This comes close: http://www.stihlusa.com/products/trimmers-and-brushcutters/accessories/trimmer-heads-and-blades/grassblade/
Personally I like Stihl’s brush knife, which looks like something a ninja should own:
The trouble is it really doesn’t work on things you encounter on a normal lawn. The brush knife is amazing at cutting down actual brush on my farm, but around the house I switch back to string. I imagine that’d be even more true with their exposed circular saw on a stick head.
Love ours, every last one of them. All are two cycle gas/oil models. Two use heavy line, one is a brush-cutter that has a blade (John Deere IIRC). The brush cutter could do major damage to an ankle. I weed wack before I mow, getting all the edges just right. The first start-up of the season is a bitch (I do not use StaBil or anything). After that it is smooth sailing, more or less. It says to prime the bulb 6 times, but 12 or so is better IME.
Yep, that’s similar to the John Deere we have. I use it to cut down decorative grasses in the spring and to tidy up the horse pastures. Also, ours doubles as a small rototiller.
I hate mixing with a 2 cycle so I’ve started using pre-mix and I’m getting better results.
There are alternatives, propane torch weed killers or Roundup herbicide. I’ve a particularly difficult place to edge so I sprayed Roundup in a narrow strip that always needed edging. That was two years ago with no grass growth since. I’ve also laid down some 5" wide strips of heavy lumber at ground height bordering my lawn so I can get it all with the lawnmower.That really minimizes the edging required.
My dad just used a fairly thick length of copper wire with his old electric one in the mid 1980s. Not the safest thing in the world, but it worked like gangbusters on weeds and grass… right up until I girdled one of his young peach trees with it by accident as a 13 year old.
We got a new weedeater that used the nylon cord not long after that.
I have used an electric Black & Decker weedwhacker (not the same one) for something like 20 years. It’s much easier to handle than a gas-powered push edger. Once I got the hang of it, a long time ago, it was easy - - much easier than crawling on my hands and knees around the edge of the yard using a hand clipper. This one customer had a back fence 150 feet from the electric oulet on the back wall of the house; I bought a 100 foot cord and one 50 feet long.
What terrific timing. I have a very old – 11 years old – $20 Toro that I don’t think is made anymore. It was a POS from day one and the damn thing has finally died. Please make your recommendations as to which should replace it.
Note: I won’t have anything to do with the gas-powered ones. I’m thinking of an electric corded/battery hybrid.
What do y’all think of this one?
That’s the one I have. Assuming you have Ryobi batteries already, and your yard itsn’t ridiculously huge, go for it. The standard Li-ion will run it for about 20 minutes; the high-capacity will last for about 45.
Don’t bother buying the replacement spools; get a 200’ bulk replacement for $10 and wind it yourself. Easy peasy.
I’ve never owned one, but I hate them because they’re too fucking loud and annoying.
I think they’re fun to use, provided you can get them to start and keep running.
But I bought a grass whip for our lawn. Cheap, good exercise, never breaks down.
I’m with the OP, I hate the damn things. I have a gas powered Toro and I’m constantly having to fiddle with the damn spool. Last week I picked up an Ugly Head and installed it to give it a try. I used it for the firs time and it cut better than my old spool and it is super easy to replace line should they break.
I think there’s two issues with these things:
the models vary greatly in quality, even in the same price range. If you’re not happy with the one you have, I’d recommend buying a new one. On this front, I recently upgraded to this Black & Decker model and have been extremely happy with it. It’s enough power for fairly thick weeds.
if you’re manually winding the string to refill it, spend your time doing it very nicely. If you sloppy in winding, you’ll never get good feed out of the unit.
I think a .080 string thickness is a bare minimum I’d consider acceptable. I hate cordless varieties. The hassle of a cord is not as bad as the hassle of batteries that don’t hold enough charge and that wear out over time.
If you get a battery powered model, get one that has a Li-Ion battery, they hold twice the charge of Ni-Cad and last for years. My favorite is WORX brand, the best I’ve ever had.
I think they are easier to start and run than chain saws. I’ve about given up on gas powered chain saws. The electric ones work just fine for me.
20-30 minutes will totally take care of it – I have a small yard that is mostly landscaped; very little grass. I just need it to get to the weird nooks and corners that the mower can’t fit into without also mowing my flowers.
I didn’t see the sense in dropping hundreds on one of these things, but I want a tiny bit more power than my crappy old Toro.
Thanks!
We had a rechargeable one several years ago and I hated it. It was heavy and my hands would start cramping up whenever I used it. Plus the battery would only get me about halfway around the yard, and we don’t have a very big yard!
The electric one I have now is great. I think it is a B&D and it’s the first trimmer I’ve had in many years where the feed actually works! And it has the swivel head so you can go vertical for edging.
When I moved to my new place I realized my Ryobi was not up to the job. I have a lot of stuff that needs weed-whacked.
I bought a big ass Husqvarna. It’s a monster, feeds great. The bad thing is that it covers me in whacked weeds. Head to toe.
As far as a metal blade, my neighbor in Florida 20 years ago mounted a circular saw blade on one and cut off his foot.
Not as much as I hate leaf blowers.