Weed wacker - extending string life

[WinterDeere]

next time your string breaks, take a look at the wound spool: you'll see the break occurs when one line is crossed over another, melted & broke. i'll wager 90% of what members are complaining about here is due not to line failure, but improperly wound trimmer line. do not cross one line over the other. simple fix

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I've personally never seen my own line break inside the head. It's always about 1/4" outside the spool, just outside the eyelet, where maximum flexure would be occuring at the eyelet.

 

[big bubba]

good point, must be another problem. all of my breaks are inside the head when i have improperly crossed the lines while winding. regards,

 

[Rayrla]

Another vote for Echo trimmer line. Have owned DR walk behind trimmers since the 90s and always used DR line. Recently ran out of DR and could not wait 7 to 10 days for shipping, so went to my local mower shop and found Echo trimmer line. Was highly recommended by the owner. The Echo line cut better and lasted much longer than the DR and no longer put in water. Also changed my Stihl hand held to Echo with similar results.

 

[Oaktree]

A little OT, but does the OP's spool have some sort of auto-feed on it?
I've got a battery Ryobi trimmer, and every start/stop cycle the string advances, whether it needs to or not. There's a cutter bar on the shield that trims it to length, so it doesn't get too long. A lot of start/stop cycles and you're gonna go thru a lot more string than if you kept it going.

Add me to the list of those who've never heard of soaking string before. Usually when I run out I'm in the middle of cutting, no time to stop and soak replacement string.

 

[Chiefwebb]

My 2 cents... I have found that round line outlasts the fancy shaped lines designed to cut better. I soak my lines and it does extend the life of my strings.

 

[Todd727]

Has anyone seen a variant that screws directly onto Stihl FS-KM straight shaft? It seems the Echo comes with an adapter that will allow it to attach to Stihl, but it sounded less than ideal.

Stihl Autocut Easyspool C 25-2

 

[dodge man]

next time your string breaks, take a look at the wound spool: you'll see the break occurs when one line is crossed over another, melted & broke. i'll wager 90% of what members are complaining about here is due not to line failure, but improperly wound trimmer line. do not cross one line over the other. simple fix

That’s not what happens to me. I have had mine jam because I don’t wind it but normally mine just gradually get shorter until I need to advance it.

 

[zzvyb6]

There's a gal mechanic on YouTube that recommends soaking the line spool with WD-40 after you load it.

 

[kenmbz]

I use square line and the only time it breaks vs. wears is on rocks and tough woody stems.
I love the Echo self feed.
Keep the line out of direct sunlight as that breaks down plastics pretty fast.
My 700' spool still has plenty of line and works great, 7 years later.
I use my trimmer almost weekly through spring/summer/fall.
Have 700 foot shared road, 400' main roadside, 200' trench and many smaller areas.

Just finished cutting about a 1/3 acre of stiltgrass with some autumn olive and firebush shoots in it and did not have to respool yet.

Those rocks I keep finding though, the line don't like them

 

[Mister3]

What would you experienced trimmer operators suggest for cutting back the "stuff" from the neighbors yard that grows thru the chain link fence that separates properties?
This is in Virginia where grass, vines, saplings, etc. have been growing fast.
Would one of those 3 plastic blade heads do well?
Herbicides are not permitted.
Trimmer of choice is my DeWalt Flexvolt.

White vinegar spray solutions