Winter Season Guide

The Right Way to Use a Weed Eater

Updated March 29, 2019

The Right Way to Use a Weed Eater

Your well-manicured garden is kept beautiful through the use of a weed eater, also known by many names like string trimmer, whipper-snipper, weed-whip, weed-whacker, line trimmer, and simply trimmer. It is a very useful and important garden tool that optimizes a versatile monofilament line rather than a blade for the purpose of cutting the grass or other plants on irregular or steep terrains, and along hedges and sidewalks. This tool is also used for the trimming of light hedges.

Getting to know more about the weed eater

The weed eater is equipped with a cutting tip and a long shaft that acts as a handle, where a durable plastic chord or nylon string is placed on the trimmer head. The string is used to swiftly whip and cut unwanted weeds and grass, and this is made possible through the action trigger that can be found on the handle. The shaft may have a length of six feet up to ten feet, and the shaft is made even stronger by the application of a support grip in the center of the shaft. A weed eater can be powered by gas, or battery, or electricity. There is a manual with the weed eater when purchased as brand new with easy instruction on how to use this gardening tool.

How to use the weed eater properly

You need to know exactly how to use the weed eater in the right manner to avoid any accident and to avoid wasting your time. Follow the simple steps below for your guidance.

Study the manual and familiarize the tool

You need to take time studying the instruction manual before you do any grass or weed trimming. Familiarize yourself with the different parts of the weed eater, especially the buttons and controls. The switches and triggers may differ for every brand of weed eater, so make sure that you locate where everything is, and not just base your operation from old experience you may have with other brands of weed eater, or don’t rely solely on what you can see in the television or read in the internet. Always check the manual and thoroughly check every inch of this gardening tool before you start maintaining your garden’s freshness.

Check for power

If you have an electric powered weed eater, make sure that you have the necessary wirings ready in your garden to operate the weed eater. If your tool is powered by gas, double check and find out if there is gas in the chambers. If your weed eater is powered with battery, then always make sure that you put in new batteries, and keep extra batteries in close proximity in case your battery drained out and you’re not yet done.

Map the ground

Map the areas ahead where you will need to trim the weeds or grass. If you can, use a chalk dust to mark the ground you will work on, in order to keep your job organized. Strategize on which area you will start and continue until the end of the line. Make sure to remove any stones, or objects that could possibly damage the weed eater.

Keep people and animals out

Before you start using your weed eater, make sure to ask any other humans to leave the premises, and keep dogs or other pets away from the garden. This is to ensure that no human or animals can get hurt by flying debris, stones, and others that can be cut with the weed eater.

Wear protection

Always make it a point to wear durable protective gears when you trim your wonderful garden. Wear protection such as eye protection, gloves, closed shoes, long pants, long sleeves, hat, and face mask. You need to cover yourself from head to toe because there may be times when your weed eater will throw debris at you like small stones, fragments, and others.

Position the weed eater

Position the weed eater on the ground and hold it firmly as close to the ground as possible, but never go beyond three inches off the surface. Start the machine and use one hand to handle the trigger, and the other hand on the handle. Warm up the weed eater by holding the throttle for thirty seconds up to one minute. Keep the weed eater at waist-level, with the attachment positioned parallel to the earth. As you cut the weeds and grass, move the head of the device in a back-and-forth motion, and side to side movement. This process does not only provide even cutting, but this movement also reduces the debris flying off from the ground to your body.

Note:  Remember that for the gas-powered weed eater, you need to press the primal bulb a couple of times for the gas to flow directly to the carburetor. For the electric-powered weed eater, simply press the trigger. And for the battery-operated weed eater, turn on the switch.

Continue forward

Keep trimming the ground forward, but be mindful of any strain on the weed eater. If there are grasses that reject the trimming, or if you feel like something is stuck on the device, then you do not push through because it could damage your gardening tool. Stop and inspect what the obstacle is. Remove any hard debris or stone that got stuck on the weed eater, and then continue with your task.

End of task

Once you’re done with the trimming of your garden’s unwanted weeds and grass, release the throttle first and after a couple of seconds, turn off the device. Let the weed eater cool off thoroughly before you store the tool. Never put the weed eater in a storage room if the machine is still hot. If you are not going to use your weed eater in a few days, make sure to drain the gas if you are using gas-powered tool, and if you’re using battery-powered weed eater, take off the battery and charge it so you can use it immediately when you need to.