# Mowing the lawn with a Weed Eater?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 23, 2025, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046 "2025-06-23T18:38:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@keeganst94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keeganst94)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2025, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/21 "2025-06-24T14:38:33Z")
As others have said, it might not be worth unloading large ride-on mowers for such a small area and they might not have a mid-sized lawnmower. I have cut several acres before on uneven ground using a brush-saw though, and as long as you get a good harness, situated correctly it can be surprisingly fast - take a step, swing your hips a little and you can clear a 5 or 6 foot arc. Take another step forward and repeat.
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/22 "2025-06-24T15:37:21Z")
> [@Mr.Duality](#):
>
> Sharpening once per season will be enough for the average homeowner.
Alas, there’s no blade-sharpening service for my rotary mower within 2 hours of here. We have a very small yard, so a line trimmer will do it.
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### Author:  [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2025, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/23 "2025-06-24T15:53:16Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#):
>
> The scythe has already been mentioned, but it is worth repeating: it works fine for long grass. They are not expensive. They make no noise. It is a very mild exercise.
> Therefore I guess they are no longer used in the USA.
I have a friend who regularly cut his substantial yard with a scythe, in central New Jersey.
He was all-in too, he did the thing where he used a hammer to thin the edge as part of the sharpening process.
I don’t know how large his lawn was in acres, but it was big enough that I know he got a serious workout.
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### Author:  [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2025, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/24 "2025-06-24T16:13:19Z")
I once had a job working as a groundskeeper for a military base. So I was out there every day mowing lawns, trimming, edging, thatching, fertilizing, aerating, blah blah blah. I have professional experience with it.
Mowing an entire lawn with a trimmer can be done but it sucks. Mainly for two reasons… Time, and it looks like crap when you’re done. A mower can give you neat and even cutting lanes with the grass at a uniform height. No matter how careful you are with a trimmer, you just cannot achieve that.
If the grass gets so long that the mower can’t handle it (a situation I’ve deal with), what I found works is to use the trimmer to get it to a manageable level (which will take a lot of time, but that’s the price you pay for letting it get out of control). You then follow up with the lawnmower, and the end result should look fine. You don’t want to just use the trimmer and call it a day, or it will look like a toddler gave it a haircut.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2025, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/25 "2025-06-24T16:32:42Z")
Happy birthday!
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### Author:  [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2025, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/26 "2025-06-24T16:32:56Z")
Thank you. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2025, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/27 "2025-06-24T16:38:02Z")
> [@Atamasama](#):
>
> Mowing an entire lawn with a trimmer can be done but it sucks.
I agree… if the grass _can_ be cut using a push mower, then there’s no advantage IMO to using a trimmer.
> [@Atamasama](#):
>
> If the grass gets so long that the mower can’t handle it (a situation I’ve deal with), what I found works is to use the trimmer to get it to a manageable level (which will take a lot of time, but that’s the price you pay for letting it get out of control). You then follow up with the lawnmower, and the end result should look fine. You don’t want to just use the trimmer and call it a day, or it will look like a toddler gave it a haircut.
I just ran into this problem over the weekend. The area I needed to cut had grass 3 feet high; the last time I cut it was last year. I know most folks don’t have this, but I simply set the deck height on my 54" ZTR mower to its highest setting, and _slowly_ drove through it. I then set the deck to the normal height and drove through it again. Sharp blades are a must for this, BTW.
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### Author:  [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2025, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/28 "2025-06-24T16:39:37Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#):
>
> Sharp blades are a must for this, BTW.
I don’t doubt it, otherwise the grass will get wrapped around the blades like spaghetti around a fork.
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### Author:  [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2025, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/29 "2025-06-24T16:41:42Z")
Two YouTube channels I’ve spaced-out to for many hours: the weed whacker who clears long-neglected yards (until some curtain-twitcher calls the cops on him), and the scythe maven who attempted to clear an entire hectare of a flat part of Sweden in a single day (unsuccessfully but you had to give him The Old Man and the Sea props)
Really, really obscure method: when my daughter had Guinea pigs, I’d take the bottom out of their cage, put a rag on top for sun protection, place it on the lawn and move it as needed. They couldn’t clear a hectare in a day either, but did perform yoman duty.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2025, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/30 "2025-06-24T17:37:50Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#):
>
> : the weed whacker who clears long-neglected yards (until some curtain-twitcher calls the cops on him)
He cuts the plants in other people’s yards without permission!
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### Author:  [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2025, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/31 "2025-06-25T10:08:52Z")
It’s called [Guerrilla gardening](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_gardening)
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### Author:  [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2025, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/32 "2025-06-25T13:03:55Z")
Some rotary mowers have a self-sharpening mechanism. If your current mower doesn’t have that, you might consider getting one.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/33 "2025-06-25T13:59:55Z")
My friend just messaged me all excited that she bought herself a scythe this morning. Her yard is about 10x10, tho, with much if it being raised beds.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2025, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/34 "2025-06-25T14:18:30Z")
Sounds like she hardly has room to swing a ~~cat~~ weedeater, much less a scythe. Good luck to her in any case.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2025, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/35 "2025-06-25T14:38:56Z")
If you see her out and about in a monk robe, I’d cross the street.
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2025, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/36 "2025-06-25T16:18:07Z")
I do always have to sing,
_Well I saw her face
Now I’m a weed-eater…_
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2025, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/37 "2025-06-27T10:41:58Z")
Grandfather had a sythe. I could never get the hang of it. The design seems off to me.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/38 "2025-06-27T15:52:58Z")
She calls herself a [cottage witch](https://www.mabonhouse.co/new-blog/who-is-a-cottage-witch) so I think the scythe fits right in with her whole thing.
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### Author:  [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2025, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/39 "2025-07-13T10:07:46Z")
My dad tried it once. He never mowed all season, and in October, when there was a half-meter jungle everywhere (and therefore too high for a household mower), he whacked it all down with a power scythe. Said it’s “better for the vegetation”. He has since reverted to regular mowing though.
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### Author:  [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2025, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mowing-the-lawn-with-a-weed-eater/1020046/40 "2025-07-13T11:09:47Z")
Most Japanese don’t have lawns and use weed eaters for keeping plants down.
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