Because of the tough woody growths around our house, I purchased a weed eater and an attachment for it. The attachment has metal blades and is designed to cut tough weeds and even small branches/trees. I am a little nervous about the blade kicking back and hitting me in the shins, do I decided to look for some shin protectors before using it.
I’ve looked in a couple hardware stores and couldn’t find anything, so I tried sporting goods stores, thinking some athletic shin protectors might do the trick. I found one with a thick, tough plastic strip running down the front that seems like it’d do the trick, but it only covers about half of my lower leg.
Any ideas on what to use and where to get them? I’m looking for some really tough material (thick plastic or metal) that covers the front of my lower legs from knee to ankles.
the Kevlar ones are a bit pricey for yard work.
But the ice hockey shin guards are much more what I’m looking for. They cover the knee and whole shin, and I should be able to get a pair for $20-25.
You might have better luck looking for protective pants for chainsaw use.
Looks like Amazon has them (Chainsaw pants) for about $50 otherwise a store the specifically caters to landscaping and/or landscaping equipment/repair will probably have them in stock.
If you use the support strap and handle correctly it’s very difficult to injure your legs with the blade. Not impossible, but difficult. Wear eye protection!
I have one of those attachments, and used it quite vigorously last week.
Jeans and safety glasses are all you need.
Even if you hit a rock or stump, it may bump away, but it can’t turn on you take your leg out.
One thing that I think helps is to sharpen the blade. They come dull, and the idea is just to use the momentum to brutalize saplings into submission, but why work hard? If you don’t have the tools to do it, just take the blade to any mechanic shop and they can do it for you.
Take a cold beer or two along for payment. Takes two minutes, tops!
The threat is real, although not so much from the blade bouncing or kicking back. The real threat is if the blade fractures into pieces and shoots jagged shrapnel into your shins. This is the main reason I don’t like the metal blades. Repeated strikes against rocks and other debris weaken the blade over time until they suddenly and explosively let go. Heavy boots, shin guards and quality eye protection are the way to go.
I don’t go to Ace very often, but I do remember seeing knee pads there that included shin pads as well. I think these are the ones I saw, but I can’t be sure. I know flooring installers like the shin guards. I thought about getting a pair for working on the car in the driveway and possibly playing paintball.
Only $32. Not too bad and can be used in many more places than just weed/tree whacking.
I didn’t see anything like them on Home Depot’s website. Menards’ website says they sell something similar in stores, but not online. And Lowe’s has these. Why wait for shipping from a website when you can run out and grab them today?
In my over twenty years of abusing metal blades on BIG weed whackers, I have never seen, nor heard of this happening. Could you give us some cites?
I have hit some buried steel objects with a metal disc type blade and bent the living heck out of it. In that condition it vibrates very badly and numbs the hands. You will not operate one that is bent for very long. Seconds at best.
If you are correct and the metal blade does fracture, It could be very dangerous. I am not sure that even Kevlar would protect you from that type of failure. Which is why the manufacturer does not use a brittle material for these blades. IME, these blades are more on the ductile side. They bend long before they break.
I wear high top leather steel toed boots and heavy denim jeans to use these tools. If I were to desire more protection, I would use catchers shin gaurds, as I never get hit by debris at or above the knee. I am relatively short and have a 30" inseam if that helps you-all.
PS. All of my boots are steel toed so it is what I use for all of my boot needs.
I’ve have seen two cases during a career as a responder. The first one occurred after the homeowner replaced the factory blade with a carbide toothed circular saw blade. He wanted better cutting capability, and admitted the switch sounded like a good idea at the time. Circular saw blades don’t rotate at near the speeds of trimmers however and are also (apparently) more brittle. It resulted in a serious injury that could of been fatal.
The second incident involved a (albeit) large trimmer using a factory correct blade. As near as we could figure out, the blade hit a steel I-bolt that was embedded in the ground. The I-bolt had been used as an anchor point for a guy wire cable. The blade fractured on impact and stuck the operators foot. Even though he was wearing heavy work boots there was substantial trauma and blood loss. It was so bad that I though we had a partial traumatic amputation when I first looked at the foot.
It can and does happen, both with proper and improper blades attached,
Beauregard Porkypine, Thank you for the quick response! I have asked some of the EMTs around here about this. They have, like you, seen this when someone uses circular saw blades on these weed whackers. None of them recall an incident where the proper blade failed. Please note that they can not recall an incident, that does not mean that one did not happen, it just means that they do not recall one.
It seems obvious to me that using the wrong blades, (ones not rated for the higher RPMs), is a risky move at best. Sometimes folks do not think things out well. I have been known to be guilty of not giving an idea enough thought. I have indeed injured myself by not thinking things through.
In any case, Thanks, 48.
PS. I will probably start using the afore mentioned catchers shin gaurds now. I like my legs attached to me.
