My cheap and easy stand

[Roy Partin]

Following Robby's lead on a cheap and easy target stand, I gathered up some scrap material around the barn. Parts include 2 electric fence stakes, a few pieces of pvc, 3 strands of heavy duty weed eater string, electric tape, and zip ties. It's cheap, easy, portable, and only took 5 minutes to build.

[Bobbi Holyoak]

Awesome job, Roy!!

[Roy Partin]

Thanks Bobbi, just finished testing it out and it worked good. Here is my 6 yr old princess doing some wraps. I was impressed out how good she did

[Bobbi Holyoak]

oh! Cutest picture ever! I love that she is all dressed up in pink with a purple whip.

[Gideon Rodgers]

Nice Stand Roy, but may I ask What the Red things are?

[Roy Partin]

Gideon, they are heavy duty weed eater strings. I figured they would work like the spaghetti noodles Robby uses except they can be struck repeatedly without wearing out

[Robert Gage]

Very nifty, Roy! And I'm guessing that what you call a 'weed eater' must be what's called a 'strimmer' here.

[Robby Amper]

Wuhuu! Great job, Roy! That's really cool! And 5 minutes, you say? Even more great! It's never how sophisticated or expensive something is... The idea behind is what counts. And if it does the job - what it does! - even more a perfect tool for practicing.

You gave me an idea for a two pole stand. Usually I use the arms at the sides to practice wraps. But that marker in the middle of these two poles gave me an idea. I have to go down; take a look into the barn for more old stuff

Robert - please - what is a strimmer? I've been looking for a veeeery long time to replace the spaghetti, but I never found something that really does the job. Could you tell me, please?

Thanks Robert, and thanks Roy!

Robby

[Terry Shaw]

I don't know what a strimmer is, but a weed eater is a tool we use to cut down the weeds and grass in areas a mower can't reach. It's got a round motorized section at the bottom that spins at seriously high levels of RPMs with a plastic 'string' that comes out. The plastic string cuts the weeds as it comes into contact. The round spinner part is attached to a long stick like device. I hope I explained that to some degree that makes...tell ya what!...Picture, 1000 words and all that...



THAT should explain it somewhat...

~T.

[Bobbi Holyoak]

I think strimmer is short for string trimmer. That is what everyone around here calls the weed eater.

[Robert Gage]

Terry's photo is the very thing! Bobbi, it's interesting to know that 'strimmer' is what you call it there. I have no idea what the string or cord is made of - some sort of plastic. Most models here are petrol-driven. They make a horrible noise! Robby, can you please tells us what it's called in German?

[Carl Feairs]

I have the very same electric fence stakes and never thought of using them for this!

[Gideon Rodgers]

Thanks Roy, That sounds like something that is needing to be tried.

[Robby Amper]

Robert - the whole thing is called "Rasentrimmer" in german. Now if I'd know where from I could get such things, I'd be a happy man. I'll start to search. Perhaps...

But thanks for your help, Terry! That picture made it really clear

Robby

[Robert Gage]

Thanks, Robby. I imagine any big garden centre would supply the string....

[Robby Amper]

Garden Center. Of course...! So close - and so far away

Thanks for the hint, Robert!

[Robert Gage]

Glad to help!

[Devin Bauer]

Very nice Roy, I have to agree with Robby on the two post design, the center bar does look nice for practice wraps. So do you use the string just to confirm a hit?

Like so many things in the United States, we call it a weed eater after the original invention which was sold as such. In other words, a string trimmer it is.

[Terry Shaw]

Devin,

You are so correct! 'Weed Eater' was a brand name of a trimmer and it stuck. We do indeed tend to do that with many things. Facial tissues regardless of brand we tend to call 'Kleen-ex'. Plastic flying disc toys got the generic name of 'Frisbee' because the original tin pie pans that were used to toss back and forth were manufactured and stamped by the 'Frisbee' pie company. So many examples through history where we Americans at least are very lazy and just slap a generic brand name on an item and run with it.

~T.

[Robby Amper]

The Germans are exactly the same, Terry. No difference at all. Okay... Here it's name is "Kleenex" in one word. But aside of that it's exactly the same situation. There's a brand, called "Tempo". These are blow rags . So everybody says "Tempo", no matter what brand it is. A glue called "Pattex", a skin cream called "Nivea" and so on. Every glue is Pattex, every skin cream is Nivea and - same here - those round plastic things to throw around are frisbees At least, people doesn't seem to be that different.

Robby