Black and decker 550w Strimmer is ouch!

Hi there folks, hope I haven't overlooked an already existing thread. I recently bought the above Black and Decker ST5530GB strimmer and put it together.
I tested it on a rather large weed on my patio and something hit my [jean]covered legs,needless to say it rather hurt a lot.
Is this normal or is it part of the weed/cutting wire? I am slightly terrified of using it now.

Any advice would be great thank you and this is my first ever strimmer..

 

UNPLUG it and have a look underneath. If the wire is still where it should be it's probably OK and you just hit a stone or something.
Test it carefully wearing some eye protection. Stout boots/wellies are also a good idea. See if it works OK on something really soft. If all seems OK continue - but it shouldn't regularly be chucking out stuff that is hard enough to hurt you. Maybe the big weed had more bark on it than you realised, they are really designed for soft growth but prepare to get splattered by green sap at the moment, everything is so lush!

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner

They do tend to throw stuff around, seen em break windows by kicking up stones.

Best to wear something thick or 2 pair of trousers, also beware of cutting down Hogweed with them, you can get nasty blisters if you get covered with that.

Worse thing i've hit with one was a putrid rat

 

Ah thanks, it was quite a shock. I intend to mow and strim, then in which ever order lawn feed with flat weed killer and general weed killer on the beds.
Annoying balance of the right weather for both and keeping the cats in over night..

 

Welcome
Yes they can throw anything up, watch your eyes as this morning i had a bit of hard soil flick up and hit me in the eye lucky i closed it and it hit my lid

One thing you want to watch is dog poo or any type of poo