Hand Tools, Seeds, and Supplies
(Page 4 of 10)
April/May 1998
By John Vivian
From Johnny's, Peaceful Valley, and other purveyors.
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Push-Pull Hoes
Most hoes work only on the pull stroke. Unless you move backwards, you tramp on newly-loosened soil, replanting weeds just grubbed out. There's something to be said for a hoe that functions on both the forward and backward strokes.
My own favorite is the traditional Dutch scuffle or stirrup hoe — demonstrated to me thirty years ago by the senior Bill Corey in Upper Nichewaug, Massachusetts. The blade is all steel and shaped exactly like an English riding stirrup, with a socket welded to the top and the flat foot-rest angled at about 70° and sharpened on both edges. It was designed to cultivate down the rows between close-spaced tulip-bulb rows, as Bill explained. You can work the four to seven-inch-wide blade easily in good soil with a gentle rocking motion. The handle is raised slightly to set the blade at a down-angle to cut into the upper inch of soil while the handle is pushed forward. Then the handle is dropped and pulled back so the rear edge of the blade is set at the proper rearward-cutting angle. You just scuffle along in either direction as you work.
The only true Dutch hoe I know of just now is from Spear & Jackson. It comes with the same epoxy coating found on their digging tools, mentioned above. The tool works well, but compared with an older, uncoated example, I find that the epoxy thickens the blade and dulls its edges enough to require effort and attention that defeat the purpose of the tool.
A more commonly available design mounts a down-pointing U-shaped flat steel stirrup on a pair of hinges so that the blade moves in a small arc, adjusting its angle with each fore or aft stroke. The common versions clank, rust, and break easily. A high quality rust-resistant import by REAL is available in several sizes. It is lovely, but it still clicks loudly enough that I can't hear the corn growing.
REAL also manufactures several other European designs and more of Eliot Coleman's innovative ideas: a hook-blade cultivator like a grass sickle on a long handle that comes fitted with a copper bolt that adds trace quantities of essential Cu to the soil; a hoe with a thin, six-inch-square spring steel blade; robust three-tine cultivators in long and short-handled versions, and more. All are nicely designed and made, built to last, and priced very reasonably for high quality imports. Different collections are featured by Johnny's and Peaceful Valley, and some items are sold in other catalogs.
Several hoes you may have to search for include the Warren hoe with a heart-shaped blade that I use to dig planting trenches. I found nine (made by Ames) at the local Sears. A unique surfacing hoe once sold by Lehman's has a thin, sharp steel disc mounted on three prongs. On a long ash handle and painted Farmall red, it is the fastest hand-weeder I've ever used. I call it the "flying disc." Finally, Seeds of Change used to sell a diamond hoe with a "T" on the handle so you can bury the handle in your gizzard and bull through the hardest soil. Do a few abdominal exercises before tackling one, though.
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