You want a quality hoe that can stand up to a Texas beating?
This is going to be a good thread.
Fwdude, your best bet is yardsale or farm auction. Get the old stuff, it’s much better then pretty much anything they make today and will last more than your lifetime.
Maybe plumbing or landscaping warehouses. It used to be that I preferred to buy my shovels and such from the plumbing warehouses, but I don’t know what it is like today.
Also for clay, pickaxe or digging bar works better then any shovel. Again any digging bar you will want should be very old and extremly heavy.
Try garage sales, estate sales, etc.
Especially if the kids are selling off Grandpa’s pre-China makes everything tools.
I’ve found some fantastic stuff like this. Sometimes you might need to put a new wooden handle on some things, but the metal is quality, not cr@p made-in-China metal that breaks.
I would try some of the “made in India” cheapies from Harbor Freight. They’ll be WAY better than the “made in China” cheapies you find in your standard hardware store/department store.
You might try Tractor Supply they have some heavy duty tools, but a shovel is pretty much a shovel no matter where you buy it.
There are garden supply online that have heavier hand forged tools one is Hoss and they also make the Planet Jr. wheel hoe.
Any tool that digs into clay should be sharpened with a file frequently. It works wonders on that stuff.
Just a side story. I probably pissed off some “Free marketers” here and other sites when I said we should ban ALL Chinese made tools.
The one time I needed a tool to do its job was a few months ago. Set fire to some of my forest to kill ticks and get rid of years of layers of leaves.
You need 2 tools. A Leaf Blower and an iron tooth rake. As the fires (yes plural)got going, of course the POS Chinese mad iron tooth rake broke. The metal that connects the rake to the handle just couldn’t handle 3 years of light duty.
I mean c’mon, who expects 3 years from a garden tool.
I only have moderate New Jersey clay, but I suggest
1) raised beds/lasagna gardening
2) don’t dig in the summer
3) as long as the tool doesn’t exceed the gardener’s strength, it will do okay. It’s my strapping son who destroys the shovels and loppers, not me.
Fiskers makes nice sturdy hand tools that are designed to fit your hands. I have a bunch of them and they hold up well.
Julio’s Landscaping. They already have the tools. /sarc
Truper makes an excellent line of agricultural tools. Made in Mexico, NOT China!
Astounding quality for the money.
I did break one rake.......when I hit it with the Bush-hog.
I’m a poor dirt farmer, and I approve this message.
< One of my favorite ever tools is a Soil Scoop. We also have clay soil and this works pretty well. It also has serrated edges and a point on the end of the scoop, so it’s pretty versatile in uses.
http://www.amazon.com/Burpee-Garden-Tool-Soil-Scoop/dp/B008WYK6VE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1370898840&sr=8-3&keywords=soil+scoop
Garden ping list worthy?
