Hand Tools and Techniques for Home Landscaping

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Grubbin' in the dirt and scruffin' out the woods.

By John Vivian

Grubbin' and scruffin' were my grandfather's pet names for work in woods and field. This is lawn and garden work that falls somewhere between garden weedflicking and row-cultivating with slim-bladed onion hoes and claw-tined cultivators—and wholesale excavation with bulldozers, backhoes, and bucket loaders. It's hard work in the main. You have to grub out a hole when you need to plant a tree. Or scruff out a patch of serious brush for a new potato patch. And there would be both scruffin' and grubbin' to be done if you were setting a new fish pond into the side yard or doing the other chores described in "Home Landscaping Part I."

This is muscle-powered landscaping, really: moving earth and plant material that's too limited in scope and area to warrant heavy equipment, even if a backhoe could get into the back yard. It is work Hard work. Manual labor that puts a welcome ache into your muscles after a day or a week at the city desk jobs to which most of us are sentenced these days. And, for those who've left the 9 to 5 routine, it's a great way to keep muscles in tone and be sure the midriff doesn't expand too much.

But it also entails heavy lifting that can strain a back that is unprepared, bust a toe that's unprotected, and break or bend equipment that is not sufficently heavy duty or used inexpertly. It demands technique that enables body and tools to perform efficiently and safely.

Few real grubbing-quality tools are sold at retail garden supply outlets or country town hardware stores. You may find a few power tools at rental agencies, but the most appropriate hand took are made in small quantities and sold to the construction and nursery trades.

You and I can obtain them most easily by mail. A few sources are noted in the fol lowing text, and a list of mail-order tool suppliers and other sources is given at the end of the article.

The Woods

For thinning and selectively clearing your woods or woodlot to make it more park than bramble patch, you'll want tools that are a little more refined than the big felling chain saw, tractor or draft horses, logging chains, and skidding tongs used to pull out lumber or cordwood logs.

My favorite tool for semi-heavy work is the "Our Best" brand cruising ax made by Snow & Nealley of Bangor, Maine. Other American ax makers produce similar models. Designed originally for timber cruisers who'd walk the woods estimating board-footage and notching the bark of trees to be harvested, it has a 1 3/4lb. singlebit head and 28" hickory handle. It can be sheathed and carried fairly handily and out of the way on your belt, but is capable enough to fell and limb trees a foot through at the stump, if need be. I use it to girdle large cordwood trees to be left to age on the stump and to thin out smaller trees that are too big for the small Swede or bow saw that I take with me.