Thank you all for your kind advice. Sorry to take so long in getting
back. I had filled the tank with fresh fuel and left this project
alone for several days.
Today I bought a spark tester (easier than attempting to ground
the plug while pulling the start cord.) Recall I had guessed a bad
spark earlier. The spark was perfect!
Without choking, I depressed the throttle and the engine started
immediately.
So it appears Hank and some others were right. The engine must
have been severely flooded.
Initially in desperation I must have choked the engine more than I
thought. I feel very stupid about this and am sorry if I may have
misled you. I simply could not understand with the use of starting
fluid why I couldn't even get a sputter.
The cautionary tale here is this: Always follow starting
instructions exactly and be patient.
Just a word or two in defense of Homelite. For about 20 years I
had a string trimmer that started and ran flawlessly, only giving
trouble very recently. It had years of stale gas (I'm more careful
now) and never complained. I liked it because it had no centrifugal
clutch and didn't require being run at light speed. Also simply
speeding the engine momentarily to full throttle advanced the line- no
need to bump or insert line stubs manually.
So I have no problems with Homelite. And it turns out this problem
wasn't theirs!
Once again thank you all. I intend to do penance by running the
trimmer against my bare leg for one-half hour.
Frank