Restringing a Weed Whacker

KattywhampusLOL
by KattywhampusLOL
2 Materials
$12
2 Hours
Easy
I probably should have already known, by age 65, how to restring the empty spool of weed whacker string, but I didn't. My sister and I share our childhood home and have been working on the yard. The other day I used up 4 spools of weed whacker string while trimming around sidewalk and fence edges. My sister said she will "get the spools restrung." I thought she meant at a store. She meant SHE would do it at home with the half full pack of trimmer string and the empty spools she had from last Autumn. I asked her to teach ME to do it so I will know. She explained that FIRST and FOREMOST you need to make sure you have the correct size of string for your weed whacker (.065 weight, or .095, etc.) AS WELL AS the correct type (round, flat, triangular, individual blades, etc). She told me it is important to buy the type recommended by the manufacturer in the manual that comes with the weed whacker, and IF the wrong type or size is purchased it won't work anyway, so why make more work for yourself? CHECK THE MANUAL. I asked her where she got the empty spools, and she said from a 3-pack of loaded spools at the store plus the one loaded spool that came with the weed whacker she had purchased. She decided NOT to throw out the empty spools and bought a package of line trimmer to restring the empty spools herself and save some money. So here are a few pictures to help you understand how to do it, just in case you don't know (but now you will).
Begin with empty spool(s), package of "string," and a pair of scissors.
Put the loose end of the plastic string into the round hole (and slide it down the slot under the rim). Then bring the other part of the string (which is in your hand) down through the long slot, and slide it to the left to lock into place.
This is what it will look like underneath the rim. You can see the slot that the string slides down into through the round hole, plus the now empty slot that you put the long end of the string into to slide left and lock.
Now begin winding the trimmer string around the spool in the direction of the arrow until it reaches the edge of that cut-out space (near my thumb in the picture), and take it aorund to the slotted side OPPOSITE of where you began, and pull the string up tightly into the slot to secure it.
On the right hand side you can see the line pulled up through the slot and now it is time to take your scissors and clip it off. The end you just clipped will be the end you will thread into your weed whacker/trimmer hole to begin working. If you have restrung multiple spools, as I did, don't be surprised if you might get fumble fingers once or twice and have to begin again (yes, it happened to me THREE times, but after 1 1/2 hours of wrapping 4 spools of string, we are set to go for the next half hour of weed whacking LOL). Our savings, financially, by reusing the empty spools and wrapping the string ourselves, is a difference of about $12 for a total of 90 feet on 3 spools, as opposed to about the same amount of money for around 300 feet of string! Quite a savings in my book, especially when we use dozens of spools over the Spring, Summer, and Fall ! And it's no problem at all wrapping the spools while listening to/watching evening news, a show on Netflix (or tv), etc. Hmmmm.... wonder where I can get more empty spools for free so we can amass a bunch of them for the duration of this weed whacking season LOL !
Suggested materials:
  • Weed Trimmer Lline, Empty Weed Trimmer Spools   (WalMart (from last year))
  • Sharp pair of scissors   (from home)
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  • Melita Todd Melita Todd on Jan 16, 2020

    I am still pondering how to make bobbin winder for weed wackers using a drill. If anyone has figured it out let us know. We 60 somethings can use all the help we can get with our fumbling fingers. ha ha

  • Elizabeth17 Elizabeth17 on Jun 10, 2020

    I have had more trouble just trying to get the stupid string trimmer to eject the line so that I'm not stopping it every 2-5 minutes to take the cartridge out, restring it, reload it, and try yet again. Now that I can string the cartridge properly, I can whack those weeds! Thank you, you are a lifesaver!!

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