How to stop whipper snipper cord getting damaged?

[SPP]

I am trying to do some whipper snippering of my garden. 

However, I find that the cord keeps cutting/banging against stuff on the ground and getting damaged. I have tried to remove any branches/wood but this issue keeps persisting. 

Any advice? 

[EricL]

Hello @SPP 

I'm afraid you are battling the very same thing all of us are struggling with in our garden. Garden debris is unceasing and is always present in the form of tree branches, stones and seeds, along with dropped trinkets from birds and animals. They litter the lawn like children's toys on carpet. I suggest using a Saxon 44cm Plastic Leaf Rake and gathering all these items that hit and shorten the life of your line trimmer. By doing a preliminary sweep it will reduce the number of items your line trimmer will hit. It will not totally remove the stones that are in the ground, but it will reduce the number of solid objects your line trimmer will hit and in theory extend the life of the line in your whipper snipper.

Let me call on our experienced members @Dave-1 and @Nailbag for their recommendations.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[Nailbag]

Hi @SPP 

There are a few reasons that trimming line break or wear prematurely. Poor quality, old and brittle line, running the trimmer at low speed and the number one is user error!

Most users operate the trimmer with the line too close to edges of all terrain. With this in mind, line trimmers utilise the last 10-15mm of the line to do the cutting, so proper technique is important to maximise line life. As is running the trimmer at full speed. Failing to do so means the line is not fully extended and contact is made in the middle of the line and not the tip causing it to wear and break off.

Instead of starting close in, starting further out from the cutting path and work your way in and at full speed. Practice this and very quickly you will see a significant improvement in line life.

This video I made compares too close vs correct distance from edges. And this video compares slow speed vs full speed line extension.

Nailbag

[Dave-1]

Afternoon @SPP 

Practice and ongoing paying attention is generally the way I go, I know from the time that I start using the whipper snipper to the time I finish my "quality" of accuracy drops, and depending on how much yard work I have already done, drops like a stone.

@Nailbag's videos show it well as to how to use a whipper snipper and the distances you have to keep the head from the edge. I can tell if I am going wrong when I find those little snapped off pieces of plastic about

Id say take your time, go slowly and dont bite off more in one pass just to reduce the overall time you have to whipper snip.

Dave