A short story before the waxed canvas. A few years ago I purchased a Bolens string trimmer (weed whacker) from Lowes for around $95.00 USD.  It has been a complete piece of crap since it came out of the box.  No matter what I do with the fuel, choke, etc it repeatedly sputters out or under performs.  A week ago I took the Bolens out from winter storage and turned it over only to find that when throttled, the head no longer spins.  After taking it apart I found a broken flexible drive shaft, which costs around $40.00 to replace and in my opinion, not worth the investment.

After salvaging what parts I could use from the Bolens, I junked it and called my brother-in-law (who owns a lawn service) and asked him for a recommendation for a dependable trimmer.  He hooked me up with a new RedMax BC250 and it is a joy to use!

As I was picking up my new trimmer from my brother-in-law, I checked out his other lawn equipment and noticed his blower’s straps were completely worn out (see pic).  As a token of my gratitude for the hookup on the new trimmer, I offered to replace his withered blower straps with new padded ones in waxed canvas.

I reused the old d-rings, adjustment buckles, and parts of the nylon webbing.  The new straps are made from olive 14 oz. waxed cotton and lined with 1/2″ industrial felt.  Since the original straps were sewn to the frame and non removable,  I opted to use a hand stitching awl to reattach the new straps to the blower frame (see pic).  I’m excited to see what the waxed canvas will look like at the end of the mowing season.