Did you guys take the guard off your trimmer?

[GearHeadDave]

Originally Posted by rabbit33

I do NOT remove guards on my tools; I worked in manufacturing too long. While I never saw any gory accidents in person, I saw an awful lot of training films and I saw and experienced too many close calls.

Same here in most cases, I do not remove guards from my tools. The OP's idea is especially dangerous, even with the guard a weed trimmer ejects stuff back onto your body all the time. I use mine in brush and rough areas with rocks and dirt so I cannot imagine removing it.

But I do have one exception - my riding lawn mower. I remove the deflector. Just make sure no one is nearby when I am mowing with it. Otherwise it's pretty useless, it will leave windrows in the yard. Risk is not zero, but to me it is worth it.

[Cambium]

Originally Posted by GearHeadDave

a weed trimmer ejects stuff back onto your body all the time. .

False. You're not using it right. Trust me. When people realize this, they have that AH HA moment.


Figure out if left to right throws stuff back or right to left. Try the opposite and the light bulb will go off.

[rabbit33]

A trimmer throws off stuff all round the plane of the string. Of course it throws more where the string is leaving the thing being trimmed. It also doesn't stay exactly in plane, due to physics. I'm not prepared to be covered with stuff or hit in the face with rocks if I have a moment of inattention. Guards aren't there for the times when you're doing everything perfectly.

A trimmer is also used in a wide variety of orientations from vertical to horizontal, and furthermore it's not always possible to use it in exactly the optimum way, due to obstructions.

Why even bother to have an enclosed deck on a lawn mower, then? Everyone knows not to reach down near it when the blades are turning!

[don6170]

Originally Posted by rabbit33

Why even bother to have an enclosed deck on a lawn mower, then? Everyone knows not to reach down near it when the blades are turning!

My Better Half was surprised by the drawings in the owner's manual for my riding mower, where it shows hands with finger tips flying off and other possible injuries from doing stupid stuff. Of course, I think they have to put that in there to make the lawyers happy (such as with all the ladder labels).