Grass & Weed Whip

a DIY grass/weed whip...

Step 1: The Grass Is Always Greener..

..And longer in the summer. It was time to trim down the grass and weeds that were starting to get tall.
I wanted to use a simple lightweight grass whip, rather than the gas powered brush cutter to avoid the excessive noise, exhaust fumes and back pain that comes with using the power tool.
However, the home centers in my local area of Japan don't sell the light weight kind, but only a heavy duty forged steel kind for serious jungle clearing.
...So it was time once again to DIY!
And what better materials to use than some junk that's lying around and likely headed to the trash bin (if the wrong hands get a hold of it!)

Step 2: Potential Materials for a Trash-to-valued Tool Project.

In deciding how I was going to make a recycled materials grass whip I had considered a few designs and a number of materials, including:
Old broken ski poles, an old makeshift walking stick/ GoPro stick made of some metal tube and duct tape, box cutter blades, a bookshelf bracket, even an old windshield wiper!..
I was about to go with the bookshelf bracket, sharpened and attached to a ski pole, when I remembered an old broken weeding tool blade (similar to the tools pictured)...
This combined with the old metal/duct taped stick seemed the ideal, easy to fabricate solution..
And the only tools/ other materials needed were a hammer, some pliers, a drill, a small nut and bolt with a couple of washers, and a drill bit the same thickness as the bolt...

Step 3: Putting It Together.

Putting it together was simple enough.
The weed tool blade already had holes in it to fasten it to the pole,
The walking stick was made of a tubular metal, similar to a ski pole, so it was just a matter of making the end of it more slotted shaped than round to accept the tab on the blade.
This was easily done with some careful taps with a hammer.
To get the correct angle on the blade, I used a couple of pairs of pliers to put a 90 degree bend in it, as shown.
Next was to drill a hole through the pole so the blade could be bolted to it.
After bolting it in place (don't want the blade to go flying through the air!) I gave it one more bend so the angle between the blade and the handle is more open, like a golf club, to give it a more natural and safer swing.

Step 4: The Real Test- Testing It.

So, is it still trash, or a treasure?!
Testing it quickly demonstrated how effective it really is.
With very little effort it made fast work of the grasses and weeds that were growing tall and thick- even the larger weeds.
Though it may not be very clear in the before and after pics, it worked really well.
Granted, a heavier tool would be needed for tough woody-stalked weeds or thick crab grass/ buffalo grass, but
This tool has found a place in the tool shed, standing proudly as an esteemed and valued trash-to-treasure tool!

Hope you enjoyed, feel free to post comments / questions!