Try as I might I haven’t been able to find something matching the description that you offer. The diamond shaped head, turned lengthwise towards the handle as you describe would actually be far superior to the round head that I have. A kitchen knife cuts better when slid forwards while downwards pressure is applied By having a long, slightly angled edge on that hoe you would get that same slicing motion working to your benefit. I did discover the following style, which might accomplish what you are looking for.
Is there any chance that you could get back in touch with them? I would love to know more about this tool. I’m presently considering whether I might wish to fabricate one to test out against my other tools.
Unfortunately no. I was wondering why I hadn’t seen her around in the last few months, and recently found out she retired over Summer Sadly they changed the way staff does the arboretum now, and everyone moves around instead of having permanent areas like they used to, and I don’t know the new people I see. The one she showed me was supposedly acquired at Tractor Supply, but I’ve never seen that version at any of the three TSC locations I’ve visited in search of it, and the staff look at me like I’m crazy when I ask about a different version
I have a couole of stirrup hoe’s … 4 inch and 7 inch. I use those mostly for weeding.
The proper way to use them to eliminate weeds… is to cultivate very shallow… just slice the weeds off and stay in the top half inch of the soil.
Ususlly after about 3 times weeding like that almost all weeds are eliminated.
If you cultivate very shallow… you avoid bringing new weed seeds up near the surface where they can germinate.
I apply wood chips each spring and leaves in the fall to my fruit trees root zone… to keep them weed free.
Normally have to do a little weeding on them in the spring… but 3 - 4 inch deep ring of wood chips does a good job of suppressing weeds and conserving water thru the growing season.
Please don’t be afraid to replace the broken handle on a tool that you like. I even have tools that I don’t like all that much that I’ve replaced the broken handle on, part of that just being because I don’t want to send it to a landfill.
I use three tools, manure fork which is like the four prong fork pictured except longer tines about 9", the short tine fork with 5 tines about 6" long and the scuffle hoe. I rarely use my regular hoe any more. Last year I put down very heavy kraft paper and 2"- 3" of mulch on top, smothered every weed and grass. Ran the paper up to the trunk of the fruit trees but did not pile mulch up on the trunk. Yes, I have been known to use a liquid hoe as well.
There was an old guy here who sold tomatoes till he was in his 80s. All he had was 100 plants, but his nephew told me he was out just about every day hoeing around his tomato plants.
One nice thing about a regular hoe is that even though it’s made to mostly scrape, you can also chop with it, if you run into some woody weeds.
I haven’t tried the diamond shaped tool pictured above. Maybe it would work better?
There have been some good ideas on this thread. I wonder if some members have tried any garden tools which work really poorly.
For myself, I’ve tried the “Garden Weasel”. It wasn’t very effective for me. Looked like it worked much better on the ads.
A ginseng digger… short handle hoe that has 2 flat blades… one about 1.5 inch wide x 4 inch long… the other 3 inch x 4 inch. It has a 3 ft long custom made hickory handle. The hoe head was my grandfathers. It has dug a small fortune in ginseng, goldenseal, bloodroot.
A long handle hoe similar to my seng digger but heavier and slightly longer blades. It is what I use when heavy digging is needed… like planting a new fruit tree… or breaking up a garden bed.
I have a regular long handle garden hoe… I bought back in the early 90s. It is what I used to use for light cultivation, weeding.
I have the two stirrup hoes mentioned earlier, 4 inch and 7 inch. Almost all weeding is done with those.
I have a long handle hoe with a small knife blade type head. It is more for finishing touches when taking out weeds.
I sure do! I bought my eye hoe 48 years ago, and about 5 years ago ordered 5 more hoe heads, of which 3 went to friends. We had worn the blade down 1/2 inch compared to the new blades. Chillington Trenching Hoe - 47" Wooden Handle
AND we hav a little old hoe for small weeds, and and old grubbing hoe just like like Audiophile’s.
Oh, no, that’s just my lightweight garden mattock! I haven’t even included pictures of the cutter mattock that I converted into a grubbing hoe, nor the SHW brand root hoe that I bought to augment it! I was focused on hoes that are useful for weeding, instead of those aimed at digging or earthmoving. I’ve eyed those eye hoes for a couple of years now but still haven’t invested in one. I really ought to, given that the design of those handles is absolutely the easiest for me to optimize for general usage.
My biggest complaint with the tools that I’ve bought from the website that I listed above? That the actual manufacturer of each hand tool is not more careful that their well-made tool head is accompanied by a handle that is made properly. That garden mattock arrived with a handle that wasn’t fitted properly and the direction of the wood grain was not optimized. The root hoe handle as well as the spare handle that I purchased at the same time had incorrect wood grain orientation and poor design and they both broke quickly. The wood handle of the digging fork had a sharp shoulder where it entered the metal socket of the head that made it fail quickly.
I have two styles of Rogue hoes. I really like them when I get it together to use. They have some weight in the head and are sharp. So I can hack through blackberry roots and such.
I don’t treat them well, and they live in the orchard. I probably should have gotten fiberglass handles for both instead of one with wood.
I agree. And it would generally be easier for someone to convert their existing hoe into that then for them to create their own “wheel hoe” but I do prefer the handles of the style that has been around for so very long over the plain, straight handle that they are using.
My German grandfather gardened his entire life and I can picture him with his hoe still today decades after he died. He kept his garden weed free. Speaking of his tomatoes he used to say “hoeing is as good as fertilizer.” It’s funny what you remember as you get older.
I bought a Rogue 575G hoe that I paid too much for but it’s become my #1 garden tool. The sharp, small head and sturdy handle make short work of weeding and it does a great job of loosening up my beds for planting.
100% agree. I would add that a hoe is pretty much useless if not sharpened. That way it just slices the weeds. Claws are way too agressive to use around trees. Sharpening is pretty easy. 10 minutes tops with a file, usually about once a year for the average homeowner. Most hoes on the market don’t come with an edge established, so you have to spend quite a while with a file or a few minutes with a bench grinder to get it ready to go.
@PatapscoMike the Rogue hoes are expensive but worth every penny. One of the few brands that comes sharpened.
Most fiberglass handles have a round plug of hardwood in the end where it attaches to the tool head. It is usually very rot susceptible. If you leave it out in the rain the wood will rot and the fiberglass handle will separate from the tool head. Ask me sometime how I know this. Also, ask me how I fixed mine with a piece of wood that is rot resistant and will last 50 years laying out in the rain. No, I don’t leave my tools out in the rain any more. Lesson learned.
The diamond shaped head, turned lengthwise towards the handle as you describe would actually be far superior to the round head that I have. A kitchen knife cuts better when slid forwards while downwards pressure is applied By having a long, slightly angled edge on that hoe you would get that same slicing motion working to your benefit. I did discover the following style, which might accomplish what you are looking for.
Sadly they changed the way staff does the arboretum now, and everyone moves around instead of having permanent areas like they used to, and I don’t know the new people I see. The one she showed me was supposedly acquired at Tractor Supply, but I’ve never seen that version at any of the three TSC locations I’ve visited in search of it, and the staff look at me like I’m crazy when I ask about a different version
I was focused on hoes that are useful for weeding, instead of those aimed at digging or earthmoving. I’ve eyed those eye hoes for a couple of years now but still haven’t invested in one. I really ought to, given that the design of those handles is absolutely the easiest for me to optimize for general usage.
