Abstract: A hand held trimmer for cutting heavy vegetation such as hedges or the like is disclosed. The trimmer includes a handle having a centrally disposed hand grip thereon. The handle includes mounting means for a conventional cutting means at one end and a convention motor at the other. The trimmer cutting means and trimmer motor are preferably disposed at substantially opposite ends of the handle such that the weight of one substantially counterbalances the weight of the other. A resilient drive shaft means is disposed within the handle and extends between the motor to the reciprocating blade drive means so as to substantially avoid damaging the motor and the drive means should the trimmer reciprocating blades become temporarily jammed during operation.