Weed Eater

[wingriderz]

1971 was year they where invinted. My question is how did we ever manage with out them lol. I know I didn't have one till the mid 80s I guess. I couldnt be with out one today. Being our acerage is all chain link. My weed eater gets a work out for sure.I have a two stroke in service now. For those that have taken the plung to 4 stroke. Are they worth the extra cost weight wise and reliability. Nothing whorse than a cranky gas weed eater lol

 

[Nevada Ed]

"...how did we ever manage with out them " ?

Very easy................
our father would hand my brother and I a pair of metal grass clippers.
We would either bend over or crawl on our hands and knees, to get to the weeds and grass, that the old metal reel , push lawn mower, that was extra fancy and had a grass catcher basket, attached to it..........
could not get to.

One reason the kids back then were in better shape, than the
couch potatoes of today.

 

[Targets Guy]

Yard scissors, then electric yard scissors, then battery powered yard scissors.

Before that scythes. I still have my great-grandads. It stands almost six feet tall.

 

[gregintenn]

We've moved past weedeaters. I prefer a 15 gallon sprayer on the back of my 4 wheeler.

 

[Iggy]

My Pappy handed me a pair of sheep shears and said trim around the yard fence, both sides and the foundation of the house.. Took me at least a day to do itl

 

[kthom]

Definitely a multi-tasking tool, Iggy! Regular use would definitely strengthen your grip!!!! Bet you couldn't hardly pick your nose after that day of use!

 

[pharmer]

For those that have taken the plunge to 4 stroke. Are they worth the extra cost weight wise and reliability.

Weight is a real problem. I have a Troy-bilt 4 cycle. Plenty of power, no fuel mix, interchangeable tool heads. I have weed whack and hedge. Didn't want to go $100 for the chainsaw, although that would be right handy. At 64, if'n I had more than 20 min of work I don't think I could manage. It's heavy, as in a small lawn mower heavy. Been going strong for 8 summers so far. Joe

 

[doublesharp]

A thin stripe of round up.

 

[Rule3]

For those that have taken the plung to 4 stroke. Are they worth the extra cost weight wise and reliability. Nothing whorse than a cranky gas weed eater lol

Short answer is NO!

I bought one years ago and it was a DOG!.

Living in the land of year around trimming, a 2 cycle is the only way.

WeedEater is a brand name, skip all the rest and go directly to Sthil or Echo. Pay the money. use good mid grade gas and good oil, They work and work well for a long time . The other brands are in the trash.

Look at any commercial outfit, what do they use?

 

[gsn]

Got a wheeled trimmer a few weeks ago-well made, Subaru engine, will accept blades-a little pricey but worth it.

ECHO Bear Cat | Products

 

[old tanker]

My solution to cranky weedeaters, also chainsaws, leaf blowers and the ancient Johnson kicker on the sailboat is to run them on Avgas. It is stable, it does not gum and as absolutely ethanol free it does not rot the fuel lines. At the airport we have been selling 100LL in bulk to local loggers for most of 30 years for the same reasons. Right behind them as steady customers are hotrods and pulling tractors.

 

[wingriderz]

Short answer is NO!

I bought one years ago and it was a DOG!.

Living in the land of year around trimming, a 2 cycle is the only way.

WeedEater is a brand name, skip all the rest and go directly to Sthil or Echo. Pay the money. use good mid grade gas and good oil, They work and work well for a long time . The other brands are in the trash.

Look at any commercial outfit, what do they use?

Yes we are in land of everyday week use.I will most likely go with a Sthil 2 cycle hope to get a least the rest of this year out of a throw away.

 

[soFlaNative]

My Echo serves me well, converts from stick edger back to weed wacker.
Looking at the pruner with the 10 inch bar so I can pinch a blade overhead.
I've run ethanol free gas only through it from the start, but keep hearing
that 93 octane has no alcohol added.
Anyone know if this is true?

 

[JohnRippert]

We had one of the manual ones for edging when I was a kid. Kinda like a ninja shuriken star on a wheel. Dad mowed and I had to edge. I do remember the spring loaded sideways shears as well. These days I use the Honda mower and the gas weedeater to trim and edge. We used to have a gas edger but when it died I just changed over to the weedeater.

 

[df06]

String trimmer

A thin stripe of round up.

I gave my Stihl string trimmer to a neighbor and use Round UP once in the spring around places that need trimming.
Save a lot of time and aggravation.

 

[doublesharp]

I run avgas and Amsoil Sabre synthetic oil mixed 80:1 in everything 2 cycle. Avgas costs under $5 gallon and 5 gal lasts me all year.

I have a Honda 4 stroke edger and it is great. Would be too heavy for a string trimmer though. Typical Honda that starts 1st pull most of the time.

I only buy commercial equipment and right now I have Husqvarna string trimmer, hedge trimmer and pole saw, Kawasaki backpak blower and a stihl handheld blower that's at least 10 years old. All run good year after year with no worries of draining fuel or rotted plastic. helps that the local airport is nearby and they are glad to sell 5 gal amounts.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

Using a string trimmer cures the need for these toys called fidgets. In fact most yard work eliminates the need for a fidget.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[armadillo]

In about 1974 a guy moved to our office in Texas from Seattle. He told me about this new lawn trimmer that used fishing line to cut grass. I thought he was making it up.

 

[Roadtrash]

I thought this was going to be another thread about goats.

 

[jsfricks]

My dad didn't need a weed eater. He had three sons and a good ole sling blade. And no, not the movie.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Growing up outside of town, the perspective is different. As the farms became 5 acre lots and the "Jones'" moved to the country, they quickly learned there is nothing worth keeping up with. One guy moved in next to my place and told everyone how my yard was disgusting with Dandelions and crabgrass and often 6" tall. He planted 3.5 of his 5 acres with a nice Blue grass mix and spent a fortune on Scotts Weed-N-Feed 4 treatments. He spent May, June & July mowing twice a week and all of August and September watching grubs and the sun destroy everything he worked for!

I tried to mow every week in the early part of the season, but rain and breakdowns happen. Sometimes you would have to get a bush-hog and do the front yard. Then it would take a few mowings to look like a yard instead of pasture! Most years (of the 32 I lived there) I weed trimmed around the outbuildings 2 or 3 times. I tried to keep it below a foot tall!

Pretty yards are nice and all, but you can't eat grass! After working 50 to 60 hours a week plus about 8 to 10 hours of travel time, chores and garden come before looking like "Better Homes and Gardens!" As I ended up retired, I had more time, so I upped my trimming about 5 times a year. I used a 110 volt trimmer with 200 to 300 feet of extension cord, then the last year I had a Ryobi 40 Volt cordless trimmer and the last 3 years a 48" zero turn mower.

In the condo I don't mow at all. My friends have to leave having fun to go home and mow.


BTW. The city kids that bought my place can't keep up with mowing 1/3 of what we mowed. I drove by the other day and the front yard is 16+ inches tall! I guess the neighbors might think a little better of me now! Probably not!

Ivan

 

[Lonegle57]

Am 60 this year. My first Toro 4 cycle lasted 13 years with any kind of gas I put in it, my second is running on pure medium grade gas. This is my home tool. I retired from teaching Horticulture and now work part time at the school on grounds care. I prefer to spend time using glycophosphate (Roundup) in a battery powered backpack sprayer, yes it is heavy, rather than a weedeater on most places that require one. Saves time and a lot less effort. Use weedkiller at home as well where is can be used.

 

[wingriderz]

I run avgas and Amsoil Sabre synthetic oil mixed 80:1 in everything 2 cycle. Avgas costs under $5 gallon and 5 gal lasts me all year.

I have a Honda 4 stroke edger and it is great. Would be too heavy for a string trimmer though. Typical Honda that starts 1st pull most of the time.

I only buy commercial equipment and right now I have Husqvarna string trimmer, hedge trimmer and pole saw, Kawasaki backpak blower and a stihl handheld blower that's at least 10 years old. All run good year after year with no worries of draining fuel or rotted plastic. helps that the local airport is nearby and they are glad to sell 5 gal amounts.

Just curious is 80 :1 the new spec for those

 

[joeintexas]

As a kid I trimmed by hand using an old half sharp hand trimmer. I have used both the electric and gas type trimmers until recently. My new edger/trimmer is called Jake. He is 17 year old kid that lives in the neighborhood, most polite and respectful kid I ever met. He saw me edging one day and ask if I would like him to do it every other week, said he would edge and trim the half acre for $10!! I couldn't say yes fast enough. Of course I do have to throw in a fishing trip every so often with his granddad, another pretty nice fellow. Actually the deal is for 10 bucks but I always give him 20$.

 

[Maple Trapper]

Back when I was in my early to mid teens my brother and I had a job mowing a cemetery of about 5 acres. We had to trim all the stones leading up to Memorial Day. That was long before weed trimmers had a engine. It took a real long time. We only had to trim that one time a year, after that we just mowed.
Now I don't even trim, except I use a Stihl sicle trimmer to clear around a foot bridge into my u-pick blueberry fields and also arount the tables and concrete post mounted cash boxes. That's generally done just before we open for the season and foot traffic keeps it down after that.

 

[Maddog 521]

Non ethanol gasoline is the answer to many problems.

 

[soFlaNative]

Used hedge shears for trimming the grass and a machete for the walks.
That little yellow and green electric gizmo was a big step up.

 

[WardenRoss]

My Dad was a military man and he made us (1960's) use a square point shovel and scrape/trim a dirt/grass-less path on all sides of the concrete drive and sidewalk and flowerbeds. The dirt path was the exact width of the shovel.

Once this was established, you would use the sharp square point shovel to trim the grass at the edge of the turf by chopping downward. All the edges were perfect and of course, scraping the dirt with the sharp shovel would de-weed the dirt path.

It was crisp, clean and straight and very uniform.

On a side note, I used to supervise a road gang, before weed-eaters. The 12 convicts used Yo-Yo's (sling blades) and would cut ditches as neat as a modern weed-eater. The two guys in front used a bush ax and hit the heavy stuff first. Yes, just like the movie Cool Hand Luke.

 

[WardenRoss]

Forgot the picture............

 

[CZU]

My dad didn't need a weed eater. He had three sons and a good ole sling blade. And no, not the movie.

That was known as a Yo-Yo where I grew up.