A new mean tool

[Lavender2]

I was shopping for some gardening tools for a gift for my niece and found an interesting hand tool. The hinge in my back and my strength is, well, not what it used to be, so I rely more on good hand tools.

It's made by Fiskars, and it's mean and heavy duty, this year I've used it more than any tool in my bucket. One side is relatively sharp, but not sharp enough to chop off a finger. The other side has teeth that I used to saw a tree root. The sharp tip cuts into hard soil so easily and scratches up small weeds in small places. I also used it for all of my planting.

Do you have a favorite tool?

 

[JimWWhite]

Are you sure you didn't find a Klingon D'K Tahg fighting knife? This thing looks viscous.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yeah, that groundhog wouldn't stand a chance if I could get close enough with that.

 

[digitS']

I thought that this would be my favorite and couldn't resist it when I saw it at the garden center:

It is just a little too robust for most of my weeding ... fortunately. I was out most recently with a little 3-prong cultivator. I soon left that behind when I got into plants that were a little tight.

Probably my favorite tool for heavy weeding is this:

It's a "muck rake" and in combination with a spading fork to loosen the ground, not too many weeds can resist this thing! But, what I usually use it for is cultivation, not weeding. Chop, chop, chop - it works as good as a rototiller to a depth of about 4".

When I worked at the greenhouses, the boss wanted one of the workers to use a 12" hacksaw blade set as a bow on a handle. I thought it was a pretty good idea but the guy took a blade and set it straight out of the handle. It was shortened to about 6" and was not in a bow. He used one like that for slicing under the weeds rather than raking them out with a bow. I have often thought to copy that but making the handle comfortable might take some trial and error. Nothing much can resist a sharp blade.

Steve

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

sounds like a tool i've seen on Johnny's website. but now that i think of it it sounds more like a cutting tool i've seen for lettuce on their site too.

 

[thistlebloom]

That looks like a great tool Lavender. I'm always on the hunt for any tool that can make work easier, faster, or less painful.
That one looks very sturdy. I like the root cutter edge. I've been using my clippers for that when I run into them. Sure dulls them quickly! I just broke my favorite trowel planting annuals in hardish soil. I levered it against the cement curbing and it snapped. I am a little hard on trowels sometimes.

Steve, I have a tool very similar to your hand mattock/cultivator.
DH found it for me, and I used to use it a lot for planting one gallon perennials. Now I just stand and use the shovel to make the holes after I've placed the plants. I'm trying to keep my dicey knee from sliding out of joint or whatever it's been doing lately when I crawl around.

I'll have to gather a few favorites and photo them a little later (after my Sunday nap.)

 

[Smart Red]

My favorite garden tool is my hula-hoe (scuffle hoe). It takes out weeds without cutting too deeply into the soil to open it to new seeds. Love it so much I needed to buy a second for DH as we fought over who would get to use it when we weeded together.

My favorite small tool is a Japanese-type curved sickle digger.

 

[thistlebloom]

I have the usual scuffle hoe and little triangle weed slicer, and I love the "apple picker" stall cleaning fork for picking up raked piles of pine needles, leaves and general garden debris. A lot of the dirt sifts out through the tines so you pick up just the stuff you raked. That trowel is really sturdy and heavy duty, my only complaint is the color. That green matches the garden junk that I throw in my tub and I have inadvertently tossed two of them away.

 

[Lavender2]

I thought that this would be my favorite and couldn't resist it when I saw it at the garden center:

It is just a little too robust for most of my weeding ... fortunately. I was out most recently with a little 3-prong cultivator. I soon left that behind when I got into plants that were a little tight.

Probably my favorite tool for heavy weeding is this:

It's a "muck rake" and in combination with a spading fork to loosen the ground, not too many weeds can resist this thing! But, what I usually use it for is cultivation, not weeding. Chop, chop, chop - it works as good as a rototiller to a depth of about 4".

When I worked at the greenhouses, the boss wanted one of the workers to use a 12" hacksaw blade set as a bow on a handle. I thought it was a pretty good idea but the guy took a blade and set it straight out of the handle. It was shortened to about 6" and was not in a bow. He used one like that for slicing under the weeds rather than raking them out with a bow. I have often thought to copy that but making the handle comfortable might take some trial and error. Nothing much can resist a sharp blade.

Steve

The kids bought me one of those double sided 'weapons'. Just too much bulky metal for small cultivation, for which I assume it was intended. I am a small person, so for me it was like swinging an axe at purslane.
Now that muck rake looks like something I could use.

 

[Lavender2]

That looks like a great tool Lavender. I'm always on the hunt for any tool that can make work easier, faster, or less painful.
That one looks very sturdy. I like the root cutter edge. I've been using my clippers for that when I run into them. Sure dulls them quickly! I just broke my favorite trowel planting annuals in hardish soil. I levered it against the cement curbing and it snapped. I am a little hard on trowels sometimes.

Steve, I have a tool very similar to your hand mattock/cultivator.
DH found it for me, and I used to use it a lot for planting one gallon perennials. Now I just stand and use the shovel to make the holes after I've placed the plants. I'm trying to keep my dicey knee from sliding out of joint or whatever it's been doing lately when I crawl around.

I'll have to gather a few favorites and photo them a little later (after my Sunday nap.)

I am not so good at going to get the better tool for the job if I don't happen to have it handy. Like that small volunteer tree that won't pull out ... so you whack it to death with a hand trowel.
I have a small spade, like half (or a bit smaller) the size of a regular shovel that works great for perennials that are just a bit too big for a trowel, very handy for dividing plants. I wish I could have found one of those for my niece.