Rubber Mallet

Our 1.2kg mallets cater to all your stake bashing needs. The dead blow allows you to knock all your stakes in without damaging them. It also allows you to tap your edging down to your desired height once it’s all fixed together.

Rubber Forming Strip

Stretch the rubber strip out, and push it under the FormBoss folded top lip along the whole length of edging. It should stay there because it will expand when you let it go, if it doesn’t, try it again with a second person. It works best when you have two people to stretch the forming strip out. If it won’t stay put just tape it to both ends. Once you have done this you will now be able to shape the edging more aggressively without kinking the top lip. This reduces the minimum shaping radius by hand from around 1.2m to around .8m, depending on the users previous experience. Rubber forming strips are highly recommended to all first time FormBoss users who are planning tight curves. The forming strip can be used again and again, simply pull it from out of the top safety lip once your edging piece is shaped.

Cold Gal Spray Paint

Want to have the most thorough of installations to ensure your edging will be there long into the future? Make sure to purchase a can of cold gal spray with your order. You’ll need to spray any areas where you have exposed the bare metal. This will include area’s that have been both cut and screwed. The cold gal will conceal the cut edges with a zinc coating protecting the steel from oxidation.

Wide Brimmed Vice Grip

This clamp is used for both connector pieces and stakes. Simply adjust the end cap to leave approximately 10mm gap between the end plates. Then clamp the edging. It works best when the clamp is extremely tight. This leaves little room for the connector plates to slide around while you’re fixing them, and makes piloting the screw incredibly easy. If it’s a bit loose, take it off and tighten it before use.

You will need some form of clamp, the wide brimmed vice grip works best from our experience, but most clamps will do the trick.

8mm Magnetic Hex Head Driver

This is the piece you will need to fix your self tapping screws. If you don’t have one already you’ll need one.

Installation Tools That Are NOT Stocked by Greenlines, But Still Recommended

Drill

To get the best result we highly recommend screwing all your stakes and connectors to the edging. This will ensure your installation is still looking great in years to come. Impact drivers work well at getting the screw through as quick as possible, although just about any drill will work.

String Line, Chalk, or Marking Paint

Ever tried to get perfect straight lines but messed up because you were just working by eye? Using a string line can ensure that you get straight lines as dead straight as possible. Simply make sure the string line is taut just above the edging line, and loosen the soil directly below for your edging to be laid in.

Chalk and marking spray will help for those designs that need to be precisely constructed.

Angle Grinder or Hack Saw

You will need to cut the edge when you come to the end of your line. An angle grinder is the easiest way to get a straight cut, however a hacksaw will do the job just fine. Be sure to mark the edging off at 90 degrees with a marker before cutting.

Metal File

After cutting your edging, you’ll need to file the cut edge to remove the burr created by cutting. This bur can be very sharp, make sure you are wearing gloves while filing.

Spade, Pickaxe or Hand Mattock

Before laying your edging in the ground you will need to loosen up the soil. The best tool comes down to user preference.

Square

Before cutting any edges you’ll need to make sure it’s square to ensure it joins as cleanly as possible.

Pen

You’re going to need this to mark your edging before each cut. It will also help you if you are doing any custom jobs.

Tape Measure

This will help you measure up before you order, and will also assist you plotting out your installation.

Installing Retaining Edges

If you do need to produce an angle on site it can be achieved by clamping a timber to the edging exactly where you want your angle, you’ll also need to fix the body of the edging onto a surface (such as a strong bench) with a clamp. Now lever the edging up as far as you can, it can be handy having a friend since it is so strong. If you give the angled area a few whacks with a rubber mallet the angle will tighten.

Staking:

The standard ‘triangle’ taped stakes are not strong enough to support these profiles. This is why we’ve developed our ‘L’ profiled angled stakes, they still slot up under the lip of edging, but are much stronger.

They’re available in a range of different lengths to suit your project, and can be easily cut down to size if they are too long. It is highly recommended that you use a rubber mallet to knock the stakes in instead of any metal hammers as they will dent the steel. You will need to use two self tapping screws per angled stake as opposed to the usual one.

Connecting:

Connect your retaining edges in the same way you usually would, although you’ll need to insert two screws either side of the connector as opposed to the usual one. Clamping the edging whilst putting your screws in becomes a bit more important to ensure it doesn’t move whilst screwing.

The 580mm high edging can bow in the belly slightly since the profile is so high and because of the steels flexibility. Instead of inserting extra screws which can look ugly, try popping in a couple pop rivets half way up your profile for a nice clean finish.

Preservation:

There are multiple methods of increasing the life of your edging systems, it is most important that you make an effort to improve the drainage and water penetrability to the largest profile heights, as they will have the most water build up. You can void your 10 year structural warranty if you ignore this

Staking Methods

Depending what you’re trying to achieve, there are a range of staking options available for FormBoss™ Metal Garden Edging systems. The general rule of thumb for selecting the right stake is making sure the stake is more than twice the profile height as a minimum.

1. The first option is the tapered stake. It’s ideal for edging profiles up to 150mm high, and works great at strengthening and anchoring most standard applications.

For general applications we strongly recommend 3 stakes spaced out evenly per length of steel (2.44m). This works out to be every 813mm. Generally you’ll just place one in the centre and one at each end about 400mm from your connection.

They are available in:

240mm, 300mm & 400mm heights

Galvanised 2.5mm gauge, Corten 2.00mm gauge & stainless by special request

2. The second option is the angled stakes. These stakes are specially manufactured to suit both higher strength jobs and retaining applications.

Generally you space angled stakes at the same *3 per length (every 813mm). If you have a high strength job such as a straight 400mm retaining wall, or steps of any size, it is highly recommended to increase the quantity to *4 per length, this will work out to be every 610mm. If you’re steps are narrow you’ll need a minimum of 1 angled stake per side. You insert the top lip of the stake under the lip of the edging the same as you would for the tapered stakes.

They are available in:

400mm, 600mm, 800mm & 1200mm heights.

Galvanised 2.5mm gauge, Corten 3.0mm gauge & stainless by special request

It’s important that you use a rubber mallet to knock these stakes in. A metal hammer will fold the top lip of the stake over and make it impossible to insert it under the lip of the edging.

Sometimes, especially for the 1200mm stakes, it is necessary to pre dig out the area where the stake is going. A motorized post hole digger is fantastic for the 12oomm stakes, fill your hole up with concrete if you want the strongest retaining wall possible.