My husband cut the handle of a new hoe to about 1/3d it's original length. This allows me to rake compost out of my tumbler from it's back corners. I'm short and find I use it in my regular beds.

Thanks for the interesting "Tool time" thread George, and for your kind contribution on the Okra thread.

I guess that you can say that I knows hoes! ":^) Many hours in the hot sun growing up with a goose neck hoe handle in your hands day after day will turn you into a virtuoso if you have any talents at all. You also learn how to sharpen them several times per day with a hand held mill b*stard file as well as the reason why it is good to keep them sharp. You also learn that a worn down hoe that is about half the height of the new ones that they sell is much better and easier to do fine work with. I swapped a new hoe to my late M.I.L. for one that was really worn from use and sharpening. If not for that, I would have cut half of it off to make what I wanted. Pictures below, but first, a bit of an off topic comment.

I have marveled at some of those Mexican's adaptability and ability to work with what is available. How some people spend mucho dinero for way too much fishing tackle and trips to Mexico for a guided fishing trip to one of the great lakes, and one of those guides can take a lure, some line wound around a coke or Dr. Pepper can and cast just about as well with that to catch fish just about as good. Kinda humbles some of the fishermen that get a little too impressed with themselves at times.

You were right on about the grubbing hoe, that is the way that I remember them, perhaps with a little variatation. Many had handles that were larger on the lower end and would slip thru the eye to be held on by the tapered, larger end. To me, they were a little too heavy and unweildy to use for the fine work around the plants and usually used for the heavy work of digging etc. Terms and vernaculars are different in different locales but here it was thought that the term probably derived from useing them to grub the roots of persimmon sprouts and other unwanted growth from the gound in a cultivated field, etc.

With a thin, agile, sharp hoe like the one pictured below, I can hoe a pretty long row in relatively short time, cutting under a lot of small grasses and weeds that have come up. You can make a single swipe with the hoe relatively flat, cutting a swath just beneath the surface and severing them from their roots, which will kill most of them. Most any of those that you do not cut up, will die if covered with dirt. It is relatively easy and a good idea in my opinion to do any thinning of the plants and hill the dirt up around the base of the plants a little while hoeing the row. Perhaps we can resurrect this thread later in the fall or next spring when I have a row of something growing so that I can better demonstrate with pictures what I am attempting to describe.

For the time being, I went out to the garden and searched around for some grass to demonstrate with so the pictures below is of that, are not really a good example, but will have to suffice for the time being. Also in the picture is a Swing hoe, whim wham, yo yo or what ever one may want to call it. It is the fore runner of the motorized weed whacker, or string trimmer. ":^) (I have about every kind of power tool that I could wish for, but it is good to revisit these real hand powered tools that have been so much a part of our heritage at times, and I still like to use them.)
Bill P.
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In this next picture, I have run the hoe under the grass in the picture, cutting it off just beneath the ground. Normally, I make one more swipe with the hoe to kinda rake the grass out of the dirt so that it can dry in the sun.

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hey gone fishing, my grandparents had one of those weed wacker things. It sure was fun to swing that thing ,but the fun wore of pretty quick!!! I heard from a bird that there was some rain in the Dallas area recently,did you get any? I figured if you did we could have heard a big WHOOPY from the coast. I have made it two days at my house with NO RAIN!!! It has been a very wet summer here. Nice swap with MIL. I hear alot of guys complain about their MIL, but I like mine just fine IT'S HER DAUGHTER I CAN'T STAND. JUST KIDDING!!!
macmex, cool asian hoes,I can see where those could be very handy. The tools that I have that my dad never did is a grain scoop and a big mulch fork. It seems like you get around ,where are you now and are you growing any things special from mexico?

I guess my favorite is a split, or I use about equally, the sturdy garden fork and an ordinary pick-axe. I use the pick effectively to do what a chisel-plow does (I got used to a pick-axe cutting irrigation-hose trenches in florida lime-rock, so using it in a garden seemed only natural). I run it along to loosen deeply under a furrow before seeding. The fork is good afterward as a harrow to break up the lumps and even it all out.

I have that same plow-share shaped tool in macmex's second photo, and also one on a long handle which makes nice furrows very quickly. I do almost all weeding by hand (sandy soil, so it's easy pulling), so I don't use a hoe much.

It's interesting how everyone ends up with their own favorite. I think a lot of the difference comes from differing conditions, as well as physical preferences. Bill, I will eventually try getting a gooseneck hoe. I already have one of those nice worn down hoes. This year, however, as it was our first year to garden here in Oklahoma, and our garden had never been cultivated before, I really needed the grub hoe. What with all the Johnson and Bermuda grass, and the ROCKS, I really couldn't do much hoeing without really having to chop! I mulched at every opportunity, and then most weeding in those areas was by hand. But I do believe you know your hoes very well and I'm going to try the gooseneck. Thanks, by the way, for contributing to this thread!

Frugal-Gary, We now live in Tahlequah, OK; in the foothills of the Ozarks. I couldn't be happier about it either. This is a WONDERFUL area with a high percentage of "common sense" folk. Before this, we lived four years in my native NJ and before that about 14 years in Mexico, in two distinct climatic areas. Our time in Mexico was broken up with two years back in the US (OH & NJ); and before we went to Mexico we lived in AR, IN, NJ & Texas, all because of preparation to go to Mexico (we went as missionaries).

Every place we've lived has been different, and the first year gardening in a new place has always been a big challenge. We also tend to pick up new tricks and varieties as we go. I hope to stay put for a good long while now.

One other tool, which I purchased this year, is a scythe. We have over 5 acres of pasture and I have been cutting weeds with the scythe and using them for mulch. There's a lot for a fella to learn when picking up a new tool. But I'm getting pretty good with this scythe. I love it. It's a light Austrian scythe. Johnny's sells this one. I love turning weeds into mulch and, to top things off, I've even processed some hay.

George
Tahlequah, OK

My favorite is a floral shovel - a long handled shovel with a small blade about half the usual size. It's light weight but can dig big holes pretty fast. And it does a fine job turning over the ground for planting. I also find a lot of uses for a pry bar and wouldn't be without one. In this rocky soil, it's the most useful digging tool there is as the tip gets under a boulder and pries it up where using a shovel for the purpose would just break the handle. Pry bar is five feet long and also useful for setting tomato stakes or posts - just pick it up and drop it point down a couple of times then rock it back and forth to make a foot deep hole. I can't swing a sledge hammer any more but the pry bar does just as well if not better.

George, I have one of those grub hoes. It belonged to my Dad and when he died I ended up with it. There is nothing better to get rid of large tough weeds. I use it a lot and wouldn't take a $1,000 for it. But then again, who knows? LOL

Oldroser wrote: "I also find a lot of uses for a pry bar and wouldn't be without one. In this rocky soil, it's the most useful digging tool there is as the tip gets under a boulder and pries it up where using a shovel for the purpose would just break the handle. "

I was forgetting about my pry bar! Every time I use it I thank God! Yes, there are a lot of uses for a pry bar, some of which you mentioned. I even use mine as a premo method for planting bulbs: makes it so fast and easy! I had one in NJ, where the soil was sand and almost no rock, and it was still very much used. But here in rocky Oklahoma, well, it's a must!

Hi Gary, I thought that you were in Alvin TX which is pretty close to me?????

Yeah, I got a quarter inch of rain two afternoons in a row last week, then over the weekend another half inch spread over a day and a night, along with cooler tempratures. All of which were most welcome, although not nearly enough. I did a little bit of celebratory rain dance, or shuffle ":^) with perhaps a muted war whoop or two.

I had also forgotten about using my crowbar in the garden. I have not had much need for it there, did use it to help extract the metal T post driven deep to hold the mesh wire for my trellis up, before I started using the lift on my garden tractor to pull them up.
Then this year, when I ran out of tomato cages and started staking some up with bamboo poles, I found that I could deep soak the row well with the soak hose, then take the pointed end of this big heavy crow bar and make a pilot hole just where I wanted it that made it easy to shove the bamboo cane down into. Came in real handy for that.
Bill P.
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Hello,

The Asian Hand Hoe in the left in macmex's picture is called a "homi" and is of Korean origin. It's definitely my favorite. I used one for digging gravel and rocks out of soil - layer after layer of rocks ;( when preparing new beds and I don't know how I'd have done it without the homi. They are also great for weeding and cultivating. Jung's and Kitchen Gardener(.com?) were selling them, both long and short handled. Hope others enjoy the homi in their daily garden chores!

Thanks sparklenj! That's great info!

I call my hoe, "homey" sometimes too. ":^) (That is lingo in the hood for homeboy).
Bill P.

Thanks Bill! Now I know what a friend of mine was calling me, back in NJ!

By the way, a friend forwarded a link to me, with the homi. Wish they had a picture. But I'm sure that's it.

My favorite hand tool is a Bottle opener.

It seems to work really well with Beer.
:)

Macmex, what's the spanish word for 'grub-hoe'?

They just called it an azadón. In rural parts of Mexico I found that folks didnt use very many specialized words for things that I wished they would. For instance, I did a fair amount of plant exploring, visiting the part of markets where the indigenous folk would spread out their produce on the ground, to sell. Occasionally Id come across, say, an unusual looking tomato, being sold, and say, "Hey! Thats quite the tomato! What kind is it?" (In Spanish, of course) The poor person selling tomatoes, and who had no idea where I was coming from, would look at me, figure I was a poor gringo who didnt know the ropes, and say (enunciating slowly and clearly for my benefit) "Thats a red round tomato." They did the same when it came to hoes, as among campesinos I didnt see them using a lot of variety in hoes. Usually they would use the style which was favored in their region and, in the market, where they sold hoes, there would be a whole bank of the same kind, with only variation in size. They did sell larger and smaller ones.

In the city, in major shopping centers, I saw more tools which were like North American tools. But buy and large they were not of good quality. Imagine purchasing all your equipment from the sale barrel at K-Mart, but paying top dollar for it.

Through much experience, garden and otherwise, I came to prefer a long handled, round bladed shovel for most tasks which require a shovel. For most of our years down there one couldnt find these down there. So, whenever we went to the border for car parts, etc., wed purchase them and bring them in. Most Mexican friends who tried them wanted one. And, towards the end of our time down there, someone began manufacturing them (albeit of inferior quality). Nevertheless, Mexico has it on us for some things. For instance, in almost any market one can find a greater variety of high quality machetes than in any hardware store up here! When I had my homi replicated we got it done in a shop that manufactured machetes, since their steel was the very best for such tools.

George

I couldn't agree more! As a toolmaker by trade, I know what the right tool does for a task. I tend to get down in the dirt so mostly short handled tools. I have a 'garden pick' cast iron miniture flat blade on one end. The pick end is great for breaking up compacted soil; the blade is perfect for opening up planting hole. Second would be a three pronged weeder; not bent round stock, but again, cast. I've torn out tons of sod with this one.

Don't use many long handled tools very often, but would never be without the spading fork; most excellent for mixing compost into our sandy loam.

In prior years, my biggest complain was the poor quality wood used for handles, even in a high quality steel tool. The recent introduction of fibreglass handles has been a quantum leap for the garden.

Here's one trick I use; paint the handle flourescent color or apply bright colored tape. Should you set it down in the garden, it's easy to spot. Years back the ex bought me a nice boxed set of small hand tools with green handles and green paint. I still haven't found all of them hiding somewhere in the jungle.

My favorite garden tool is a scuffle hoe, also called a stirrup hoe. Makes weeding a breeze if you do it when you're supposed to. Its like pushing a mop back and forth instead of chopping with a regular hoe, and removes 100% of weeds in half the time and half the effort.

I have a stirrup hoe too, but can't use it here much, yet, on account of the rocks. It worked well in sandy conditions.

Rain1950, you make a very valid point about the wood in tool handles. Some tools are hardly usable because of the soft wood in their handles. They break! Also, I have an old round bladed, long handled shovel with a real ash handle. It is so much better than another shovel I have with a regular wooden handle! I can't explain it well, but it flexes better making the work easier.

I too, prefer to get down on the level of the ground for a lot of my work, especially if I have to weed between small plants. But, I have to discipline myself to use long handled tools when possible, in order to get more done in the time available. Then, I go in, for finishing touches, on my knees.

When the handle broke on my pitch-fork, I made a new one of red oak - not the most rot resistant of woods. However, I cut it from heart, careful to follow the grain, and then gave it a good dousing of used motor oil. It's been mostly outside now for probably over three years - no sign of softening. Did the same for the pick-axe using a soft dark elm, not strong stuff at all, again heart and following the grain does the trick. Commercial tool handles of course ignore those factors, for which the ideal species cannot compensate.

Well, I went rummaging around in some of my older hand tools and found a hoe like the one you call a grub hoe. I sprayed some WD-40 on it, pulled a rusty nail that ran thru the part that the handle goes thru and replaced it with a tight fitting screw, then took the wire brush on my grinder to it a little bit to knock some of the rust off. It is shown in the picture below, along with some hand powered post hole diggers (both handles have been replaced at one time or another, but the bottom parts are about good as new) and a power post hole digger with 6" Auger and a small, light weight version of an old weed whacker. The handle is missing but I could fabricate one and sharpen the thing up.

Hoes similar to these are pretty commonly used here locally to mix homeowner sized batches of concrete or mortar. Some of them have a couple of holes in them to let the mix flow thru while mixing. Mine has somekind of a design and numbers pressed in it. I can make out a large number 1 and the town where it was made. Probably can read all of it with my glasses after I do a little more wire brushing.

I have made a number of tools and implements to work on my garden tractor which has been great labor savers and enables me to do much more than I would be able to do otherwise due to my age and health.
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I intended to put a tool in the picture but forgot it. It is long handled shovel, flat across the front end and has a projection on the back. It is used to remove roofing shingles from roofs by jambing it under them then pushing the handle down. The projection on the back causes the front end to raise, prying the roofing up as the handle is lowered. It is pretty effective and workes surprisingly well.

I bought an old wooden tool box tray at a garage sale that had a number of basically antique small hand tools in it. Mostly wood working tools, which brings me around to the observation that many handles for tools used to be made from a good grade of hickory that was tough and durable. My Dad could make most anything out of wood, and made many handles in his day.

The link below takes you to a page that has a number of hand tools on it. The first link is of a tool that we used to call a grubbing hoe, has a flat blade on one side and a cutting blade (or sometimes a pick) on the other side. On further down is your Homi which is listed as a Korean hand plow called a HO-MI, new for about 18 bucks and change.
Bill P.

Ya know, Bill, I've yet to see anyone around here mix mud with a wheelbarrow and hoe besides me. Mostly they use a mortar pan and shovel - no idea why, because the other way is so much easier.

Maybe southerners are smarter (or lazier)?

My favorite tool besides my hands are my Felco pruners. I absolutely love them. Over the course of my life I've gone thru several favorites, the a semi-pronged hand weeder, a good hoe, good pitchfork, etc., but now it's down to the pruners, an angled planting spade that is perfect for me, and Atlas gloves. Can't leave home without them.

Hey you gardeners, be careful! Haven't you been listening to the news coverage this past week? You can get into a lot of trouble for talking about hoes!

Here is my favorite hoe.

>>Haven't you been listening to the news coverage this past week? You can get into a lot of trouble for talking about hoes!

Raisemybeds please explain. I hate to play the straight man, but I completely missed the joke!

George,

I believe Raisemy beds is referring to radio talk show host Don Imus who was fired this week for making some derogatory remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. I won't repeat his remarks. You can google him if you want to see what he said. Let's just say the 'hoes' he was referring to are not the tool kind that y'all have been talking about.

Hope it is nice and warm there in Talequah. We have frost on the ground here in Marietta.

Dawn

These are my favorites:

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Hand forged stainless steel transplant spades from the Netherlands. Razor sharp and indispensible. The handles are 16" and 18" respectively. The manufacturer is Sneeboer.

My favorite is a hand weeder originally from Smith Hawkins, alas, they no longer sell it. It came in both left and right handed variety. I've found a similar one at another site but since I bought 7 when SH was selling them on sale for $5.99 each, I should be set for the next 10 years (but I wont be able to give any away which is why I originally bought 7. I would take a picture of my favorite but it's out in my truck and it's snowing and I'm here in my robe and slippers and intend to stay in that condition for the next hour or so. I have faith that spring will eventually come, or else we'll skip it and go straight to summer.

I also like getting down and dirty on my knees, so my favorite tool is short handled. I love my old 8", wooden handled kitchen knife. I think it is designed for chopping or cutting large cuts of meat...I don't know - cooking is my husbands thing - but the knife is great for cutting, digging, and surface weeding. It gets more use than all the other garden tools combined.

My two favorite tools for on the ground serious weeding in the raspberry and asparagus rows are a dry wall saw (14" or so) and a bale hook. I also like the Asian 'homi' for less crowded plantings.

The drywall saw is bright blue and yellow-plastic handled. The bale hook is a hand forged one I grew up using to 'buck bales' and I keep surveying tape tied to it. Due to a knee issue, I usually sit on some heavy plastic and scoot along the rows with my tools in a small bucket.

great topic...cella jane