Edger

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An edge trimmer or lawn edger is a garden tool, either manual or motorised, [1] to form distinct boundaries between a lawn, typically consisting of a grass, or other soft botanical ground cover, and another ground surface feature such as a paved, concreted or asphalted area, or a granular material such as sand or gravel, or simply uncovered soil, for example an unbounded garden. [2]

Contents

There are six main types of lawn edger:

Purpose-designed lawn edgers are more time efficient for long and even edges, while string trimmers are more efficient for angular edges and around interrupting features such as rocks. [4] Spade based, roller based, and adaptable string trimmer designs may all be known as stick trimmers.[ citation needed ]

Typical situations for the use of lawn edgers are to define clean boundaries, and stop grass incursion, between lawns and walkways or gardens in private properties and public areas, and between sand traps and greens or fairways on golf courses. [2] [5]

Manual lawn edgers

Spade-based

Two typical spades Spade.jpg
Two typical spades

The simplest lawn edger is the standard spade, used as a vertical cutting blade.

A (half moon) lawn edger Edger.jpg
A (half moon) lawn edger

Purpose-designed manual spade-based lawn edgers are a half-moon-shaped, semicircular, broad blade attached to an elongated handle, and are used in a downwards and rocking motion. [1] The blade may have a flat top to allow the operator to step on the blade to apply more force. The blade is driven through the lawn and into the lawn substrate parallel to (and adjacent to) the hard boundary feature bordering the lawn, cutting any protruding lawn material. This type of lawn edger is also known as an edging iron. [3]

Roller-based

There are two basic types of roller based manual lawn edgers. Both are driven by pushing a roller wheel along a hard surface adjacent to the lawn edge. One type causes a solid steel cutting disc to cut the edge of the lawn; the other type causes two star-spoked discs to rotate against each other, shear-cutting the edge of the lawn. [1]

Hand shears

Edging hand shears Gardena-Grasschere klassisch.jpg
Edging hand shears

Hand shears come in many configurations, ranging from single hand operated at ground level to long handled, some with adjustable length, operated by two hands, with a right angle alignment of the shearing blades allowing lateral cutting from a standing position. [3]

Motorised lawn edgers

Powering motorised lawn edgers can be either by battery or mains electricity, or by petrol two stroke or four stroke engines. [1] [5] [6]

Adaptable string trimmers

Some string trimmers are designed so that they can be easily maneuvered with their head being positioned vertically instead of the default horizontal. Other string trimmers come with specific lawn edging attachments, or the one head can be pivoted to be realigned vertically. [1] [5]

Lawn edging with a string trimmer will often be done with a blade fitted to the head rather than string/wire.

Purpose designed lawn edgers

Purpose designed lawn edgers are single purpose machines for longer lawn edging distances. [1] [5]

Single wheel designs are lighter and more maneuverable than multi wheel designs which are built for heavy duty work. [2]

Some designs allow the angle at which the cutting chord or blade or blades strike the lawn edge to be adjusted. [6]

History

The gasoline lawn edger was invented by Louis Faas Sr. of King o' Lawn Inc in the 1940s. The first gasoline edgers used a Briggs & Stratton 1.5 horsepower (1.1 kW) engine. [7]

See also

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Utility knife Any of various types of knives used for general or utility purposes, especially ones with retractable-and-replaceable blades

A utility knife is any type of knife used for general manual work purposes. Such knives were originally fixed-blade knives with durable cutting edges suitable for rough work such as cutting cordage, cutting/scraping hides, butchering animals, cleaning fish scales, reshaping timber, and other tasks. Craft knives are small utility knives used as precision-oriented tools for finer, more delicate tasks such as carving and papercutting.

Router (woodworking)

The router is a power tool with a flat base and a rotating blade extending past the base. The spindle may be driven by an electric motor or by a pneumatic motor. It routs an area in hard material, such as wood or plastic. Routers are used most often in woodworking, especially cabinetry. They may be handheld or affixed to router tables. Some woodworkers consider the router one of the most versatile power tools.

Circular saw Power tool

A circular saw is a power-saw using a toothed or abrasive disc or blade to cut different materials using a rotary motion spinning around an arbor. A hole saw and ring saw also use a rotary motion but are different from a circular saw. Circular saws may also be loosely used for the blade itself. Circular saws were invented in the late 18th century and were in common use in sawmills in the United States by the middle of the 19th century.

Chisel Tool for cutting and carving wood, stone, metal, or other hard materials

A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal by hand, struck with a mallet, or mechanical power. The handle and blade of some types of chisel are made of metal or of wood with a sharp edge in it.

A power tool is a tool that is actuated by an additional power source and mechanism other than the solely manual labor used with hand tools. The most common types of power tools use electric motors. Internal combustion engines and compressed air are also commonly used. Other power sources include steam engines, direct burning of fuels and propellants, such as in powder-actuated tools, or even natural power sources such as wind or moving water. Tools directly driven by animal power are not generally considered power tools.

A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and moving it forcefully forth and less forcefully back or continuously forward. This force may be applied by hand, or powered by steam, water, electricity or other power source. An abrasive saw has a powered circular blade designed to cut through metal or ceramic.

Scissors Hand-operated cutting instrument

Scissors are hand-operated shearing tools. A pair of scissors consists of a pair of metal blades pivoted so that the sharpened edges slide against each other when the handles (bows) opposite to the pivot are closed. Scissors are used for cutting various thin materials, such as paper, cardboard, metal foil, cloth, rope, and wire. A large variety of scissors and shears all exist for specialized purposes. Hair-cutting shears and kitchen shears are functionally equivalent to scissors, but the larger implements tend to be called shears. Hair-cutting shears have specific blade angles ideal for cutting hair. Using the incorrect type of scissors to cut hair will result in increased damage or split ends, or both, by breaking the hair. Kitchen shears, also known as kitchen scissors, are intended for cutting and trimming foods such as meats.

Lawn mower Grass cutting device

A lawn mower is a machine utilizing one or more revolving blades to cut a grass surface to an even height. The height of the cut grass may be fixed by the design of the mower, but generally is adjustable by the operator, typically by a single master lever, or by a lever or nut and bolt on each of the machine's wheels. The blades may be powered by manual force, with wheels mechanically connected to the cutting blades so that when the mower is pushed forward, the blades spin or the machine may have a battery-powered or plug-in electric motor. The most common self-contained power source for lawn mowers is a small internal combustion engine. Smaller mowers often lack any form of propulsion, requiring human power to move over a surface; "walk-behind" mowers are self-propelled, requiring a human only to walk behind and guide them. Larger lawn mowers are usually either self-propelled "walk-behind" types or more often, are "ride-on" mowers, equipped so the operator can ride on the mower and control it. A robotic lawn mower is designed to operate either entirely on its own or less commonly by an operator by remote control.

Spade Digging tool

A spade is a tool primarily for digging, comprising a blade – typically stunted and less curved than that of a shovel – and a long handle. Early spades were made of riven wood or of animal bones. After the art of metalworking was developed, spades were made with sharper tips of metal. Before the introduction of metal spades manual labor was less efficient at moving earth, with picks being required to break up the soil in addition to a spade for moving the dirt. With a metal tip, a spade can both break and move the earth in most situations, increasing efficiency.

Peeler Tool to remove the outer skin or peel

A peeler is a kitchen tool consisting of a metal blade with a slot with a sharp edge attached to a handle, used to remove the outer layer of some vegetables such as potatoes, broccoli stalks, and carrots, and fruits such as apples and pears. A paring knife may also be used to peel vegetables. The blade of a peeler has a slot with one side sharpened; the other side of the slot prevents the blade from cutting too far into the vegetable.

Drill bit Cutting tools

Drills are cutting tools used to remove material to create holes, almost always of circular cross-section. Drills come in many sizes and shapes and can create different kinds of holes in many different materials. In order to create holes drill bits are usually attached to a drill, which powers them to cut through the workpiece, typically by rotation. The drill will grasp the upper end of a bit called the shank in the chuck.

String trimmer Garden tool for trimming grass or groundcover with a flexible line instead of a blade

A string trimmer, also called a weed eater, weed whacker, weedwacker, weed whip, line trimmer, brush cutter, whipper snipper or strimmer, is a garden tool for cutting grass, small weeds, and groundcover. It uses a whirling monofilament line instead of a blade, which protrudes from a rotating spindle at the end of a long shaft topped by a gasoline engine or electric motor.

Bandsaw

A bandsaw is a power saw with a long, sharp blade consisting of a continuous band of toothed metal stretched between two or more wheels to cut material. They are used principally in woodworking, metalworking, and lumbering, but may cut a variety of materials. Advantages include uniform cutting action as a result of an evenly distributed tooth load, and the ability to cut irregular or curved shapes like a jigsaw. The minimum radius of a curve is determined by the width of the band and its kerf. Most bandsaws have two wheels rotating in the same plane, one of which is powered, although some may have three or four to distribute the load. The blade itself can come in a variety of sizes and tooth pitches, which enables the machine to be highly versatile and able to cut a wide variety of materials including wood, metal and plastic.

Loppers

Loppers are a type of scissors used for pruning twigs and small branches, like pruning shears with very long handles. They are the largest type of manual garden cutting tool.

Garden tool

A garden tool is any one of many tools made for gardening and overlaps with the range of tools made for agriculture and horticulture. Garden tools can be divided into hand tools and power tools.

Pruning shears

Pruning shears, also called hand pruners, or secateurs, are a type of scissors for use on plants. They are strong enough to prune hard branches of trees and shrubs, sometimes up to two centimetres thick. They are used in gardening, arboriculture, plant nursery works, farming, flower arranging, and nature conservation, where fine-scale habitat management is required.

Grass shears differ from pruning shears in being long-handled and having the handles at right-angles to the blades. They can be used to cut grass from a standing position. Two kinds are available: with the blades horizontal and with the blades vertical. Horizontal blades are used to remove grass which has not been cut by the lawn mower, while vertical blades are used for trimming the edges of a lawn.

Hedge trimmer

A hedge trimmer, shrub trimmer, or bush trimmer is a gardening tool or machine used for trimming hedges or solitary shrubs (bushes). Different designs as well as manual and powered versions of hedge trimmers exist.

Trencher (machine)

A trencher is a piece of construction equipment used to dig trenches, especially for laying pipes or electrical cables, for installing drainage, or in preparation for trench warfare. Trenchers may range in size from walk-behind models, to attachments for a skid loader or tractor, to very heavy tracked heavy equipment.

Regular haircut Simple hairstyle popular among males

A regular haircut, in Western fashion, is a men's and boys' hairstyle that has hair long enough to comb on top, a defined or deconstructed side part, and a short, semi-short, medium, long, or extra long back and sides. The style is also known by other names including taper cut, regular taper cut, side-part and standard haircut; as well as short back and sides, business-man cut and professional cut, subject to varying national, regional, and local interpretations of the specific taper for the back and sides.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "A Guide To Lawn Edgers". Reader's Digest Australia - Handyman. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Lawn Edgers". The Lawn Guide. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 "Lawn edging". Thrive - Carry on Gardening. Archived from the original on 3 May 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  4. "Maintaining Buffalo Lawn Edges". Ozbreed Environmental Turf and Plant Breeding. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "How to buy the best lawn edger". Out Door Power Buddy. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Edgers Reviews". Purch - 10 Top Ten Reviews. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  7. "Combined mower and trimmer" . Retrieved 1 June 2017.