Hello Sir, Is it possible to do good edge work with a grass trimmer—aka Weed Whacker, Weed Eater, string trimmer—or should you have an edger too?
Also, have advancements in batteries made the cordless grass trimmer worth it, or is gas-powered the way to go?
I primarily need a tool to do edging (I have hundreds of feet to edge on a 3-acre plot), with a little bit of trimming. I don’t want to buy two separate tools if I don’t have to. But I also want my lawn to rock.
Thank you,
Dj
Dj—A grass trimmer—technically the category of machine is ‘string trimmer’—used as an edger is an important issue, like climate change, candidates for county coroner, and the comparative versus relative awesomeness of uber-talent Scarlett Johansen. Let’s whip the weeds in the field before us and get this grass trimmer question answered.
First, abandon the word ‘edge’. In the Game of Lawns to which I’ve gauntleted This Old House’s Kevin O’Connor, I’ve not only dropped a name in here like an anvil from an airplane, but I’ve upped the ante. Let us now aspire as a DIY community to ‘lawn sharpening’. And, yes, it can be done with a string trimmer (aka Weed Whacker). Watch this video of me making a string trimmer a precision tool for crisping the edge the fescue. Many, if not most, landscapers use this technique. It’s fast and, after you get the hang of it, quite accurate.
Now on to the power plant play: Batteries versus gasoline.
After seeing the photos of your grounds—and you should call them ‘grounds’ (A) to pre-vanquish your neighbors’ self-esteem and (B) to sound unnecessarily Continental (the ladies like it; just ask Benedict Cumberbatch)—I think you might be better off staying old school and rolling with the gas-oil mix for edging and trimming with your string trimmer. Here’s why:
Even though I cannot believe how much I like my new and cutting edge Worx lawn mower (56-volt version)—despite not having had an original thought since racquetball was popular—I think the shear lineal footage of what you need to edge puts you at the edge (somewhat subjective call on my part) the convenience and quiet of the very able-bodied batteries in this tool category. You’d need to hit every lawn-day with a fully-charged, good-to-go battery. And it is easy to forget to re-charge. And there are specific temperature recommendations in battery charging instructions (which means you’re probably better off storing the battery and charger inside which I expect is where you do not store your lawn equipment. This is no big deal for a smaller area, but here at 3-acres, you want power on demand. And, I can tell from the way you write you’re not afraid of mixing gas and oil in a can.
Should you get an edger too? That becomes a matter of comfort, really. You have hundreds of feet to edge and whip in one whack. While an effective edger, a string trimmer can get tiresome to hold all Quasimodo style for the duration of time you’ll be harnessing that bad boy upside down. Still, I’d use it here. Dedicated edgers tend to be most effective cutting next to a slab—like a sidewalk—as opposed to grass that grows over the substrate of your macadam driveway or around your trees and garden beds. I see them used more in multi-family residential, like those luxury prisons people buy in Florida stacked up outside a pool and pretend palm trees.
This isn’t to say a battery-powered tool—you’d want something no less than 40-volts and with a tap-and-feed pro-style trimmer head like the DeWalt unit (just arrived at our grounds for hands-on review…I may change my tune but I wanted to answer you asap) but I think you’re on the edge of what it can dish out. And you feel like a ‘power-on-demand’ kind of DIYer, so that’s what this answer boils down to. What is undeniably awesome about the battery-powered tools—and well worth considering—is the nearly blessed quiet. Fire up Sunday morning at 8AM. No exhaust (see climate change above)…I just feel cleaner after using them. And pi++-loads of power that are wicked good for lots of lawns.
