Lawn edgers?

[Goedjn]

In my country, we call that a "curb".

[George]

Or you could buy a trimmer that has interchangable heads. I have one and you just loosen a thumbnut and twist to remove the trimmer head and just insert edger, twist and tighten the nut. An edger works a lot better than a string trimmer for edging.

[trader4]

That's exactly what I have and I agree it's a very good compromise. I have about 150 feet of curb. I've use real 4 cycle gasoline edgers and they really are the best, with enough power to easily cut even if it's way over grown. I was considering buying one of those, but the big problem is that it's another fairly large widget that you have to store and only use occasionally.

When my string trimmer died, I settled on a Troy Bilt 2 cycle unit (TB25ET) that comes with two heads. One is a string trimmer, the other an edger blade and you swithc by loosening a thumb screw, takes less than a minute. Used it 2 years now and it's excellent. If you haven't edged in a long time, it will be more difficult the first time, and you need to take it slow. Aftet that, these units are very good at maintaining. I do mine every couple months.

[HeatMan]

And that has been done (probably) weekly for how many years?

Beating down grass that has been growing over the curb for a while takes more than that.

[Colbyt]

Unless you like pain and frustration, just say NO to all of the above.

Having read a follow up post or two by you let me say that the first time you edge neglected walks nothing will beat a well sharpened spade. If you cut the dirt back about an 1 from the edge of the walk and at least 2" deep you will have a nice clean line that can then be maintained with a gas powered edger if you do it a few times per year.

If you edge every other grass mowing the string trimmer will do the same job but you use a lot string.

I have the Ryobi weed wacker with a blade attachment and it does a great job. I also have the little tiller attachment. So basically I have 3 tools with one engine. They are actually sold under a different brand name now. Just look for the quick change tagline.

Colbyt