Abstract: In order to understand the effects of sliding cutting angle of the bush reciprocating cutter on cutting force, we studied the relationship between sliding cutting angle and maximum bush cutting force through altering its sliding cutting angle on the home-made reciprocating single blade cutting test equipment. Then more tests were done in similar ways to research the effects of blade angle and crank speed on the sliding cutting process. It is found that 1) the applicable sliding cutting angle for bush reciprocating cutter was at 0°-10°, 2）increasing the blade angle was favorable for the sliding cutting process and reduced the cutting force when the sliding cutting angle was small(≤10°), and 3）increasing the crank speed restricted the bush stalk sliding toward outside and reduced the maximum cutting force when the sliding cutting angle was small(≤10°). Conversely, if the sliding cutting angle was too large(≥15°), the restriction by increasing crank speed was too insignificant to reduce the maximum cutting force.