On 8/19/2008 2:30 PM, paghat wrote:
In article
, Bill
wrote:

I started out using tools very similar to my fathers. The warren hoe
comes to mind. Early on a shovel was a shovel designed for moving soft
earth and perhaps a hole or two this was eclipsed by the spade and the
Irish digging spade. The forks we had were designed for moving things
which are still of value but the digging fork became a close friend.
Rakes all sorts appeared.
Later on the question of tool heft became an issue as my heavy digging
needs receded and the tool design became more touch up where it is
today. Then found some children tools. Yup spade, fork and a small
rake became the mainstay. Still use the big stuff when the task needs
it.
Hand tools beside a Japanese farmers knife and a trowel or two
including two masonry came into use. Then the shears and pocket knifes
bonsai tools and still I carry a Japanese carpenter knife and a pair of
tiny 5 inch shears when about except the airport.

Bill who soaks his tools in oil and sand and sharpens with a file.

http://www.bulldogtools.co.uk/index....SSID=921c3927e
19cfe28ca2e7ab6562cefd4

PS Took 40 years to get here and it will change )

Nice little post. Most of my garden tools are either restored vintage or
very traditional. I avoid anything with plastic parts. I even have an old
wooden wheelbarrow. Usually the old styles are tried & true better tools.
Occasionally there are modern versions that might be a bit better but
they're also uglier & to me gardening has an aesthetic edge to the work
that is lost if one's tools are ugly or plastic. My only tool with a
plastic part is a dibble for getting up carrot-rooted weeds, I've never so
far found one with a wooden handle that worked so well.

I also have traditional Japanese saws, one with a three-part wooden handle
to reach up, higher up, & way higher up in branches. Some of these these
types of tools were used by medieval Japanese peasants in uprisings to
fight very effectively against samurai.

-paghat the ratgirl

New tools with wood handles are often inferior to tools with metal or
plastic handles.

I bought a leaf rake at a local nursery. It had a wood handle and
replaced a very, very old rake with a wood handle. The old rake kept
leaving splinters in my hand until I wrapped the handle with duct tape.
The grain in the handle of the new rake was such that the handle broke
after only three months. How many of us would even think to check the
grain of the handle of a garden tool? I now use a rake with an aluminum
handle coated with vinyl.

I have an old trowel with a plastic handle. It is quite comfortable.

On the other hand, I really appreciate the "give" in the wood handles of
my lopping shears.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/