Stihl Trimmer = Poor Man's Sickle Bar?

[cold1313]

Long story short, I have a large pond and I cannot get remotely close to it with any of my equipment....except my Stihl professional grade weed wacker. It does pretty good but when I get around to do the trimming in a few locations (just to fish and to keep it looking 'ok') the grass could be 3 foot tall.

I've got the string head, two different style metal blades and the 3 poly blade system. They work okay but I am fighting it because it all falls back onto the weed wacker and the back and forth motion starts to wear you out after awhile.

I was on Stihl's website and their professional series hedge trimmers with the angle adjustable head gave me the idea that I could basically use it as a sickle bar and "ideally" just walk right through the grass and weeds that grow up, letting everything lay down like a sickle bar.

Anyone tried this? I am curious whether the trimmer would cut the grass or if it would jam up, wrap, etc? If one of those would let me just walk right along and make a 24" cut while doing it....I would save a ton of time and a lot of energy.

Not going for a golf course, just a farm pond and only trimming in a few spots so it looks decent from the house and along the dam where it slopes to the water.

 

[bcp]

Can you rent one to try before buying?

Sometimes I get something that should or will work, but some minor, overlooked thing makes it too awkward for me to use in my situation.

Bruce

 

[Silvic]

I do a tremendous amount of brushcutter work with both a FS250 and a FS450 (about 100 gallons of fuel a year). I use the triangle three prong metal blade as well as very heavy duty large diameter line for the vegetation you describe. I use other blades for other vegetation. I like it as the vegetation get removed and somewhat mulched all at the same time.

Since you have been using 2 different metal blades I would presume you are using the bike handle bar version with a full harness. Stihl required that with any metal blade. If you are doing it with a "normal" handle Stihl weed wacker I can only imagine the strain it puts on you. The back and forth you describe I do for hours on end and I am not even close to being young or even middle aged anymore.

The hedge trimmers on a pole I saw on the website were all hand held that I believe would be a very tiring device to use for your purpose. If they made them with a bike handle and harness then I would view it differently. As far a jamming I have no idea but would speculate that coarse grasses would be different from finer blade grasses and that would effect your results.

 

[CobyRupert]

Interesting concept. The few times I've taken a hand held hedge trimmer through grass, it did act like a sickle bar and didn't clog. hmmm...

I use the "4 prong" blade, which I don't think is a good in grass a 3 prongs, or as good in brush as a the "circular saw" style, but a good compromise when going in between.

I find that in tall grass or tall brush where the cut material is going to snag or get in the way of the "back-sweep" , cut the stalk down in 2 or 3 sections instead of 1 cut at the base. Yes, more sweeps, but easier, less energy in the long run than fighting tangles.

I'm going to follow this to see if your idea works.

 

[rekees4300]

I have Stihl FS240 and also trim around my 1 acre pond. I use a triangle three prong metal blade for long (more than 1 foot tall) and a string head for less than 1 foot tall vegitation. Recommend increasing the frequency of cuts, much easier to do multi times rather than fighting the tall stuff.

 

[TnAndy]

I mounted a 12" circle blade from my Dewalt chop saw on an FS90....hole diameter for the blade fit perfectly. Then made up a 'cradle' out of 1/2 copper pipe to harvest a small lot of hulless oats I grew one year as an experiment. Gas version of a hand scythe with cradle. Worked good, except the FS90 was a little underpowered for the blade.

 

[newbury]

I think the trimmer is a rich man's scythe.

Lot's of you tube comparisons. I had to use a scythe when I was in my teens. We had a 1 acre pond that needed trimming around. Didn't have a tractor, had a scythe. Good arm building exercise. Now I would use my FS250.

 

[atsah]

I do a tremendous amount of brushcutter work with both a FS250 and a FS450 (about 100 gallons of fuel a year).

A 100 gallons of fuel a year, WOW I guess you do do a tremendous amount of brush cutting work..

 

[joecoin]

I've used a hedge trimmer to cut weeds numerous times. As long as you are not in a hurry it works just fine. Put on some knee pads and walk on your knees.

Or go to Rural King in Norwalk and get a manual weed whip.

 

[Wagtail]

The upside to your proposal is that it will work, and work well.

The downside is the amount of bending over you would have to do, with the accompanying vibration from the tool, to accomplish it. That in itself will wear you down.