Rotary Tree And Brush Saw

Rotary Tree And Brush Saw WOODLOT EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous 90-10-82 About nine years ago, Leroy Hicks, owner of Hicks Fabrication, Berryton, Kansas, designed a hydraulically powered rotary tree saw that fits skid steer loaders or on three-point hitches. He says most other brush and tree cutters work by pushing a triangular serrated cutting blade through the trunk. The blade on Hicks' rotary saw is made from 1/2 in. steel plate, cut into a 28 in. diameter circle. Rather than having teeth cut into the blade, Hicks cut 12 equally spaced notches around the outer edge of the steel plate where he mounted replaceable carbide steel cutting teeth. Because of the way the saw is made, individual teeth can be replaced as needed. He says the teeth have a long lifetime. "Custom operators who use their saws heavily are replacing them every three or four months, but most people replace them less than once a year," he says. A hydraulic motor, requiring a minimum flow rate of 15 gal. per minute, turns the blade. The higher the capacity of the hydraulic system, the faster the saw works, up to a maximum of 40 gal. per minute at 2,500 psi. Hicks built the cutter to fit the mounting brackets on most skid steer loaders. Or, with a hydroslide adapter, it can mount on a tractor's 3-pt. hitch. "It cuts faster than most of the push-type cutters I've seen," he says. "It will cut through a 12 in. tree in one pass. I've cut trees with trunk diameters up to 3 ft. And it will cut through soil and even rocks in order to cut trees off below the soil surface. With this cutter blade, once you've cut off the tree, you can angle the blade and grind the stump out with it." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Leroy Hicks, Hicks Fabrication, 4749 SE 61st, Berryton, Kan. 66409 (ph 785 231- 7593).

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