Best grass head for Stihl FS 461?

[Pinkfoot]

31 minutes ago, Stubby said:

I have 45cc and 55cc Husqvarnas strimmers Been strimming for years .They are the best strimmer / brush cutters out there . The Oregon jet fit head perfectly suits the 55cc machine as it has bags of torque and can spin an 18-20" sweep of Deasert extrusion 4.00mm square cord at full chat . No welding of line , no eyelets popping out  , no winding on the " right " amount of line . Will clatter down pretty much anything . Its dynamite . 🙂  ( I did say at the beginning of this thread that opinion will be divided ) .

You're using 20" lengths?

That must be quick 

[Stere]

Keep meaning  to try that buisness often mentioned of soaking the cord as want to try and use less, mainly to help the enviro creating less plastics bits left  lying about...

 

Thinking the best way   maybe to carry around a little flask of water with a with a lid on and keep the precut lengths in there to fish one out when needed...

[Stubby]

2 hours ago, Stere said:

Keep meaning  to try that buisness often mentioned of soaking the cord as want to try and use less, mainly to help the enviro creating less plastics bits left  lying about...

 

Thinking the best way   maybe to carry around a little flask of water with a with a lid on and keep the precut lengths in there to fish one out when needed...

Just keep the spool in a bucket of water .

[Stubby]

2 hours ago, Pinkfoot said:

You're using 20" lengths?

That must be quick 

No . I cut the lengths to about 9 inches and push them through the head  with a tail sticking out to grab with pliers to pull out . So 9" + 9" + the diameter of the head then allowing a bit for them to bend when in contact I would make a guess that the total cutting diameter would be around 18-20 inches , roughly . Where as if you use a guard with a trimming knife in the guard it will trim your line to the diameter of the guard and I think that is too short . You need that motor just at the sweet spot that its working to the max but not laboring ( too long ) or not revving its nuts off ( too short ) . 

[openspaceman]

3 hours ago, Stubby said:

and can spin an 18-20" sweep of Deasert extrusion 4.00mm square cord at full chat

I would love that sweep for bracken bashing if not for the fact I have become averse to distributing bits of plastic into the countryside

[Stubby]

55 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

I would love that sweep for bracken bashing if not for the fact I have become averse to distributing bits of plastic into the countryside

Well that's the thing . With a bump head you are continually dropping bits of plastic . When it wears , and when you trim it with the blade in the guard . With a Jetfit head you do deposit some when the line wears but when it gets too short to be efficient I remove it and put a fresh pair in . The spent lengths are then disposed of in the recycling bin at home .

[Haironyourchest]

12 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Well that's the thing . With a bump head you are continually dropping bits of plastic . When it wears , and when you trim it with the blade in the guard . With a Jetfit head you do deposit some when the line wears but when it gets too short to be efficient I remove it and put a fresh pair in . The spent lengths are then disposed of in the recycling bin at home .

Strimming rock borders it's got to be the bump head. I got so tired of constantly stopping to change out the cord. I still use the alloy head and thick cord without the guard, on really tall grass with no rocks. Then it rocks. The guard gets in the way if you really need to blast through stuff.

Edited May 8, 2022 by Haironyourchest
Spelling

[doobin]

I'm with @Haironyourchest, only as a curveball I like to use the smaller autocut head (just change the internal nut to suit the larger strimmers). This gives you the large sweep as craved by @Stubby, and I don't bother with a guard.

 

My preference is 2.4mm Stihl circular line. I've probably used close to 50 large spools over the years, and in my experience if a line welds inside the head then the rest of the spool will too, so bin it. That said, I've only had a handful of 'bad' spools. I've tried the water trick, it may help with abrasion resistance but did nothing for line welding inside the head.

 

If it's grass and other soft vegetation you are cutting, you don't need anything heavier.

[Stubby]

1 hour ago, doobin said:

I'm with @Haironyourchest, only as a curveball I like to use the smaller autocut head (just change the internal nut to suit the larger strimmers). This gives you the large sweep as craved by @Stubby, and I don't bother with a guard.

 

My preference is 2.4mm Stihl circular line. I've probably used close to 50 large spools over the years, and in my experience if a line welds inside the head then the rest of the spool will too, so bin it. That said, I've only had a handful of 'bad' spools. I've tried the water trick, it may help with abrasion resistance but did nothing for line welding inside the head.

 

If it's grass and other soft vegetation you are cutting, you don't need anything heavier.

Its like " Ground Hog Day " 😁  ...I knew of a bloke who had the largest Stihl brush cutter ( Not sure what numbers that is ) and he fitted a 21" lawn mower blade to it .

Edited May 8, 2022 by Stubby

[Pinkfoot]

1 hour ago, doobin said:

I'm with @Haironyourchest, only as a curveball I like to use the smaller autocut head (just change the internal nut to suit the larger strimmers). This gives you the large sweep as craved by @Stubby, and I don't bother with a guard.

 

My preference is 2.4mm Stihl circular line. I've probably used close to 50 large spools over the years, and in my experience if a line welds inside the head then the rest of the spool will too, so bin it. That said, I've only had a handful of 'bad' spools. I've tried the water trick, it may help with abrasion resistance but did nothing for line welding inside the head.

 

If it's grass and other soft vegetation you are cutting, you don't need anything heavier.

It's all soft stuff and it will have a month's growth or thereabouts.

Do you use the four way head?