A pair of L-shaped blades is mounted on blind pivot pins in a high speed cutter head allowing the blades to swing out by centrifugal force and pivot back into the body of the head when an obstruction is encountered. Hubs on the blades are confined in recesses in the cutter head body to prevent release of a blade if a pivot pin should break. The sharpened outer end portion of each blade is angled forward in the direction of rotation to gather in material to be cut and apply a slicing action in shearing the material. The end portions of the blades may assume different shapes for various purposes as for lawn trimming and edging and for woodcarving.
