Weed Eaters

[Little Corn Tom]

Does anyone have any experience with the string trimmers that are available in Nicaragua?

Price, dependability, etc.

[cookshow]

I have a Truper (made in Mexico), but the biggest one they have available is probably not big enough for most work. Dud has one of the monster Echo (made in Brazil), the municipality on Corn Island uses some of the Oleo Matics (made in Italy).

Oleo Matic or Echo are the main ones you will see in the larger sizes and they are pricey ($400-$600).

If you plan to ship anything you might look some industrial grade ones Stateside another thing that might work for you is one of those DR trimmers that you push like a lawnmower.

They (weed eaters) are readily available in MGA as are the repair parts.

[cookshow]

Oh, one other thought.

Unless you are going to be the one running and maintaining the machine, forget about it. You can buy a LOT of machetes and files for $500 and you will not be nearly as upset when a machete gets broken as when your $500 weed trimmer is laid out in front of you in 100 pieces or when your workman "loans" it to a friend.....

[Little Corn Tom]

Well, here is my situation.

I have about .25 acres of niggerhead grass. It has gotten quite thick and high as it grows in clumps. It is like walking in green snow drifts now. My caretaker keeps insisting that it requires a trimmer to keep it low and close to the ground. I do not see why it needs a trimmer when a machete can whack off the clumps and keep it all close to the ground.

I too am concerned about leaving an unattended piece of machinery that could be used for other purposes.

[cookshow]

I know the clumps well and that is one of the reasons I am not a big of that grass. You would need one of the top end trimmes ($500+) to cut that stuff, and it may still not work.

Hire a machete man, save yourself the head and heart ache of machinery. Simpler is better, the Gringo way is not always the best.

No way I would leave the machinery unattended, better to just give the guy $500 or set the money on fire, same end result,

[kwah2249]

better to just give the guy $500 or set the money on fire, same end result,

Shouldn't be to hard getting one in BLU, might cost a bit more than MGA. Let me know and I'll ask which type is out at the farm.

[Little Corn Tom]

I saw them in BLU for about $250.

Please check the farm and see if it is not too much trouble.

[ann]

The ones available in BLU are, indeed, about $250. For less than that I had a local shipper purchase and ship to BLU a commercial-grade. Of course, I don't have much of that grass yet...and if you want to give it up, put it in bags and ship it to BLU. I'll take as much as you can send.

[Little Corn Tom]

Ann...I am confused....are we talking about grass, "grass", or money?

The ones available in BLU are, indeed, about $250. For less than that I had a local shipper purchase and ship to BLU a commercial-grade. Of course, I don't have much of that grass yet...and if you want to give it up, put it in bags and ship it to BLU. I'll take as much as you can send.

[randude]

[Jonh]

Wouldn't a "yo yo" work better than a machete? You swing it standing up, less strain on the back and knees. It's just a machete on a stick. But I know, if it's different it won't work.

The guy in DDT's avatar uses one to clear the shoulders of the State highways.

http://www.amazon.com/Seymour-Mfg-WE.../dp/B000H5OCAC

[Little Corn Tom]

This grass does not grow the way you think. It gets about 4 inches high and spreads until it runs into more of the same grass and then it gets these clumps that are hollow inside. The clumps can get to be a couple of feet tall. The device you mention may be better, but I do not know for sure.

[bill_bly_ca]

From what I have seen (and from my Grandfathers guidance In Holland in the late 70's) I am still baffled on why no one uses a scythe... They seem so much better suited for grass than a Machete..

Or is because a Machete can do more than grass it is the go to tool..

[kwah2249]

You swing it standing up, less strain on the back and knees. It's just a machete on a stick.

That thing is called a swing blade, like the movie. I had 20+ stitches in my head from one of those things, 2 deep gashes.

Or they use machetes because "that's the way its always been done mentality." Why try something new when you can break your back everyday?

[Jonh]

Is there a barnyard animal that eats this grass?

[kwah2249]

Is there a barnyard animal that eats this grass?

Maybe its named fluffy?

[Jonh]

I thought LCT might enjoy the company of a goat or two.

[Just Plain John Wayne]

I thought LCT might enjoy the company of a goat or two.

.... I think his mailing address is Goat Beach, Little Island.

[Little Corn Tom]

Ya know, I do not think that even a goat would eat this stuff. It is tough and crowds out most anything else.

I am thinking about getting a goat to clear out some property next to me.

Not gonna name it fluffy though.

[randude]

Every time I read one of these stories I think of a goat.




Glad it's not just me.

[cookshow]

I would take a yoyo or scythe anyday over a machete. Machete work is back breaking work, Hell on the back and knees. Never seen either anywhere in Nicaragua. I think a machete man could do double the work in a day using a scythe, and never have to bend over. Try to convince a machete man.

[Just Plain John Wayne]

I would take a yoyo or scythe anyday over a machete. Machete work is back breaking work, Hell on the back and knees. Never seen either anywhere in Nicaragua. I think a machete man could do double the work in a day using a scythe, and never have to bend over. Try to convince a machete man.

If you wouldn't hit yourself so much with it, perhaps you would not have so many scars.....

[Mikeh]

I would take a yoyo or scythe anyday over a machete. Machete work is back breaking work, Hell on the back and knees. Never seen either anywhere in Nicaragua. I think a machete man could do double the work in a day using a scythe, and never have to bend over. Try to convince a machete man.

Learning how to use a scythe properly is not easy. It is a complicated skill and the learning curve is rather steep. Also, you will end up using muscle groups in your body that are rarely used by most manual labourers and you will be sore for the first couple of months.

Furthermore, the technology of scythes is quite complicated. Double-curved handles are better for doing certain things, and straight handles are better at other tasks. Short blades are better at some stuff and long blades are better at others.

Additionally, there is quite a lot of skill involved in knowing how to sharpen a scythe blade. Do you peen it or strop it or do you grind it? Depends on the crop you are cutting and how wet it is.

To make matters more complicated, there are some things you can do a lot better with a serrated blade than a smooth edge, and with a certain type of sickle than you could with a scythe.

For example, I venture to guess that you would best use a short, single-curved, serrated blade to cut swamp rice and a longer, double-bladed straight edge to cut sugar cane.

All the machetes I have shopped for in Nicaragua are mass-produced crap. I have not yet been able to find a machete whose blade is thick at the base and which narrows as it comes to the point. But it doesn't matter because I only use a machete these days in my garden, where it does not matter much what I use, since my goal is recreation not productivity.

Kevin says that a machete man could do double the work in a day using a scythe. I bet you good money that a team of guys or gals using the right scythes and sickles, and who know how to use them, could quintuple the output of macheteros.

I was in my mid-20s before I learned how to use a double-curved scythe properly. Two years later I started to learn how to use a computer. The brand was called "Vince" -- because it was a 640-kilobyte machine which my next-door neighbour, whose name was Vincenzo Gianotti, assembled in his basement from parts. My word-processor was a DOS-based programme called Xywrite, which you used to organize text by typing in codes at the command prompt.

I wonder what we have lost by living in a world of computers where the skills involved in making and using scythes and sickles are being lost, and what I have lost by living in it.

[Little Corn Tom]

Nice post Mikeh.

I went from a Ford 8N to a Commodore PET.

Bring your scythe over to my place and let's (you) show these guys how it is done, eh?

[Mikeh]

Nice post Mikeh.

I went from a Ford 8N to a Commodore PET.

Bring your scythe over to my place and let's (you) show these guys how it is done, eh?

Well thank you for your invitation Tom and I will be pleased to take you up on it. It has been more than 30 years since I have swung a scythe but I reckon it is sort of like riding a bike. Once you get the rhythm for it, you will pick it up fast.

I don't want to romanticize the use of scythes or sickles or machetes. It is back-breaking work no matter what you use. Bless God for inventing weed-wackers, tractors, combines, lawn-mowers and harvesters. But the fact of the matter is this: the vast majority of Nicaraguan small farmer can't afford that type of machinery. When that type of technology becomes more common in Nicaragua, the small-holders of Nicaragua will become an extinct class, and will end up working as day-labourers for wealthy farmers. Who prospers by the proliferation of this type of technology, and who will lose?