Garden strimmers - WHY PLASTIC WIRE??

[tallanddopey]

i would have to say you all sound like you are using the cheapest nylon wire that you can find, i paid around £10 for my stuff and i will only have to lengthen 2-3 times every 45mins. and this is cutting the nettles and grass on my farm, and believe me when i say that these are some tough plants, deffinately not the run of the mill garden weeds.

[depoix]

Hmmmmmm. Maybe my point is along the lines of...why is the only stuff on offer nylon/plastic that breaks so often (trust me) rather than indestructible wire?

 

All we're trying to do is the edges of the lawn. So, dandelions and grass is beating what should be able to cope....

 

i think you can buy fdifferent grades some are thicker for heavier work

[fox20thc]

Why not go the old fashioned route? I have a push lawnmower and some edging shears for the edge of the lawn - they never break down and are environmentally sound

[mj.scuba]

Buy a goat instead, will keep the garden nice n' trim and can use the "waste" as fertiliser for your plants.

[WallBuilder]

I have in the past often used a petrol strimmer with a metal blade fitted that'd cope with even the worst nettled area. Nowadays though in my teensy little garden i only use an electric strimmer but found the plastic cord snapping far too often and then I had to waste time opening the spool housing and feeding out some more. This basically got annoying and as i was shearing grass along the bottom of a wall I decided to try something else. I jury rigged a piece of old speaker wire in to the spool and that at least seems to last till I get round the garden.

Like any garden tool it's not a toy and shouldn't be used by children or by people in flip flops so I've got another forty metres of speaker wire surplus to requirements that I intend to continue using.

[alchresearch]

In all the years of using a strimmer I've never had any issues with the plastic cord. I can only assume I'm using a good strimmer and cord or just using it properly!

 

If you're using a £15 Argos strimmer you get what you pay for.

[poppins]

 

Is it possible to buy industrial-strength strimmers? What do professionals do?

 

We use the industrial kind, take a petrol & oil mix, it's a bit heavy to handle but I use the boy accoss the street for that job, I threw out two of those plastic trimmers, waste of money, invest in a good one, well worth it.

[mattu33]

its nylon, not plastic, get it right - and if your strimmer works properly and your not trying to chop down anything too thick it lasts a while...

 

a full roll should be able to do the average garden atleast 10 times...

 

Nylon is a plastic, its a polyamide. I signed up just to say this as it really got to me that you was trying to correct op with wrong information

[natjack]

Nylon is a plastic, its a polyamide. I signed up just to say this as it really got to me that you was trying to correct op with wrong information

You do realise the thread is from 3 years ago? Most of the original posters are long gone from the SF by now.

 

But yeah, probs using the wrong grade for the job they were trying to do.

[BobbyDazzler]

I got so fed up of strimmer wires breaking, I tried a metal guitar string, it broke straight away..and it was a thick bugger...an A string!