T1B

Yes it works quite well. Good move getting a Stihl as my dad made me knock down all of the crap on the 3 acres back in the day with one of those. Did you get the blade head attachment also? That's the one I want to see in action going against heavy brush.

KC Scott wrote:We all have yards, so we all have to mow and weed eat....

speak for yourself.

Always have an extra spool of "string" on hand. What's the difference?

uh no.

the worst thing about weed eating is running thru a fresh pile of dog shit.


that's always fun.

Auto-feed/spooled trimmer heads are the suck. And you can't use the bigger gauge string in them.

I just use the head with two holes in it -- takes the big thick string, which rarely breaks, and takes about 15 seconds to change it... that is when I don't have the brush-cutter head on there, which really shines for removing blackberries.

Dinsdale wrote:
I just use the head with two holes in it.

swoon

I use something very similar, just with two strings instead of four.

However, I ditched the gas trimmer a few years ago in favor of the electric one. There are multiple attachments such as a hedge trimmer, edger, etc as well. Since I keep the homestead nice and tidy there is no need for the additional power of a gas trimmer. Plus I have a 200 foot extension cord that allows me to handle the yard easily. Bonus is there is no need to mix an additive into a gas can and no need to store additional gas around the house.

The OL bought a cheapo battery operated eater. Fuggin' thing has a battery life of about a minute and a half. Lefty has the right idea for modest sized yard. Power cords are the way to go. For real work, the type messicans do, good ole 2 smoke power is still the way to go. If mixing gas is too much trouble for you, you are a stupid faggit and need to just right a check to Jose.

KC Scott wrote:
What's the worst thing about weedeating?

String trimming is the real term, weed eating developed from the brand name. Rack them for longevity. Set up your landscape where you only need to break one of these out for more than about 15 minutes twice a month max. Flip it up on it' side for edging is about all I use one for once a month.

Use a glyphosate spray to create an area than only needs to be trimmed once a month.

Curved shaft trimmers suck. Get a name brand, Stihl, Echo straight shaft. And get one with some fucking power behind it. Bump feeds seldom last very long. Use at least .09 twine on them. They make these edged twines that work much better than a round one.

Derron wrote:



CHECK





CHECK

CHECK

I used to try to mow my 2/3 acre or so of weeds in the spring with a push mower (an all day job) but finally gave in a couple of years ago. One of the best purchases ever.

smackaholic wrote:For real work, the type messicans do, good ole 2 smoke power is still the way to go. If mixing gas is too much trouble for you, you are a stupid faggit and need to just right a check to Jose.

Oh, contrare, Monswear.

A 4 stroke (I've used the high end Stihl, and I even pronounce the name right) absolutely destroys its 2-smoke counterparts. Although with the Stihl (not sure about other makes), you still have to mix the gas -- the drawback to 4-poppers being weight, and to save weight, it's built with no crankcase, hence the need for premix. The other drawback is that one can blow $400 on a top-of-the-line Stihl, whereas an old school 2 stroke is about $120 for a good one.

My trimmer is a McCulloch brush-cutter with the 32cc engine (the big one). Thing weighs a ton, but kicks some booteytang.

Also agree that curved-shaft trimmer suck. Maybe a hair better ergonomically, but otherwise inferior. Most of the cool aftermarket heads don't fit the bent-shaft, and on the now-rare occasions I use it for anything (the days of the second job maintaining foreclosed houses are behind me), I'd be pissed if I couldn't throw on the Gator brush-cutter head.

And like Derron, I get a lot more use out of a weed sprayer than a string trimmer. If you trim along fencelines (heaven forbid a chain link fence, the killer-of-string), or along lawn borders more than a couple of times a year, you don't know what you're doing and should probably hire Jose'.

Dinsdale wrote: And like Derron, I get a lot more use out of a weed sprayer than a string trimmer. If you trim along fencelines (heaven forbid a chain link fence, the killer-of-string), or along lawn borders more than a couple of times a year, you don't know what you're doing and should probably hire Jose'.

Ok, I will bite. Please tell me what I am doing wrong. I have to use the string trimmer each time I cut the grass. Along the border of all the flower beds, along the sidewalks, along the curb of the street, along each fence line and around trees.

Papa Willie wrote:I pay people like Invictus to do these things for me. Does that make me a bad person?

No, it makes you fat.

Left Seater wrote:Ok, I will bite. Please tell me what I am doing wrong. I have to use the string trimmer each time I cut the grass. Along the border of all the flower beds, along the sidewalks, along the curb of the street, along each fence line and around trees.

OK, I'll tell you -- you're obviously not spraying.

Hope that helps.

Actually, it comes down to whether the edge in question is lower or higher than the grass (at soil-level). Along a fence, and around raised borders, you spray with a tighter pattern and kill it an inch or two out. Now you have a track wide enough for the wheel of the mower (non-rider). You can go a few inches out from trees.

Thereyago... no more weekly trimming, although things like, for example, the edge of the sidewalk and flush lawn borders generally still need edging. Glyphosate (sup Ken) doesn't do everything, but most of it. I usually mix it fairly weak, and do it regularly, the reason being to mitigate herbicide-drift. Not so bad with glyphosate (aka Roundup, but the genuine Ortho product usually costs more), can be a big problem with 2-4D (Weed-B-Gone, Crossbow, et al).

Left Seater wrote:

Dinsdale wrote: And like Derron, I get a lot more use out of a weed sprayer than a string trimmer. If you trim along fencelines (heaven forbid a chain link fence, the killer-of-string), or along lawn borders more than a couple of times a year, you don't know what you're doing and should probably hire Jose'.

Ok, I will bite. Please tell me what I am doing wrong. I have to use the string trimmer each time I cut the grass. Along the border of all the flower beds, along the sidewalks, along the curb of the street, along each fence line and around trees.

You have a smaller city lot, and from the looks of your crib you like it nice. Rack you for that. An electric is probably going to work fine for you. In my former business in landscape we edged hard edges one week, and soft edges the next week. I know some dudes who have not got their yards / landscape to a point where you have to pickup a fucking string trimmer and spend an hour a week doing it ..there are better ways.

In the context Dins and I are looking at, our yards tend to be larger and grow fairly intensively, in my case since my "compound" is out in the country, I do not require the level of maintenance that a lot of you city dwellers want. I have about 12,000 square feet of grass that I mow weekly 9 months of the year. I have probably 2,000 linear feet of lawn trimming, and another 3,000 of fence lines. A quick blast of the spray keeps that 6 inch edge on my fence lines, and a pass with a tractor mower keeps that well under control. I probably have not picked up a string trimmer more than 1/2 hour this year.

I have a nice place, well kept one of the better ones in the rural hood. But I do not want to spend lots of time trimming grass. In fact, if I cannot get on a tractor and mower to do the work, I am probably going to find a better way to do it.

Papa Willie wrote:

No - all the Mexicans around here (and there ain't many at all) work in the Mexican restaurants.

I thought you lived in the United States. Pray tell a place where there is not a shit ton of Mexicans ??

Dins,
I don't want to kill my grass along the sidewalk, curb, flowerbeds, etc, etc. If I didn't trim it weekly, actually every 6th day from May thru Sept, it would completely cover the walkway to the front door in three weeks.

Derron is correct. In a city setting you want nice tight yards. Hell some HOAs require it.

Dinsdale wrote:

smackaholic wrote:For real work, the type messicans do, good ole 2 smoke power is still the way to go. If mixing gas is too much trouble for you, you are a stupid faggit and need to just right a check to Jose.

Oh, contrare, Monswear.

A 4 stroke (I've used the high end Stihl, and I even pronounce the name right) absolutely destroys its 2-smoke counterparts. Although with the Stihl (not sure about other makes), you still have to mix the gas -- the drawback to 4-poppers being weight, and to save weight, it's built with no crankcase, hence the need for premix. The other drawback is that one can blow $400 on a top-of-the-line Stihl, whereas an old school 2 stroke is about $120 for a good one.

My trimmer is a McCulloch brush-cutter with the 32cc engine (the big one). Thing weighs a ton, but kicks some booteytang.

Also agree that curved-shaft trimmer suck. Maybe a hair better ergonomically, but otherwise inferior. Most of the cool aftermarket heads don't fit the bent-shaft, and on the now-rare occasions I use it for anything (the days of the second job maintaining foreclosed houses are behind me), I'd be pissed if I couldn't throw on the Gator brush-cutter head.

And like Derron, I get a lot more use out of a weed sprayer than a string trimmer. If you trim along fencelines (heaven forbid a chain link fence, the killer-of-string), or along lawn borders more than a couple of times a year, you don't know what you're doing and should probably hire Jose'.

Sorry dude, but this....

Thing weighs a ton

disqualifies it, IMO. Small 4 stroke technology has come quite a way, but it still can't match up in the power to weight category. Yes, 4 strokes do have nice power control which comes in handy in a dirt bike, but, it's a fukkin' weedeater, who cares? I suspect the primary reason for its existence has to do with emissions.

smackaholic wrote:Sorry dude, but this....

Thing weighs a ton

disqualifies it, IMO. Small 4 stroke technology has come quite a way, but it still can't match up in the power to weight category.

The Mac I was refering to (mine) is a 2-stroke.

And if you ever use a 4-stroke trimmer, you'll realize the absolute silliness of your statement. They're not even a close comparison in performance (nor in price, which is the only issue).

Left Seater wrote:Dins,
I don't want to kill my grass along the sidewalk, curb, flowerbeds, etc, etc. If I didn't trim it weekly, actually every 6th day from May thru Sept, it would completely cover the walkway to the front door in three weeks.

Derron is correct. In a city setting you want nice tight yards. Hell some HOAs require it.

I think you need to reread what I wrote. If the border is above the grass, spray it. If it's flush or below, trim it.

That IS the way to a tight yard.

Dinsdale wrote:The edge of the sidewalk and flush lawn borders generally still need edging. Glyphosate (sup Ken) doesn't do everything, but most of it. I usually mix it fairly weak, and do it regularly, the reason being to mitigate herbicide-drift. Not so bad with glyphosate (aka Roundup, but the genuine Ortho product usually costs more), can be a big problem with 2-4D (Weed-B-Gone, Crossbow, et al).

You think waaaay to much about weedeating and spraying.

Dinsdale wrote:

Left Seater wrote:Dins,
I don't want to kill my grass along the sidewalk, curb, flowerbeds, etc, etc. If I didn't trim it weekly, actually every 6th day from May thru Sept, it would completely cover the walkway to the front door in three weeks.

Derron is correct. In a city setting you want nice tight yards. Hell some HOAs require it.

I think you need to reread what I wrote. If the border is above the grass, spray it. If it's flush or below, trim it.

That IS the way to a tight yard.

So since my fence and flower bed borders are above the grass I should spray them, ie kill the grass near the border. No thanks.

smackaholic wrote:...just right a check to Jose.

i'm taking back the well deserved rack scott gave you earlier.

Python wrote: You think waaaay to much about weedeating and spraying.

As a general rule, I don't give it much thought unless someone is paying me to do so (which hasn't happened in a while, which is fine, but the amateurs make me chuckle).