Saw Blade on a Weed Whacker vs. Bamboo Shoots

[teflon6string]

Hoping to "group-source" with some other homeowners/renters here...

I want to level an 8x8' patch of dried yellow bamboo shoots right at the ground. They're all twice the diameter of a pencil and tough as hell. A common brush cutter head on a weed whacker doesn't even faze them. I know.

Checked out youtube and saw a couple demos of weed whackers with 80-tooth saw blades on them. Zip! Right through 3" tree branches, so I'm guessing they might do the trick on this much thinner bamboo as well. But who makes a rig like that (besides Stihl for nearly half a grand)?

Once the bamboo project is done I'll only need the light duty weed whip to clean up after I mow. No attachments or anything - just a string trimmer.

Any brands/models/setups you guys can recommend with the 80-tooth saw blade? Thanks in advance.

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[JRuby]

I would like to know this as well. I have a stihl weed whacked. I was told a better alternative was a bladec with a chain wrappef around it due to kick back. I have 80 feet by 15 feet by 35 feet tall. Friends don't give friends bamboo. It was there before I bought my house 20; years ago.

 

[Rick4070]

Is renting something an option?

Something like one of those walk behind brush hogs?

Or, perhaps the rental place would have one of the saw blade equipped ones?

 

[JRuby]

I will buy it just want to buy the right tool.

 

[Velzey]

I bought a Polan weed eater a few years ago, and I put a 12" 80 tooth rough cut saw blade on it. I have a wall of black berries that I cant hardly control.
I had to make a small spacer bushing for it to fit proper but man oh man it works great!

The Polan weed eater is a Bimart special and it freaking works awesome, its a little heavy but cheap and has allot of power. The blade does clog if I get into really soft vines! Never had a real kick back issue but if you nise into some things it will kick a little!

 

[mjbskwim]

You know you need to dig the bamboo out to kill it right?
Cutting it down will probably make it grow better,spread out more.
I would cut it down with a mini excavator and some kill all type weed killer
Or fire

 

[teflon6string]

I would like to know this as well. I have a stihl weed whacked. I was told a better alternative was a bladec with a chain wrappef around it due to kick back. I have 80 feet by 15 feet by 35 feet tall. Friends don't give friends bamboo. It was there before I bought my house 20; years ago.

Try Roy Boy's or Coastal. The thing with Stihl is that you have buy up several models from the bottom (FS 90 series or above), to have the head that accommodates their blade. But depending on what you already own, you might be just an adapter and a blade away from something that'll get downright medieval on that bamboo.

 

[teflon6string]

You know you need to dig the bamboo out to kill it right?
Cutting it down will probably make it grow better,spread out more.
I would cut it down with a mini excavator and some kill all type weed killer
Or fire

That's what I've heard. I seem to recall killing mine first with some broadleaf stuff like Roundup or Crossbow when it was still bushy and green. Then I waited a few weeks and poisoned the ends of the shoots again as I cut them all off waist high. It's been 3-4 years now and it's just a square patch of dead yellow sticks that I want to cut off right at ground level - and have a weed whipper to keep when I'm done.

 

[mjbskwim]

ma chetty is the proper way to cut it then
Then you have a ma chetty for other things

 

[coupeowner]

Teflon -

Based on your avatar - can't you just order a few sticks of dynamite and take care of it?

What about a cheap-o electric chainsaw for the demo?

I just bought a Stihl hedge trimmer that would also likely do it. I barely felt it slow down cutting through 1/2"+ Laurel twigs. But I'm not volunteering mine.

Good Luck

 

[rick benjamin]

Harbor freight electric chain saw

 

[teflon6string]

ma chetty is the proper way to cut it then

My machete, which I keep sharp, bounces off this stuff like steel. My hedge trimmer grabs 1 or 2 bamboo shoots and stops dead. Chainsaws go dull immediately in dirt. I'm not sure I'd have the control I want because this stuff is so "springy" I picture it chattering and bouncing around if that makes sense (let's not forget they still lash bamboo together for scaffolding on skyscrapers in most Asian countries).

And ACME will no longer ship me explosives ever since that whole OSHA debacle at Looney Tunes... the bastiges.

My Sawsall takes way too long and just jiggles the bamboo once it bites in. I could lie on my side and do it with the circular Skilsaw I suppose... but I'm picturing doing this job standing up in a masterful posture of post-industrial revolution superiority to "mow" through a few sticks at a time and pause just to grab and fling them.

Then swap heads and go trim around my lawn.

 

[Barefoot343]

I own a landscape business and my crew has had to deal with this stuff many times and it is not fun at all. the very best method in my humble opinion is to take some stihl hedge trimmers and cut them as low as you can, then keep nuking the remains with cross bow. the roots are awful and will try to send up new shoots everywhere, just keep hitting them/pulling them and soon they will be no more.

 

[Certaindeaf]

You'd probably be pretty thankful with one a those in your hands if a rabid raccoon chose that moment to go for your nards. Channeling 40calruler!

 

[teflon6string]

You'd probably be pretty thankful with one a those in your hands if a rabid raccoon chose that moment to go for your nards. Channeling 40calruler!

I know! I've been picturing exactly that for 3-4 years now, hence my procrastination.

 

[oknow]

Depending on where you live you could always have some fun and get Some trigger time in and use your bamboo as a target and shoot it down.

 

[teflon6string]

Depending on where you live you could always have some fun and get Some trigger time in and use your bamboo as a target and shoot it down.

Bonus points for thinking outside the box! But, alas, I'm too urban. And at 18 rounds per second, that could get expensive.

 

[Certaindeaf]

You can get free goats all the time. Stick one in there and when it's done, celebratory BBQ.

 

[Gunwheeler]

Had an Echo Weedeater a long time ago. I used a sawblade kit that came with the Echo. Worked very, very well. After 25+ years the Echo gave up the ghost. Have no need for the blade setup now. But that Echo was a heck of a good machine.

 

[teflon6string]

Had an Echo Weedeater a long time ago. I used a sawblade kit that came with the Echo. Worked very, very well. After 25+ years the Echo gave up the ghost. Have no need for the blade setup now. But that Echo was a heck of a good machine.

That's actually a combo I was eyeing at Home Depot, the ONLY one I've seen that I can buy a blade kit for (except Stihl for twice the price). Echo has a great warranty. You'd recommend it?