Eliminate strimmer line

[Tom Dunlap]

I live in a corner house in the city. That leaves me double the sidewalk as well as a large driveway/alley to tidy up.

Someone down the block moved out and left behind a nice Echo straight shaft line trimmer. I've used the largest diameter strimmer line to edge and tidy up.

Now I see this wire brush head. Hmmm...it seems much more durable.

7.72US $ 41% OFF|15cm Steel Wire Wheel Garden Weed Brush Lawn Mower Grass Eater Trimmer Brush Cutter Tools Garden Grass Trimmer Head Weed Brush - Grass Trimmer - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

 

[Dan Cobb]

Personally, I use a stick edger. My zoysia is pretty aggressive, so cutting the miniature trench is helpful.

Buddy of mine had his trimmer die, so he asked his neighbor if he had a string trimmer he could borrow to edge his lawn. The neighbor hands him a trashed chainsaw and tells him "Here, use this. It's what I use to edge." He said it worked fine, just wasn't very ergonomic.

 

[Crimsonking]

I live in a corner house in the city. That leaves me double the sidewalk as well as a large driveway/alley to tidy up.

Someone down the block moved out and left behind a nice Echo straight shaft line trimmer. I've used the largest diameter strimmer line to edge and tidy up.

Now I see this wire brush head. Hmmm...it seems much more durable.

7.72US $ 41% OFF|15cm Steel Wire Wheel Garden Weed Brush Lawn Mower Grass Eater Trimmer Brush Cutter Tools Garden Grass Trimmer Head Weed Brush - Grass Trimmer - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

Looks painful to me. I had to brush steel beams for a previous job, and was constantly picking bristles out of my skin when they broke off the head and lodged into me.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

when they broke off

That was one of my first concerns. I wear a face shield when using grinders and wire brushes

This would be down at foot level...so I'm thinkin'...

 

[Reach]

I’ve seen those advertised for cleaning cracks of weeds, and they probably work decent for that, but those things aren’t likely to give you a nice, neat edge, and they won’t trim around any normal objects very well.

As a former professional lawn service operator, I recommend just buying larger diameter line - don’t buy the biggest stuff on the market, your trimmer probably won’t have the power to turn it. Buy one size larger than you usually use.

Edit: I see that you’re already using larger line. Never mind what I just said.

 

[Bart_]

Had you ever used one of those skill saw bladed sapling remover "strimmers"? I think that wire wheel would behave similarly. Similarly dangerously. Maybe that ad is a spoof.

Next level of aggressive is plastic flail blades instead of string. Would still have some give.

 

[Birdyman88]

Hey Tom. If you're goal is to convert it to an edger basically, you may be able to find an edger blade and adapt it to that head. Then with it being a straight shaft, rotate the gear head 90*. You may need to remove the gear head and tap another hole for the alignment screw, but thats easy. Or, you might pick up an edger head off ebay for cheap. I dont like that wire wheel when edger blades are only $2.

 

[Reach]

Had you ever used one of those skill saw bladed sapling remover "strimmers"? I think that wire wheel would behave similarly. Similarly dangerously. Maybe that ad is a spoof.

Next level of aggressive is plastic flail blades instead of string. Would still have some give.

I have used those, they’re not near as exciting as you might think. They’re actually rather slow cutting and boring. And they don’t throw anything, not even gravel - the teeth are too small and the diameter is too small to give any momentum.

The wire wheels do actually exist, mostly they’re mounted on wheeled edgers and used by seal coating companies; they’re called “crack chasers”, for cleaning out pavement cracks before they are sealed.

Those plastic swing-away blades cut tall grass and thicker herbaceous weeds well, but not woody plants, and they break too easily when they hammer against asphalt/concrete. Too many years in lawn care taught me that the best option is just buying trimmer line, and edger blades for the crews with miles of curb to edge.

 

[pete3d]

This puts me in mind of a “only as seen on TV” product of about 30-35 years ago - the triangular (circular) saw blade - “cuts everything but it’s ideal for cutting curves”

 

[ATH]

I have used those, they’re not near as exciting as you might think. They’re actually rather slow cutting and boring. And they don’t throw anything, not even gravel - the teeth are too small and the diameter is too small to give any momentum.

...

You weren't putting it on the right saw!

I have a Husqvarna 555FX. It doesn't slow down when you swing it into a 3" tree if you hit it right. Even if you hit it "wrong" a 1" tree isn't gonna stop it.

However I would NOT want that thing without the harness to hold it. Not just because it is heavy...but because at some point you'll catch something just wrong and it sends the tip flying. If the tool isn't strapped on, it will go flying.

I wouldn't want the wire wheel. Agree with other comments about wires coming off and, same as described above... either your saw is too weak or you need a harness to hold it when that wheel catches the ground.

 

[Bart_]

I recall the quadrant contact speech and the mandatory harness to help corral the cutting head when I first did duty clearing trail. Same as a strimmer, you can operate it unstably so it digs in, perhaps uncontrollably, on contact or you can have it bounce it self back out on contact so you provide the aggressiveness as desired.

I have a sort of ninja star "skill saw" blade head from Stihl that confuses me in its intent, purpose and operation. It tends to snag and wrap very often rather than cut so it sits mostly unused.

 

[ATH]

I have a sort of ninja star "skill saw" blade head from Stihl that confuses me in its intent, purpose and operation. It tends to snag and wrap very often rather than cut so it sits mostly unused.

probably a grass cutting blade?

 

[evo]

Have you ever used a cheap wire wheel on a bench grinder or worse a angle grinder? I’d run from that

 

[Reach]

You weren't putting it on the right saw!

I have a Husqvarna 555FX. It doesn't slow down when you swing it into a 3" tree if you hit it right. Even if you hit it "wrong" a 1" tree isn't gonna stop it.

However I would NOT want that thing without the harness to hold it. Not just because it is heavy...but because at some point you'll catch something just wrong and it sends the tip flying. If the tool isn't strapped on, it will go flying.

I wouldn't want the wire wheel. Agree neith other comments about wires coming off and, same as described above... either your nsaw is too weak or you need a harness to hold it when that wheel catches the ground.

Clearly not! I’ve only run them on 40ish cc powerheads, and I just found it to be slow and disappointing. I’ll have to try a big clearing saw like that one some time, just for the fun of it. It sounds like fun actually, just not for hours on end.

 

[Reach]

Have you ever used a cheap wire wheel on a bench grinder or worse a angle grinder? I’d run from that

Good point! The shrapnel that comes when one of those things starts flinging wire is too exciting for me! There’s a reason I wear leather sleeves and gloves when I’m wire wheeling in the shop.

 

[Dan Cobb]

Some folks like using cable ties instead of string. I'd use good quality nylon ties.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Lots of great insight, thanks

I won't decide until next week.

I'm leaning towards using larger strimmer line. I'll use a drill bit or transfer punch to measure the head and get something just a bit smaller. I think the first spool was .080 but .095 might fit and still bump feed.

I dislike turf/mowing so much I don't want to even think about having to change over the strimmer head to a bladed edger.

I have been using 0.095" One spool has lasted one and half summers. Cheap enough

If we get some rain I'll run the strimmer along the edge to chip away some of the soil. I'm not look for a knife edge. Just push back the encroachment on the sidewalk.

Many years ago I made a cutter using short pieces of worn out saw chain. Two on a disk. I use heavy wire to twist a connection. The chain went through weeds like a flippin' banshee! The chain or wire would brake and the trimmer was out of balance and vibrate like crazy. Stop, rebuild and go. It worked but I was kinda scared of having a chunk of chain go whipping through the air. No one was anywhere near me while I was chain-trimming..chimming

 

[pete3d]

I’ll have to try a big clearing saw like that one some time, just for the fun of it. It sounds like fun actually, just not for hours on end.

Having owned (and used) a big Sachs Dolmar with a full chest harness and handle bars, I can assure you the twisting action of hours of repetitive motion is no friend of the operator’s back.

If I was requiring employees to use that type of clearance saw I would insist on a maximum stint of two hours continuous operation followed by at least two hours of some other type of activity, for health and safety reasons.

 

[Reach]

Lots of great insight, thanks

I won't decide until next week.

I'm leaning towards using larger strimmer line. I'll use a drill bit or transfer punch to measure the head and get something just a bit smaller. I think the first spool was .080 but .095 might fit and still bump feed.

I dislike turf/mowing so much I don't want to even think about having to change over the strimmer head to a bladed edger.

I have been using 0.095" One spool has lasted one and half summers. Cheap enough

If we get some rain I'll run the strimmer along the edge to chip away some of the soil. I'm not look for a knife edge. Just push back the encroachment on the sidewalk.

Many years ago I made a cutter using short pieces of worn out saw chain. Two on a disk. I use heavy wire to twist a connection. The chain went through weeds like a flippin' banshee! The chain or wire would brake and the trimmer was out of balance and vibrate like crazy. Stop, rebuild and go. It worked but I was kinda scared of having a chunk of chain go whipping through the air. No one was anywhere near me while I was chain-trimming..chimming

Buy a different head if you need to, and jump up to .105 line. Big difference in longevity, huge difference over .081, and if you use something like Stihl X-Line, it’s very aggressive cutting so you don’t need it to turn as fast to trim well. Go too big though and the trimmer won’t turn it fast enough.

Funny story with the saw chain head - there used to be one commercially available, but I figure the things cut too many people off at the ankles so they probably went bankrupt. My father had an old McCulloch he bought used from the power company that came with one of those heads. It cut like nothing I have ever seen, and threw rocks three doors down. He finally quit using it after it (true story) sawed the 4x4 legs off the swingset in the back yard.

 

[Birdyman88]

Hey Tom, one more thing to consider. You may be able to go to a oversize line by enlarging the hole in the metal ferrules that the line exits the head. I see no reason why you couldn't get another 20-30 thousandths out of the holes. Just round and smooth with some basic tools - sandpaper, etc. Now whether it will feed right is another issue, but I see no reason why it wouldn't.