the daunting Tool Quest: successful!

(if anyone *were* reading: sorry we've been off the web and unable to post since - eh - some time last season
now we're back up, healed up, revisioned..)

man is it hard to find a decent tool these days

for the moment let's limit the discussion to standin'-up gardening tools with handles, like shovels rakes and hoes

if you try to go to your nearest garden or hardware supplier to purchase tools like this, odds are all you'll see is fake doodoo - things that look like tools but really aren't. that's in the u.s. anyhow - we'd be intrested to hear if it's different in other parts of the world

{guessing that ace and truvalue hardwares are as globalized as mctacobell, in which case life sux for a lot of us who need a decent tool once in awhile...}

here's from a patent application for a shovel design:

[... Since] the advent of the technology of forging steel billets into hand tools, the highest quality shovel blade was made by heating a billet of steel and hammering it into a form that provided a blade appropriately styled to scoop or dig earth. Because the blade was forged, the attack edge could be made appropriately thin, and as the blade progressed back towards the handle, it could be made thicker to give the blade the amount of stiffness and strength required in the use of the shovel. Originally, emanating from the center of the back or rear edge of the shovel blade, was a tang (as opposed to a socket) similar to the tangs commonly used today in rakes and hoes. The tang was subsequently jammed into a hole in a wooden handle, and an appropriate steel sleeve was provided over the end of the handle to provide the breakout resistance strength required.


The forged shovel, to this day, is the absolute top of the line for a number of reasons. Such shovels have blades which provide a relatively thin, sharp attack edge, that thicken out as the blade approaches a rear edge to provide stiffness and strength, and which provide a substantially flat surface on the underside of the blade to preclude the collecting of mud and clay. Further, forged shovels usually accommodate a good-sized tread on which the workman's foot can comfortably step, and may be reinforced by having extra steel in those areas of the blade surrounding the handle-engaging tang.


Over the years evolution and competition have brought about the manufacture of shovel blades from flat, cold-rolled sheet steel, which could be produced at a fraction of the labor costs of the forged blades. However, many concessions were made in the design of such newer stamped blades, which the marketplace has accepted because of the substantially lower costs of these blades notwithstanding their inferior characteristics.


For example, in modern stamped shovel blades, the back end of the dish is formed into a standing rib to provide a minimum acceptable level of stiffness. In contrast, the forged blade typically included more massive steel located in that location. By creating a standing rib in modern shovel blades to provide stiffness, a corresponding hollow is created on the underside of the blade which traps mud and clay. In more demanding applications, a flat plate is welded over the backside of the shovel indentation to simulate the "closed" back of the forged shovel. [...]


Further, to economize on the manufacturing operation, the original blank of the stamped blade includes a projection which when rolled into a circle provides a socket for the shovel handle. At the transition from the socket created for acceptance of the handle and the tread on which the workman's foot must rest, there is but the one thickness of the original steel sheet. This area of stamped blades is known to be a weak point which fails and rips when the shovel is heavily loaded. Moreover, since the socket circle or ring is not ordinarily locked in a closed position by welding, a hole is drilled in it to accept a rivet which provides the attachment for the handle in the socket and to keep the ring or circle closed. Furthermore, because the blade and socket are all made from one stamped piece of sheet steel, the area between the end of the shovel handle and the handle socket as it meets the blade should be filled with something (usually a piece of wood) to keep it from collapsing, which may occur when the shovel is used as a pry. [...]

In addition to those noted above, a further concession in the stamped shovel has been the continuing extension of the socket length to accommodate a decline in the grade of wood available for handles. [...]

So there's probably no such thing as a good 30 dollar shovel. even the fancy, expensive, tougher-looking shovels in the stores are nearly always junk. and knowing the difference doesn't necesarily help if you can't even find a decent tool to buy and use


it is more possible to find a good set of shorter, D- or T-handled forged spades and digging forks, usually imported from England, at your better garden shops and online. like those pictured here, sold by lee valley tools. but a long-handled tool of quality in the u.s is really, really unusual. what a strange situation eh!

-or try to find a decent hoe in a store. well, we live in the neighborhood of peaceful valley farm supply, which sells the Glaser hoes, which are aahsome, especially (in terms of what i'm talking about-a weeding hoe to use near crops) the Eliot Coleman-designed colinear hoes.

the basic thing one needs for a weeding hoe is an extremely sharp edge, to slice annual weeds' tops from their bottoms without disturbing soil strata or burying weed seeds. "keep it sharp and keep it moving. with designs like the one to the right blade replacement is anticipated and a mite easier than the traditional spot-welded scraper-on-a-hook style. the traditional hoes are great too, if (like with anything!) they're cared for and kept in shape

but 96% of the hoes which are sold in u.s. stores are unusable, as they come or ever! a piece of flimsy painted metal on the end of a stick, not only sold with no edge at all- even started, or shaped-- but they will never take or hold an edge. it's hard to guess what their purpose is--obviously they emerge from a worldview which 'remembers' that there used to be hoes. i'd say their purpose is to discourage people from gardening!

we use stiff rakes - "stiffys"- , aka grading rakes, quite a bit in our work, and when our current "home depo" type fiberglass-handled one started getting 'handle-splinter' and the head to fall off, we took the opportunity to do some online research since we couldn't find a decent one in the VR where we live

and - HOORAH! - we finally found and bookmarked the answer to our prayers, namely W.W. Manufacturing Co. of Bridgeton, N.J., whose labels include Lesche and King of Spades

W.W. offers shovels, spades, rakes, hoes, brooms -- all with steel handles
they also make heavy duty ball carts and utility carts

what a beautiful thing is their product line! now all we (all! ) have to do is to keep them in business!

W.W.'s founder Walter Lesche -->

Dealers of WWMFG include A.M. Leonard, in N.Y. and Rays Supply Co., North Carolina

ready? here's what shovels should look like :) :