Gene Logsdon: Good Hoes/Bad Hoes
From GENE LOGSDON
If you look closely at the photo above, you will see what I failed to see for many years. Although I think of myself as a venerable member of the Brethren of the Holy Hoe Society, and have made shiny the handles of more than a few hoes, I took their construction for granted all these years. I did not scrutinize any of them, thinking that once you have met one hoe, you’ve met them all. Wrong.
In the photo, the hoe with the blue collar around the end of the handle (the collar is also referred to as a shank or a ferrule) is a cheap one, a bad one. Notice that the blade and the crook neck above the blade are separate from the collar. The neck fits down inside the collar. Notice the nails driven in around the neck. I had to resort to this kind of makeshift repair because the neck of the hoe kept loosening up inside the collar. Then the hoe blade would turn sideways every time it hit the soil surface. The nails hold the blade firm for only a few hours of weed whacking. Then I had to wedge in bigger nails. Eventually the whole contraption got too loose to hold the hoe blade in place this way.
Nor is the collar made so that it can be removed from the hoe handle— no bolt, screw, or nail holding it in place. Far as I can tell, some kind of machine pressed an indentation into the collar and on into the wood so that the handle would stay in place. For all practical purposes, this hoe is made to throw away in a few years. A real repair job, if possible, would cost more than a new cheap hoe.
Now look at the other hoe blade. This is a good hoe. The collar, neck, and blade are all one solid piece. Because I am not a great photographer, it looks a little like the neck is inserted into the collar but believe me, it is all one solid piece. Surely, someone still makes a hoe like this, but I have spent considerable time onlining and haven’t turned one up yet nor have I seen one in a hardware store. Smith & Hawken once carried imported tools with single-piece heads, but that company is no longer with us. The advertisers use all sorts of words to make it sound like the blade and collar are all one solid piece, but scrutinizing the pictures on Google, I have yet to find a full-length, real- life, garden hoe with a business end of one solid piece. But if you know of one, I am here to say: buy it.
The hoe blade cannot turn in the collar because it is part of the collar. The forging of this piece of metal is skilled work. I can see a seam in the metal where it was welded together after being rounded into a collar to accept the handle, but the weld is so smooth it hardly seems to be a seam. The weld between the neck and the hoe blade is equally as masterful. I can’t see or even feel a seam there at all.
There are two holes in the collar spaced about two inches apart to take two nails that hold the handle firmly in place. If the handle breaks, it is easily replaced.
Finally, the curve or crook in the neck of the solid metal blade is different than on the blue handled hoe. It is hard to describe in words. On the latter, the blade is at almost a right angle to the handle, so that when one chops down on a weed, or on the soil surface from a standing position, the blade hits the ground almost squarely. On the good hoe, the angle of blade to handle is more acute, so that when the hoer chops down, the blade meets the earth at a slicing angle— more easily skims through weeds or soil surface. The muscular effort involved is appreciably less. The old hoe makers knew a thing or two about hoeing that has evidently become lost to new hoe makers.
We have quite an array of fallen hoes on our place, so I examined all of them, curious to see if any others had collars and blades in one solid piece of metal. Sure enough, the one that my wife loves and uses is also so made. It also has the proper angle to the neck that makes hoeing less strenuous. And then there is one more thing. The handle on her old hoe is just the right diameter and ever so slightly tapered to fit into the hand comfortably. The blue-handled hoe handle is too thick and the same diameter from one end to the other. Your fingers start aching sooner than when using Carol’s hoe.
I do not know the age of the solid metal hoe blades. They have to be ancient because they have been sharpened so many times that they are barely half the original size. A friend gave them to us years ago, after he brought a whole armful of old hand tools at a farm sale. I broke the handle off the one in the photo just above the collar quite a few years ago (which is why Carol doesn’t like me to use hers) and, always in a hurry in those days, I hung the old blade on a nail in the barn and bought one of the blue-handled variety.
Wisdom does sometimes come with old age. I drilled out the broken handle of my solid metal hoe blade just yesterday. I will buy a new handle, if I can find one, when I go to town. If not, by hickory I will make my own, out of my own hickory or ash. The point is that I have discovered a hoe blade that defies the laws of thermodynamics. It is indestructible, a treasure that should be in a museum but doesn’t need to be because it was made to last nearly forever as long as I keep the rust off of it. Keeping the rust off will keep me so busy I won’t have time to be relegated to a museum either.
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See also Gene’s Hoemanship
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Posted
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Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 at 10:17 am
Have you seen Sneeboer’s line? They’re not as robust as the one in your picture, but they sure look to be one piece.
August 11th, 2010 at 11:08 amhttp://www.gardentoolcompany.com/products/Sneeboer-Pull-Garden-Hoe.html
I was floored to find socket-style, one-piece head hoes at a lumber store a few years ago. I bought the two they had left. I can’t remember if it was one of your books or one of my many turn of the century farming books that said the same thing as what you just wrote about what’s a quality hoe.
Also, hoes are supposed to be customized! We’re all supposed to get a hoe, get out a torch, heat the neck so that it softens some, and bend the neck so that it’s angled to fit the height of the person who will use it. Hoes apparently aren’t for chopping into the dirt like I’d thought as a kid. They’re supposed to be used more like a scuffle hoe or sweeps – pulled shallowly just below the soil surface.
That’s one reason I love reading old books on farming. It’s amazing how much knowledge has been lost in favor of burning more gas and diesel.
August 11th, 2010 at 12:29 pmRogue Hoes is worth a look: http://www.roguehoe.com/
August 11th, 2010 at 1:16 pmAlso you can Google “Jackson Professional Tools Garden Hoe 1860700″ to find several sources of a one piece hoe for $25 more or less. And I agree with your evaluation that a one piece hoe is worth finding!
August 11th, 2010 at 2:41 pmThe types of hoes under discussion here may be OK for light weeding, but I prefer a heavy eye-hoe. These are generally heavier and have a longer edge than the typical hoe. They are called eye-hoes because the handle fits into a loop of iron made with the blade. Think of a nineteenth century hoe. Though heavier they actually take less effort because you don’t have to force them into the soil – their weight works for you. They are great for loosening soil in my beds first thing in spring.
August 11th, 2010 at 6:18 pmRogue is the way to go. I have two of their heaviest ones. They are made from disc blades and will hold an edge. I just finished hoeing my field corn patch, 40 x 100 feet. It got a little ahead of me with all the rain, but no problem. Grass, cockleburrs, ragweed, 4 foot pigweed, it all fell to the Rogue. I think they are in Springfield, MO or somewhere around there.
August 11th, 2010 at 9:39 pmEarth Tools in Owenton, KY sells excellent garden tools, including forged steel hoes:
August 12th, 2010 at 9:06 pmhttp://www.earthtoolsbcs.com/html/garden_tools.html
There are a number of solid headed hoes available through Lee Valley Tools (a Canadian equivalent of Smith and Hawken). They sell the Sneeboer I believe and they also sell a couple where the handle fits through an eye hole in the head, as opposed to the tang/ferrule style. These are very similar to the hoes used the world over by peasant farmers.
August 13th, 2010 at 2:21 amHa! Great article and great responses. When I was a lad growing up in Ohio my uncle raised about 5 acres of melons that me and all of the cousins were paid $1/hr to hand plant, weed/hoe, and harvest. Guess we didn’t know about child labor laws but we loved it, hanging out with the older folks and listening to the stories of the hired hand and swimming in the river afterwards. But to get back on topic, it was amazing how quickly one developed an eye for the good hoes with right shape and the just right handle length and how a sharp hoe is a beautiful thing but watch the bare feet. Much quicker and easier than wrestling a rototiller around all day …
August 13th, 2010 at 2:56 pmI really like using an arrow hoe. That might not be the correct name for it, but a guy I worked for had this very well made hoe, the blade was the shape of an arrow head. We called it an arrow hoe,had a long thick handle. It was great for chopping dirt clods or a light cultivation of the garden bed. I have not seen one since. But I miss it very much every time I work in the garden. I also like a scuffle hoe, great for getting just below the roots of weeds.
August 15th, 2010 at 7:01 pmMost modern hand tools are really just non-working replicas of real tools. The people who design and make them don’t actually use them, so they appear similar to real tools without being useful.
I have a collection of axes,and without fail, the newer ones are less effective, harder to use, and clumsy. My favorite is a double bit craftsman from 30 years ago. It is no heavier than absolutely neccessary, the blade profile is very narrow and the handle is also well shaped and hand fitting.
I can fell and split with this axe easily for a long time, it’s a pleasure to swing.
On the other hand, I have a new chinese made double bit from menard’s that is thick headed, blunt edged, and has a handle that’s too large in diameter. It might as well be a maul so far as the effort it requires to use.
August 15th, 2010 at 10:47 pmFirst, I thank previous posters for the links to Rogue hoe and Garden Tools. I think one needs to point out that there are many types of hoe. There is the sodbusting “grape hoe”, also used for digging trenches. Heavy, eyed, and often called “Italian Grape Hoe.” Then there is the collineal hoe, for which see Eliot Coleman’s “The New Organic Gardner.” I made one out of an El Cheapo hoe by cutting it down and sharpening it. It is used like a broom — cuts weeds of with the sharp edg. Don’t know how I ever got along without it. Then we have the Cape Cod hoe, a narrower, smaller version of Mr Collineal. This is just off the top of my head; I know there are more than that. Like all edged tools, hoes need to be sharpened. A file is fine; if you are in a hurry a belt sander is quicker. Neither of these tools will ruin the temper of the steel.
August 16th, 2010 at 9:29 pm