weed wacker question

[big bubba]

it's the time of year when grass, esp fescue, get thick with stems & seedpod in it's initial spring growth. i weed eat around 3 acres of trees & 3 pond dams. use a heavy duty bicycle harness weed eater & seems i'm forever having to lay it down to remove stems wrapped around cutter head (no mater what angle of approach).

no point in burning out clutch. anyone come up with a do it yourself or aftermarket shroud or other to reduce my workload?
later on in the season, the returning blade growth is no prob... thx in advance

 

[JasperFrank]

What I do is extremely dangerous, so I would not suggest anyone do this. I wear a motorcycle helmet, steel toe boots and two layers of jeans, a thick coat, leather gloves, and no one can be around. Not even the dog. I use a head that is meant for the plastic replacement blades. But I put in 3 and 1/2 inch eye bolts instead. All work is done away from windows. This just atomizes everything. Even the thick black berries. I do always start top to bottom to avoid the wrap. The ends do break, but I've never had an entire eye bolt fail.

 

[big bubba]

you may be onto something. Stihl comes out with a try blade attachment that may be the answer for me for initial spring stem growth, have one, forgot about it. it may be for heaver growth.
i have a circular saw blade attachment as well, but dulls quick with rock. my best bet would be preventing stems from binding the cutter head since the wacker easily does the job, thx
btw taking multiple cuts in heavy growth is anonther alternative, but rather do it in 1st cut

 

[jyoutz]

Not an answer to your situation, but I only use hand held weed wackers for light duty work. I use a wheeled string trimmer that takes .190 size line. This is more than double the thickness of most hand held trimmers.

 

[big bubba]

self propelled, works good on slopes? frequency of string replacement?

 

[JasperFrank]

Technique, or how one a approaches the cut, for me makes a huge difference. Anything over 12 inches I'll make a first sweep with the lines or bolts at 90 degrees to the ground. This blows stuff up and out of the way. I do this again till 6 to 8 inches is left in stems. Then I go horizontal for the last sweep. Nothing there is long enough to wrap. And I feel your pain, cause nothing is fun about cutting and unwrapping grass off of a weed eater when you have to get stuff done.
I've found most all the saw blades, to be entirely useless for my area, and application.

 

[big bubba]

"I've found most all the saw blades, to be entirely useless for my area, and application" JasperFrank
my experience too. will adjust my technique, probably less trouble than detaching harness & dealing with the bind. regards

​

 

[jyoutz]

self propelled, works good on slopes? frequency of string replacement?

My wheeled string trimmer isn’t self propelled, but it’s very well balanced and has big wheels, making it easy to push. Slopes: it has a four stroke motor, so there is some slope limitations, but I do use it on some slopes, taking care not to tilt the motor at extreme angles. For real steep slopes or hard to get to places, I do use the handheld trimmer. Both my wheeled and handheld string trimmers are Echo brand and I’m real happy with them. Frequency of string replacement: it depends on your technique. If you start by cutting with the string tips, it lasts a long time. If you push the trimmer and cut farther back on the string, they can break. They are easy to change, just threading through a couple of holes. I made a spare string holder out of pvc pipe and caps and zip tie it to the handle bar.

Walk Behind Trimmers | ECHO

Delivering 5x the power of handheld trimmers, an ECHO walk behind trimmer is a tough tool for tough jobs.

www.echo-usa.com

 

[big bubba]

good info. going around trees, can you push your trimmer around w/o damaging trunks?

 

[jyoutz]

good info. going around trees, can you push your trimmer around w/o damaging trunks?

If you use the side of the trimmer that has the string guard.