I am looking for good quality hand tools, having Googled this group I
can find no clear recommendation. However I found S&J Neverbend brand,
has anyone any comments on them, good, bad or ugly.

Tia
John
--
Please only reply to Newsgroup as emails
to this address are deleted on arrival.

Neverbend were the RR of garden tools. S&J bought them up some years ago[I
was told] and the quality remains as good. Their spades are a delight to use
and 'ring' when used. Their stainless steel tools are well worth the
extra~~if only for cleaning and neglecting.
Controversially my first S&J stainless steel spade never rang true and
sounded dull. It eventually broke at a fault on the shaft. I phoned their
complaints dept. and was promised a free replacement. After a week I phoned
again with the same promise! Again the next week. Then a delivery of three!!
new spades in three days. I phoned to advise of their mistake and was told
not to bother! Meanwhile I had managed to get my original spade welded, as
new. With three extra spades I made very good friends.
That was 20 or 25 yrs. ago and the original spade still 'sings' to me!!
Best Wishes Brian 'flayb' to respond
"Broadback" wrote in message
...
I am looking for good quality hand tools, having Googled this group I
can find no clear recommendation. However I found S&J Neverbend brand,
has anyone any comments on them, good, bad or ugly.

Tia
John
--
Please only reply to Newsgroup as emails
to this address are deleted on arrival.

"Brian" wrote in message
...
Neverbend were the RR of garden tools. S&J bought them up some years ago[I
was told] and the quality remains as good. Their spades are a delight to
use
and 'ring' when used. Their stainless steel tools are well worth the
extra~~if only for cleaning and neglecting.
Controversially my first S&J stainless steel spade never rang true and
sounded dull. It eventually broke at a fault on the shaft. I phoned their
complaints dept. and was promised a free replacement.

Our fork also broke at the shaft just above the tines.
That was three years ago, not 25.
We didn't get three replacements.
We didn't get one.
They said we had misused it.
Cobblers!
As a result we never buy anything S&J.
Neverbend? Neverbuy!

"Broadback" wrote in message
I am looking for good quality hand tools, having Googled this group I
can find no clear recommendation. However I found S&J Neverbend brand,
has anyone any comments on them, good, bad or ugly.


I am changing over slowly to Wolf Garden Multichange tools. Excellent
quality and a well designed system too.
http://www.wolf-garden.com/public_uk...e_id=967025460

--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars

In article , Sue da Nimm
.? writes

Our fork also broke at the shaft just above the tines.
That was three years ago, not 25.
We didn't get three replacements.
We didn't get one.
They said we had misused it.
Cobblers!
As a result we never buy anything S&J.
Neverbend? Neverbuy!

One of the tines broke off my S&J fork after less than a year's use.
I couldn't be bothered trying to get a replacement (finding the receipt
was going to be a big hurdle.).

Is there a pattern emerging here?


--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"Broadback" wrote in message
I am looking for good quality hand tools, having Googled this group I
can find no clear recommendation. However I found S&J Neverbend brand,
has anyone any comments on them, good, bad or ugly.


I am changing over slowly to Wolf Garden Multichange tools. Excellent
quality and a well designed system too.

http://www.wolf-garden.com/public_uk...e_id=967025460

--
Regards
Bob

I find **some** of the wolf tool heads seems a bit too heavy for the
strength of the handle (long).
Oddly enough, their longest handle (telescopic to 4 metres) is quite fine.
What I find, especially with compacted soil, is that much of the energy
expended by me gets diverted onto the handle's weakness and not on what I'm
aiming at.
Nevertheless I can never quite resist another gadget and so have quite a
range of them.
That said, they are superior than their gardenia equivalents and by quite a
stretch. (though gardenia seem to have come up with a nifty gutter cleaner)
Most of my other hand tools I've brought over from Ireland and replenish
occasionally. This is because I like the long handled spades/shovels/forks
and the sheer variety in these is very useful (e.g. about 7 different
spades and shovels, digging fork, mushroom fork (excellent for empting out
compost heaps) potatoes forks (good for screening stones), pitch fork (good
for turning compost) and so on.
I did make a trip to homebase once and discovered to my delight, a digging
fork with an extended short handle and it's quite good, as are the spade
versions.

Patrick

"Broadback" wrote in message
...
I am looking for good quality hand tools, having Googled this group I
can find no clear recommendation. However I found S&J Neverbend brand,
has anyone any comments on them, good, bad or ugly.

Tia
John
--
Please only reply to Newsgroup as emails
to this address are deleted on arrival.
I got a set of gardenia tools as a wedding pressie 19 years ago -
interchangeable heads - still going strong
rake, brush, hoe, cultivator etc brill.

Chris S

On Mon, 10 May 2004 20:36:19 +0100, "tuin man"
wrote:


"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"Broadback" wrote in message
I am looking for good quality hand tools, having Googled this group I
can find no clear recommendation. However I found S&J Neverbend brand,
has anyone any comments on them, good, bad or ugly.


I am changing over slowly to Wolf Garden Multichange tools. Excellent
quality and a well designed system too.

http://www.wolf-garden.com/public_uk...e_id=967025460

--
Regards
Bob

I find **some** of the wolf tool heads seems a bit too heavy for the
strength of the handle (long).

I've found that to be true too.
I've also found that, over time, the locking mechanism wears - and the
tools exhibits a degree of 'double action' ( which, in my trade,
refers to a slight knock before an intended movement ).
Seems an irrelevant point, but if you compare a Wolf hoe with a bit of
wear in the handle with a straightforward traditional hoe, the
difference is noticeable.

On the plus side, Wolf tools tend to get given a fair hammering (
especially the nifty grubber, with three spikes on one side and a
blade on the other ) - probably because they can take it!
Just don't step on the handles...they have a tendency to break where
they go into the shaft of the locking tube.

Oddly enough, all the best tools I have are really old ones gleaned
from the local tip. The three-tined flat bladed spud fork is by far
and way the most useful ( £1...guv ).

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{who is at}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

On Mon, 10 May 2004 20:36:19 +0100, "tuin man"
wrote:

mushroom fork (excellent for empting out
compost heaps)

Is there an illustration of one of these somewhere, or can you explain
what it looks like? I am going to ireland in a couple of weeks' time,
this sounds like it might be useful to me.

Regards, VivienB

On Tue, 11 May 2004 11:34:39 +0100, VivienB
wrote:

On Mon, 10 May 2004 20:36:19 +0100, "tuin man"
wrote:

mushroom fork (excellent for empting out
compost heaps)

Is there an illustration of one of these somewhere, or can you explain
what it looks like? I am going to ireland in a couple of weeks' time,
this sounds like it might be useful to me.

Google thinks there's one here somewhere
Perhaps it should be called a fungi fork? :-)

On Tue, 11 May 2004 11:34:39 +0100, VivienB
wrote:

On Mon, 10 May 2004 20:36:19 +0100, "tuin man"
wrote:

mushroom fork (excellent for empting out
compost heaps)

Is there an illustration of one of these somewhere, or can you explain
what it looks like? I am going to ireland in a couple of weeks' time,
this sounds like it might be useful to me.

There's a mushroom knife here
http://www.kisan76.com/gardentools/products23.htm#top

"VivienB" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 10 May 2004 20:36:19 +0100, "tuin man"
wrote:

mushroom fork (excellent for empting out
compost heaps)

Is there an illustration of one of these somewhere, or can you explain
what it looks like? I am going to ireland in a couple of weeks' time,
this sounds like it might be useful to me.

Regards, VivienB
Have a look at the flat bladed fork - is that any use? Its near the bottom
of the page.
http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/p_tools2.html

Chris S

"VivienB" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 10 May 2004 20:36:19 +0100, "tuin man"
wrote:

mushroom fork (excellent for empting out
compost heaps)

Is there an illustration of one of these somewhere, or can you explain
what it looks like? I am going to ireland in a couple of weeks' time,
this sounds like it might be useful to me.

Regards, VivienB

I do not know if there is any such site. I just looked up the true temper
tools site, but it's not there. Apart from that, I just happened to be in a
general hardware store in Dublin , way back around 1989 and that were I
found the mushroom and potato forks and also the dung fork (which I
mis-named as pitch fork)
Both the potato fork and the mushroom fork are very similar.
Firstly, if you're accustomed to seeing long handled tools, neither are
quite that long. I can go to the lock-up over the next few days and get
actual measurements for you if you wish.
I can understand why the potato fork is so names. Its tines are round and
blunted at the ends. They are situated quite close. More or less enough,
just right that when scooping out of the soil, the soil will fall away and
the potatoes and stones remain. It is considerably heavier than the other
fork.
Like the potato fork, the mushroom fork has cupped tines also blunted at the
ends, but far fewer. And an fairly similar volume capacity. Quite a large
bite actually, which is why it's good for compost heaps. Imagine you want to
hold some water in your hands. Your thumbs will lie above the finger level.
However, why it's called a mushroom fork and not say... a beet fork....
which I could easily see it been used as... I don't know. That's what it was
called on the receipt.

Thought the mush/beet fork is lighter than the potato fork, it in turn is
quite a hefty tool compared with the dung fork. (4 prongs)
Like I said, I can check them out more carefully later. I doubt that there's
any label information left as I used them commercially.

Patrick

On Tue, 11 May 2004 20:52:33 +0100, "tuin man"
wrote:

Like the potato fork, the mushroom fork has cupped tines also blunted at the
ends, but far fewer. And an fairly similar volume capacity. Quite a large
bite actually, which is why it's good for compost heaps. Imagine you want to
hold some water in your hands. Your thumbs will lie above the finger level.

Thank you for that - your description 'paints the picture' very well.
I won't be around Dublin, but I shall have a look in the hardware
stores and farm co-ops in the smaller towns we do visit.

Regards, VivienB

On Tue, 11 May 2004 17:49:08 +0100, "Chris Stewart"
wrote:


"VivienB" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 10 May 2004 20:36:19 +0100, "tuin man"
wrote:

mushroom fork (excellent for empting out
compost heaps)

Is there an illustration of one of these somewhere, or can you explain
what it looks like? I am going to ireland in a couple of weeks' time,
this sounds like it might be useful to me.

Regards, VivienB
Have a look at the flat bladed fork - is that any use? Its near the bottom
of the page.
http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/p_tools2.html

Chris S

I can see that the flat bladed fork might be very good for breaking up
and turning over soil, but it was the comment about moving compost
around that interested me. I think my compost needs turning more, as
although it was moist and a mixture of material types, last year's
compost has been rather 'stringy', not quite properly made to my
satisfaction. I don't enjoy the job of turning compost, so anything
that helps the job along is of interest!

Regards, VivienB