Which Lawn Edger for Gravel Drive?

14 years ago

Hi All,

Am looking at purchasing a lawn edger but am concerned about damaging it when edging the lawn where it meets the gravel driveway.

Would need gas powered as covering long distances and something light weight and easy to handle as I have joint problems.

We have about 300' of lawn that comes in contact with this gravel drive. It has never been edged.

Would also use this for our extensive beds.

Am concerned that the stone buried under the lawn edge will break an edger.

Should I maybe rent a string edger first to get it going then purhcase a blade walk behind to maintain? Or are my fears of breaking blades unfounded?

Would hate to spend $300 on a blade walk behind and break it on the first go 'round.

Any help from any experienced users would br appreciated! Thanks!

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Comments (3)

Greg Goyeneche
14 years ago
The gravel wont damage the edger or the blade, but you will tend to throw rocks.

On the one hand a reverse rotation blade like Craftsman and a few others make has the advantage of throwing any debris or rocks away from the operator. On the other hand, nothing slows or knocks down the rocks, which can be dangerous to others within about 50 feet (and to cars and windows).

I would recommend a rear throw edger with a large blade guard and an addition rubber flap to control throwing rocks. I currently use a Little Wonder 6032 in Jersey, and before that in Southern California had a succession of McLane's and Power Trims.

It think Little Wonder and Power Trim are among the best, but both are pricey (starting $500 and running to about $900 for commercial model with Honda GX engine). McLane is probably better value for the money (for home use) and can be had for about $350 to $400. Make sure you get the 801 or 101 models. The 137 is only slightly less expensive, but has been "dumbed down" considerably, and I cannot recommend.

Lastly, I would avoid either the edgers with vertical shaft engines and twisted drive belts. IMHO they are junk. Also, the little 2 cycle edgers with the tiny 1hp engines are little more than toys. Stay away.
powerplug
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you SO much! Was more concerned with breaking an edger and missed the throwing rocks all over the place part. Really appreciate your taking the time to pass on your experiences. I will use your recommendations to research and find the best edger for us.

Thanks again!
Valerie
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Basically every two-cycle engine manufacturer that makes weedwackers makes a modified unit with a vertically mounted blade, a shield, and some sort of wheel or guide. You can basically take your pick from Stihl, Echo, tanaka, redmax, husqvarna, etc, etc. If you're not partial to any brand, you might consider either waiting for people to weigh in here, or going to lawnsite.com and trying to get the opinions of some professionals. Do you currently own any sort of weedwacker? A lot of guys, even professionals who do a lot of this work, just choose to hold a straight shaft weedwacker vertically, and use this to do the edging. This would probably be difficult the first time if your edges are that overgrown, however, if the string trimmer method is used weekly or every two weeks, it works just fine. So if you don't currently own a string trimmer, or would consider upgrading your unit to a straight shaft model, you may wish to do that, and then have only one machine. One last thought--if you have any interest in both a dedicated weedwacker and or a dedicated edger, you can get both machines in one, through the use of a kombimotor or split shaft tool carrier unit. Stihl, Echo and Redmax all make this--it's a powerhead that can then accept attachments (weedwacker, edger, rubber debris broom, hedge trimmer, etc). MGF
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musli
14 years ago
If you can find a source for it (it's made in the UK) there's a top-quality professional lawn edger with the fanciful name of "Fred The Edge" that uses a heavy-duty brushcutter line instead of a metal blade. The machine is located against the lawn edge by small, adjustable, vertical rollers and runs on two wide, horizontal, metal rollers. You can adjust the offset of the rollers to pull the machine tight against the lawn edge, so all you have to do is pull the machine along. The engine's a 4-stroke Honda.

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Which Lawn Edger for Gravel Drive?

Comments (3)

Greg Goyeneche

powerplug
Original Author

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musli

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Which Lawn Edger for Gravel Drive?

Comments (3)

Greg Goyeneche

powerplugOriginal Author

Related Discussions

musli

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

powerplug
Original Author