I stumbled across this rusty blade with a tapered tang
by the roadside. I fitted this to a long strong wooden
handle using hose clips. It resembles an ice hockey
stick but with a smaller blade. The blade is sharpened
on the inner and side edges. The plane of the blade is
at a slight angle to the handle. I haven't been able to
identify this kind of hoe that is a single solid piece.
The nearest would be the Swoe hoe except that this has
no neck and no welding. If you twist the blade of the
Fokin hoe 90 degrees there would be a close
resemblence.
At first glance, it seems pretty useless but when you
get down on your knees{I kneel on the cushioned seat of
a discarded office swivel chair} this hoe suddenly
blossomed. Of all the
gardening tools, this is the one I
would run off into the forest with when Armageddon
arrives.
Let me tell you why.
I had some dried hardened soil that I wanted to dig out
for a
Hugelkultur plot. Man I tried everything. It was
slow going and tough work. There were
roots embedded
which made matters worse. Shovel, spade, hand changkul
even an axe were ineffective. Seriously, I thought I
might even need to resort to a hammer and chisel. So I
tried this unidentifed-hoe - what have I got to lose -
and it was miraculous.
I swing the blade down{thinner than an axe and narrower
than a spade or changkul} and the ground gave way! The
long handle provided the speed and the
energy varies
with the square of the speed. Once the blade sinks in
you can pull the handle and it cuts a furrow or you can
also thrust if you like. But wait, once the ground is
broken, you can thrust the handle horizontally like
shaving a thin layer off{the weeding bit}
and with a rapid twist of the
handle clockwise or anticlockwise, fling the dirt to
either side. If you encounter a soft
root, snag the
root with the sharpened inner edge and pull to cut it.
For thicker and tougher roots, since the side edge is
sharpened, you can swing at it repeatedly in the manner
of an axe until it surrenders. So ... break ground,
burrow, furrow, cut roots, excavate, dig trenches, weed. Too
good to be true? You aint seen nuthin yet. Since the
inner edge is sharp, you can use this to bring down low
lying fruit. Are we there yet? No. If you time your
swing right, you may discourage a pouncing tiger or a
charging wild boar. I admit to an excess of speculation
but a fighting chance is better than no chance.
Finally, to put you guys out of your misery, this
unidentified-hoe offers stealth. Instead of standing
above the surrounding shrubbery in plain sight, you are
on your knees and well covered. All the better to avoid
a bullet with.
Edit: added photo/plan and youtube
video. I guess
there is
enough information here to roll your own.
I described this to an old couple running a hardware
store and they said it could be a Taja. I suspect this
was a
local blacksmith's copy of something he saw.
I didn't resharpen the edges because of stones and
construction debris in the ground. It may be the only
one left in existence and I rescued it from being
melted down as scrap metal.
Instead of a tang,
maybe roll the back of the hoe into a barrel shape
to accommodate a handle. Some holes for nails or
screws and maybe some threaded holes to secure
additional weights like they do with golf clubs.
Edit2: You can use this to play forest golf if you are
left-handed. Attaching a picture since the embed
doesn't show at all.
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