In a sickle cutting apparatus including a row of stationary knife guardsand a sickle bar with a row of blade sections for reciprocating movementmountedthereon, each of the blade sections is simply removable from the sickle barforreplacement by mounting a rear plate portion on the sickle bar where each oftherear plate portions has a pair of holes bolted to mating holes in the bar andeachhole in the blade is connected to an associated slot extending rearwardly inthe rearplate portion from the hole to a rear edge. In this way the blade section canbepulled forwardly by loosening the bolt and sliding the bolt along the slotuntil theblade is released. A circular counter-bore in the blade section receives a nutwhentightened to hold the blade section in place. The system can be used withpointedguards or stub guards.
