A study was conducted to investigate the effect of cutter design, cutting angle and frond maturity on the specific cutting force (FOCSA) and energy (ENCSA) requirement per unit cut area for cutting oil paim fronds. Two designs were tested, (i) sickle cutter and (ii) claw cutter. Cutting angles of 90°, 60° and 45° were tested on the three levels of frond maturity.

The results showed significant effects of cutter design, cutting angle, frond maturity and interaction of cutter design and cutting angle on FOCSA and ENCSA requirement for cutting oil palm fronds. The maximum FOCSA for the sickle and claw cutters were 12.2kg/cm² and 22.9kg/cm² respectively, while the maximum ENCSA for the sickle cutter and claw cutters were 65.4kg-cm/cm² and 115.5kg-cm/cm² respectively. This indicated that the sickle cutter required 47% less FOCSA and 76.5% less ENCSA than the claw cutter. Increasing the cutting angle resulted in higher FOCSA and ENCSA requirements. Also, the more mature the frond, the higher the FOCSA and ENCSA required to accomplish the cutting.