Are you thinking about getting the Fiskars 4 claw weeder? Wondering if this the right weed puller tool for you? We’ve owned this weeder for over a year now, and in this article, I’ll provide you some first-hand insights into this tool.
Read on to see if the Fiskars 4 claw weeder is right for you.
This article contains affiliate links. If you click a link and buy something I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more information please see the Disclosure page.
We have owned the Fiskars 4 Claw weeder for over a year now and we’ve put it to good use. So here is my hands on Fiskars 4 claw weeder review. I’ll tell you about it and you can decide if it’ll help you.
Fiskars 4 Claw Weeder Review
Below I’ll share my insights and give my hands-on review of this popular weeding tool.
Who is this Weed Puller Tool for?
The Fiskars stand up weeder is for people who don’t want to use harsh herbicides (plant poison) on their lawn, but they also don’t want to get on their hands and knees to pull weeds.
This tool allows you to remain standing, but still pull up weeds.
Using a manual weed puller tool – like the Fiskars stand up weeder – instead of a weed killer, means that you aren’t adding to the chemicals to your soil.
So this if for people who:
- People that want to minimize their environmental impact and not put man-made chemicals into their yard will appreciate a weed removal tool like this OR for….
- People that may have mobility issues and don’t want to get on their knees to pull weeds
How do you use this Fiskars Weed puller?
The stainless-steel claws of this weed remover form a circle (or diamond shape depending on how you see it). Below is a picture of the serrated, stainless-steel claws of this weed puller.
Step 1: Position the claws around the weed
Position the claws around the target weed.
Step 2: Step down onto the foot lever
Then step down on the foot lever to push the claws deep into the soil.
Continue pressing down until the bottom of the tool is flush with the ground. If you have hard soil like we do this can take some pressure to get it all the way down. If you have good, light, loose soil this should be a breeze.
Step 3: Pull the handle towards yourself
Once you have pushed the claws into the dirt, you remove your foot from the foot lever, and with your hand on the top of the handle, you pull the handle towards your body.
This acts as a lever to “pop” the weed out of the ground. When you pull the handle back, the foot lever acts as a pivot point on the ground and it causes the claws to clamp around the weed.
Below you’ll see the dandelion that I pulled from the ground. The claws are clamped around it.
Below is a picture better illustrating the clamped claws.
Step 4: Eject
Now that you’ve got the weed in the clamped claws you need to get rid of it.
You still have one hand on top of the handle, and with your other hand grab the orange part of the handle where it says “Eject”. Slide that section down towards the bottom of the tool and this ejects the weed (as the name suggests).
(I didn’t have enough hands to hold the tool with both hands and take the picture. But for an analogy, it is like the pumping action of a shotgun if you’ve ever seen that.)
Below is a picture showing what the tool does when you slide the handle down to eject the weed. This black plastic piece comes down to push out the weed (and the claws open up too…not clamped anymore).
How does your lawn look after your use this Fiskars weed puller?
Do you wonder what it does to your lawn after you pull up a weed using this tool?
I pulled up some weeds in a patch of dirt to show you the holes that this weed puller tool leaves behind. In this case the holes look pretty obvious.
But if you have a dense grass lawn with just the occasional weed, then you likely won’t even see the holes.
You could fill the holes with topsoil then reseed with grass if desired.
How tall is the Fiskars Stand Up Weeder?
When the claws are pushed down into the ground, our Fiskars 4-claw weeder is about 36-inches tall from the ground to the top of the handle. This is fine for us because we aren’t tall.
But if you are over 6-foot tall, you may have to stoop down to use this tool. (This may be something that tall folks will need to consider.)
How much does this weeder weigh?
Fiskars claims their weeder is now lighter than before. I don’t have an older version, so I don’t know the previous weight, but the version of the stand up weeder we have weighs less than 3 pounds.
This lightweight tool means using it isn’t fatiguing for most people, but if you are aging or suffer sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass) then even this weight could be tiring if you have lots of weeds.
If this is the case, remember to pace yourself and only do what you can.
What are the CONS about the Fiskars 4 claw weeder?
Below are some of the negative things we’ve encountered with this weeder.
- It does not always grab small, thin weeds (the claws don’t clamp around them)
- You have to lift up the tool to eject the weed into a bucket or bag (or if you eject them onto the ground you’ll still have to bend over to pick them up…but I’ll mention some solutions for that below)
- You need to have good balance because you need to step onto the foot lever (for aging gardeners or people with balance issues, this could be a problem)
- If you have lots of weeds it can be time-consuming to remove them all
- It will leave little holes in the ground where the weed’s roots were (you could fill with clean topsoil if you want)
Is this tool a good dandelion puller?
People often want to know if they can use this as a dandelion puller. And yes, this tool is a good dandelion puller. (But with one caveat…keep reading.)
It is good if you can position the claws directly around the center of the dandelion. After you step down and pull the handle towards yourself you should hear the satisfy “pop” of the dandelion root snapping.
We bought our weeder because our friend recommended it to us. This friend had lots of dandelions in her yard. She was able to remove most of them from her yard using the Fiskars weed puller.
But the dandelions did return to her yard.
It didn’t permanently remove the dandelions. (So this is something to keep in mind.)
If you have just a few dandelions, and you can keep your eye on them to remove them before they go to seed, this should make an adequate dandelion puller.
My stance on dandelions
You may not agree with me, but personally, I don’t care about dandelions.
I don’t worry about them like some people do because I don’t believe it maintaining a lush, perfect lawn. And dandelions have edible leaves so it is like a salad growing in your yard.
Since I don’t use herbicides in my yard I am not at risk of toxicity from eating the dandelion greens in my yard.
We got this weed puller primarily to pull up thorny or thistle’y weeds.
Click here to see 7 lawn alternatives if you’re sick of tending to a pristine grass lawn.
What do you do with the ejected weeds?
So you’ve pulled out your weeds with this Fiskars weeder, now what?
Put them into a Garden Wagon
One of the potential negative things about this weed puller is that you have to lift up the tool and eject the weed into a yard waste bag or bucket.
And this repetitive lifting of the tool can get annoying when you’ve got a 3-foot tall yard waste bag.
Luckily the tool is quite light (less than 3 pounds) but repeatedly lifting it up high may be fatiguing to aging gardeners or to people with shoulder issues.
To combat this annoyance, you could try using a garden wagon and put the weeds into the wagon. Because the wagon is lower to the ground than a yard waste bag you won’t have to raise the tool up so high with each weed.
I don’t have a dedicated garden wagon, but you can get the ones like the Gorilla Cart on Amazon.
Click here to see more details about this garden cart on Amazon.
Put them onto the Ground and Pick up later
Of course, you could just eject the weeds onto the ground and then collect them later.
This could entail bending over to pick up the weeds which may not be possible for people with back issues or other medical conditions. But thankfully you can buy a tool like the “Gator Grabber” to help pick up yard waste off the ground without having to bend over.
Click here to read reviews of the Gator Grabber on Amazon.
Where to get the Fiskars 4 Claw Weeder:
Do you think the Fiskars 4 claw weeder is right for you?
You’ll probably be able to get this Fiskars stand up weeder at your local hardware or garden store.
Amazon also sells this weed pulling tool, but sometimes it isn’t in stock.
I can’t find this weed puller on Walmart.com right now.
But here is a link to Walmart.com so you can check if it is listed again.
Summary of the Fiskars 4 Claw Weeder
I think this weed puller is best suited for:
- people with relatively small number of weeds in their lawn or garden (otherwise time-consuming)
- people that want to maintain a relatively weed-free yard rather than a full eradication (because the weeds -like dandelions – may come back)
- people that don’t have tiny, thin weeds (it doesn’t work very well for really thin weeds)
- people who don’t like to kneel in order to weed (you can stay standing with this weed puller)
- people who have good enough balance to be able to step down on the foot lever
- people that have good use of both arms (requires two hands for the shotgun-style pump ejection)
- people who don’t want to use chemical herbicides on their lawn or garden
I think that about covers it.
I hope this hands-on review of the Fiskars 4 claw weeder has been helpful.
I always find that seeing pictures of products in use helps me make decisions. I hope it helped you too.
Take care and have fun.
Tim from Learn Along With Me
Up Next:
Rapid Flo Hose Review (my initial thoughts on this compact hose)
Flexi Hose Garden Hose Review (50 ft version)
You May Also Like:
8 ideas for what to put under an above ground pool
6 scary owl decoys to scare off birds from your garden
10 beautiful Front Walkway Ideas (to improve your home’s curb appeal)