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I'm Bill Elzey, with Showplace Lawns. I want to talk to you about, how to use a gas weed
eater. The first thing you need to think about when using a weed eater, is your safety. Eye
protection is key. A very good pair of safety goggles is a definite requirement. You only
have one set of eyes, so be sure you take care of them. The second thing you want to
use, is ear protection. You can use some earplugs like these, which will work fine, basically
they go in the ear, like that. What I have found to be even better, are these earmuffs.
Now, they're a little uncomfortable, but they really do a fantastic job for ear protection.
When using the weed eater, you want to be sure that you don't have more string than
you need. And what I'm saying on that is, you don't need a string that's hanging out
here, on both sides of your head. That long string will cause your engine to overwork,
and will drop its horse power. You're not going to get near the cut that you want, with
the longer string. It's also going to tend to run your motor down, and eventually you
will have some motor problems because of the extra weight, that this out here will cause.
Roughly, you don't want to go passed- every weeder eater has got one of these things to
cut the string, you don't want to go passed that, it's a good gage for your distance.
This particular model is what they call a straight shaft. It's one that we use commercially
all the time, and it's probably one of the better machines on the market. It does not
put the strain near as much on your lower back, as some of the shorter ones, and the
one with the curve shaft do. As far as using the machine, get a good balance, and when
you're using it, you want the head flat, always keep that head flat. If you do any tilting
with it, or something like that, you're going to get cuts, and it will eventually lead to,
what we call, weed eater burn, where eventually you'll see the grass not growing all the way
up, around a tree or a building, you'll see a gap there, and that's weed eater burn. Because
you're either, pushing it down too far, or you got it at an angle. So you want to be
sure that you keep that flat at all times. Another tip with the weed eater, always do
your weed eating after you do your mowing, that way you can gage your height, with what
your trimming, to match with where you mowed it. Too many times if you do it first, you'll
get lower, and then you'll have an uneven edge.