How To Use A Brush Cutter? (Tips For Handheld Brush Cutters)

A lawn mover and string trimmer are suitable for mowing sparse grasses and branches. However, when faced with clearing dense bushes, you need to use a more useful tool, which is a brush cutter. Therefore, How To Use A Brush Cutter effectively is a big question for those new to it. This post will discuss in detail how to use a brush cutter.

What Are Brush Cutters And What They Do?

A brush cutter is a mowing tool similar to a strimmer. However, the most significant difference between the two devices is the material of the blade. Brush cutters have metal blades instead of nylon blades of strimmers.

Because of the sharpness of the blade, the brush cutter can cut deeper into dense and sturdy plant bushes. They are frequently used to remove thick grasses, saplings, and other brush from construction sites, farms, and overgrown residential properties. They’re beneficial in deep drainages and mountainsides where standard lawn tools can’t go. In addition, the brush cutter also has a more powerful motor to achieve efficiency when cutting.

Some Brush Cutter Types

There are three main brush cutter kinds:

Petrol: These are the tool with the most powerful motor. Petrol brush cutters typically use a two-stroke engine to power the head with a nylon grass trimming spool or a brush cutting blade. This type of tool helps solve heavy cleaning or places without electrical power. The capacity (cc) of the motor will determine its strength; this will typically range between 25cc and 60cc.
Electric: The name indicates that this tool works with electricity. You have to use electricity every time you clean, so this is the limitation of this brush cutter. Their advantage is that the price is not high. Also, they have a lighter weight. However, they are not too strong to always cut sturdy bushes.
Battery power: These tools have a battery included so they can go away from the power supply. It is a convenience they bring to users. However, they have the lowest energy, so it is difficult to take with brush cutter blades and cut thick bushes. Because the battery is used in operation, charging the battery will become a problem if you do not have an exchange battery or charging tool for long-term use.

Some hybrid electric trimmers can run on both primary power and batteries. They provide the advantages of both types of electrical power.

Choose The Suitable Brush Cutter

Three models of brush cutters are available: Handheld, walk behind, and tow behind models.

Handheld: This is a robust version and can be attached with attachments such as round saw blades to tear through small trees and thick vegetation. They are suitable for clearing tall grass and those lawn cleaning jobs that require detailing or maneuvering in tight spaces. They usually come with harnesses because of their weight.
Walk behind: They excel at removing thick grasses over large areas and are also known as weed mowers. They can handle young plants up to 2 inches in diameter, thick brush up to 6 feet in height, and grass and weeds up to 8 feet in height.
Tow behind: If you need to clear a wide area quickly, consider using a tow-behind brush cutter, also known as a brush hog, which attaches to an ATV, tractor, or skid steer. A power take-off connection (PTO) transfers rotational energy from the motor to the cutter blades.

Process For Operating A Brush Cutter

Start the machine on flat ground and ensure that the cutting attachment does not come into contact with anything.
Go away at least 10 feet from the fuel source if you’re using a gas-powered handheld brush cutter.
At least five times, press the primer bulb (if the unit has a primer bulb).
If the engine is cold, operate with the choke.
Make sure you have solid footing.
Check that the cutting attachment is not in contact with anything.
Begin using your brush cutter.

Ways To Use Brush Cutter

Before using the brush cutter, wear gloves, leg gear, goggles, and a face mask.
Choose the right blade for the type of plant to be cleared. It makes the cleaning work quick and efficient.
Before using a brush cutter, you need to read the manual carefully. It is mandatory for the user.
Next, you need to fill the brush cutter with fuel. The type of fuel must be appropriate to the kind of tool you use.
These brush cutter blades usually rotate anti-clockwise, so the right-to-left method of moving will be popular.
We recommend you cut from high to low layers for tall grass bushes.
In large fields, you should subdivide the area into small squares and clear each unit. Then move from the edge to the center. This method is suitable for wide and flat regions.
After use, the primary necessity is the cleaning of the brush cutters to avoid affecting their next performance.
After cleaning the brush cutter, you should choose the appropriate place and store them.

There are five main using techniques:

Basic technique: Because the cutting blade rotates counter-clockwise, it is best to cut from right to left. The trimmings fall on the cut area, an advantage of this method.
Long grass trimming: You should use two passes when working in very long grass or tough weeds. The first pass will cut the top of the grass from right to left. The lower one will remove the remaining grass from left to right.
Large areas mowing: The square method is the best way to cut large areas. Divide the mowing area into squares, then work around the perimeter toward the center.
Hill-mowing: The strip technique is a suitable way to mow a slope. Cut a swath parallel to the hill, then return along it. Then, repeat with the next strip above.
Around trimming: The best approach to navigate straight up to trees or shrubs without hurting them is to use the “mowing line” that the trimmer creates. Use your brush cutter’s deflector as a reference point by positioning it against the bush. That keeps the trunk safe while also mowing the surrounding area.

Some Safety Tips

Low starting: start using a brush cutter slowly to get used to their operation before cutting large patches of plants
Appropriate clothes: Wear thick pants to avoid flying debris. Wear protective gloves, gloves, and goggles. Also, if you use a too noisy type of engine, bring an extra pair of ear protectors.
Choose suitable seasons and a dry day: The proper season for clearing grass is late autumn or early winter. Then the vegetation begins to decrease again. For particular safety, you should choose sunny days instead of rain because of limited visibility.
Cool to refuel: When refilling fuel, you must turn off the engine and leave it calm.

Some Protective Types Of Equipment

As mentioned below, we recommend you use some safe pieces of equipment:

Goggles, safety glasses
Long and thick pants
Sturdy shoes, preferably with a steel toe cap
Gloves for gardening
Ear protection

Conclusion

Mowing the lawn will become easier if you know How To Use A Brush Cutter and trimming techniques. Please read the instructions carefully and refer to the information on this post to operate it smoothly. You will become a professional cleaner and designer for your garden!