Homemade Hoe

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Homemade Hoe

Postby matt walker » Sun Jan 08, 2012 11:24 pm

Well, here's an opening post for this section, although it doesn't really fit the forum title, this is kind of what I had in mind. I still want to do an overview of my 'stead type post, but I'll get us started with this.

I made my own hoe this spring, and it has really changed my garden for the better. It's based on a dutch scuffle hoe, and came about as I searched locally for one fruitlessly. In searching online, I realized I wasn't seeing what I pictured in my mind when I thought of using such a tool.

So, I built one. When I first made it, it really came about because it was what I had on hand, but in hindsight, it is really, really multipurpose and incredibly useful. Way more so than I had ever imagined a hoe would be.

So, the tool..
It's a simple gate hinge, I cut off the hinge with a cut-off wheel on an angle grinder and then used the same to sharpen all the edges. I kept a bucket of water handy and didn't let it get hot, I have no idea about this stuff but it seemed to stay hard, and holds an edge adequately. I then cut apart an old rake and welded it too the hinge. I attached it at such an angle that the hinge is flat on the ground when I am holding it with both hands and doing the "scuffle" action.

It's uses...
Well, it's just amazing how well the shape of the hinge translates into such a multi purpose tool. Obviously, you can scuffle with it, which works soooo well. I planted all of my short "rows"' which actually go across a 5' wide bed, a bit wider than the width of a pass with the tool. That allows me to just walk through the garden every few days and in minutes I've made a scuffle pass between all the rows, which eliminates pretty much all the weeds between rows.

Flipped over, it makes a great little "bulldozer" for pushing or pulling soil around. I can level a new bed in minutes this way.

Then there's the narrow "tip", which is great for prying out tough weeds or making a trench for new seeding. The wide end is fantastic for chopping really tough weeds. I use the whole thing like a scythe around the beds as I'm cruising around weeding, which means I get the line trimmer out a couple times a summer instead of every two weeks. I can tamp with the flat of it once I've seeded an area, it's great for mixing in fertilizer just in a trench. Dragging the tip down a trench at the right angle it will act like a mini plow and turn the soil just so.

There's a million other things I use it for, but I will stop for now. I wanted to share, I've been excited about it all summer, and haven't found a venue to share it. Hope you like it....

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Here's a pic from early spring that kinda shows my little "rows", and how I plant at a spacing dictated by the hoe. A lot of the stuff in this photo was started early and then moved out as the weather warmed, if it looks like it's planted a little close.
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matt walker
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Re: Homemade Hoe

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:05 am

That is a great tool Matt. I love the fact that you could make it yourself. Most of the old Farmers that I knew would make what they needed, or make due with what they had. Buying things were not an option because money was always in short supply. Reduce, reuse, and recycle, with the Best option being reuse as something else of use to us. I have bought an anvil and a champion 400 hand crank blower for a forge, but I have not made the forge yet. I have not worked metal much but I believe that when you quenched the metal in water as you were heating it with the grinding wheel you actually hardened the steel.
Never doubt that a small group of dedicated people can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.
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Re: Homemade Hoe

Postby Lollykoko » Mon Jan 09, 2012 4:19 am

Heating a piece of steel can and will change the properties of the steel, if you don't watch your temperature closely. Using a rotary tool to cut and sharpen your hinge / hoe probably didn't put enough heat into the metal to make it "lose its temper".

Pa friendly guy, you will find that there are as many ways to "quench" steel as there are alloys. Some commercial steels are oil hardening. Some require an air cool, slowly. Some want that quick water quench, or buried in sand. As you get your operation up and running I'm sure you'll enjoy watching your metal talk to you as you work it.
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Re: Homemade Hoe

Postby dave brenneman » Tue Jan 10, 2012 3:42 pm

lollyko said it - I thought that the temper changed if you heated the metal beyond what the original temper was "set" at, but I could be wrong about that. I was told an engineering joke once... an engineer is a person that thinks if a job is worth doing, it's worth making the tools to do it correctly.
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Re: Homemade Hoe

Postby eeldip » Fri Jan 13, 2012 11:28 pm

you know what they say about quenching steel blades... belly of a drunk slave and all... might give that a shot.
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Re: Homemade Hoe

Postby lonv166 » Sat Mar 31, 2012 3:13 pm

I have used a Dutch Hoe before, with excellent results. However, the ones I am used to are only about 4 inches wide, most are less. The only problem I had with them is catching the weeds before they went to seed. Then, using the Dutch Hoe, I seeded my garden with weeds. Pretty dumb, hey? I'm smarter now.
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