessive vibration when you operate the cutter and it's time to replace both of them.

The final scenario when you need to replace the blades is if you're hiring someone to sharpen the blades for you. Most mechanics charge at least $60 an hour for their work (most much more than that), and it doesn't take long when paying someone to use a grinder, a slow process, to sharpen the blades. At the time of posting the video, new blades on a 5-6' machine cost somewhere around $125-$130 to replace, including new blade bolts, and you can quickly burn that up in labor if you're paying a guy to sharpen really old and worn blades.

In my next video we'll look at sharpening blades. That's something that a lot of people probably do too often, and wrong, and it could accelerate the wear on their blades. We'll tell you when to sharpen and how to do it so the blades last a long time.

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