home made (sort of) weeding and chopping hoe

For the past 10 years or so I have not been able to find a garden hoe that suited me. None lasted more than two seasons, and usually it was the blade that either broke, or bent. The ones sold locally are poorly made, and not sharp. They are made to sell at a cheap price, not to work with.

So with a boring night at work the other day I dug through the scrap bin and found a piece of flat steel. It was about 8 inches long, and 3 inches wide. I drilled some mounting holes, and put the piece in a metal brake to bend it to about the right shape. Then I took it to the grinder, shaped a cutting edge, then to the belt sander to clean up the rough edges.

This morning a quick trip to the hardware store for mounting hardware and a handle. Thirty minutes work, and $14.00 invested...
Being mild steel it will not hold an edge, so I may take it back apart and heat treat it.

That look great. I'll bet that lasts for more than two seasons.

Well I used it for a couple of hours today, it is definitely heavier than the store bought stuff, but also is easy to use. I chopped mature weeds around the dog pen, and weeded around the plants in the garden. Weeding the garden was as easy as dragging the hoe to me and repositioning and dragging it towards me again. It turned up about 3/4 inch deep soil, easily dislodging young weedlings, but was easily controlled around the other plants.

This could easily be made in anyone's shop. A heavy securely mounted vice, and a heavy hammer being used to bend the steel. It could be made from an old lawn mower blade too. A 4 inch angle grinder will put the basic edge on the piece quickly, then finish off with a file. A hand drill will work for drilling the mounting holes.

That is great. I love making stuff out of scrap things that are laying around the shop or found wood and things. Often if you put something together it is better than the store bought.

Looks good Keith, I hate my store bought hoe. We had to file the edge and it still won't hold a sharp edge.

you can heat treat it...if you think you can get away with it in your neighborhood.

take the handle off, heat the blade evenly until a magnet will not stick to it, dunk it into a bucket of used oil.  The bucket should be metal, and a fire proof lid available to smother any flames (usually it flames up) The magnet test is done with a pick up tool available at most hardware stores, auto parts stores, and even dollar store carries them sometimes.  When the hoe blade cools completely it needs to be re-heated to between 450 and 600 degrees F and kept there for an hour, then allowed to slowly cool off.  My heat treated blades are "drawn down" in temper using a goodwill toaster oven I picked up for 5 bucks...keeps DW happy since her oven does not smell like burnt oil

Thanks Keith but I don't think I could get away with that here. Maybe I can get the neighbor's SIL to do it on his farm. I'll have to see if he'd be willing next time I see him.

gonna make a small briar cutter next...to try to domesticate and improve some of the wild blackberries we have here.

here is my design for a selective briar cutter, you can see where I am begining to put a serrated edge on the cutting edge. This is about 70% finished, still needs the serrations completed, and then needs heat treating and a handle...