* Welcome back Yury Smirnov, of Ecominded.net, for Fokin hoe giveaway!!

Please join me in welcoming Yury Smirnov, of Ecominded.net for a very special giveaway of four Fokin ploskorez hoe blades!




The Fokin ploskorez hoe was invented in by Vladimir Fokin. It can be used as a hoe, spade, rake and even like a mini scythe, as it is sharpened on all planes of the blade. This tool is used and loved by Sepp Holzer! These are genuine ploskorez (flat-cutters) made by the Fokin family. They are crafted from forged, tempered steel which makes them very strong and hard to bend.



Read the review of the Fokin hoe here!

---

At the end of this week, we'll make a drawing for 4 lucky winners to win a robust Fokin hoe blade! From now until Friday, all new posts in the Gear forum are eligible to win.

To win, you must use a name that follows our naming policy and you must have your email set up to receive the Daily-ish email. Higher quality posts are weighed more highly than posts that just say, "Wow, that's really cool! I want to win!"

The winners will be notified by Personal Moosage and must respond within 24 hours. Only the winners who respond within that timeframe will receive their hoe. Watch for a PM, and a notice in this thread announcing the winners!


Posts in this thread won't count as an entry to win the tool, but please say "Hi!" to Yury and make him feel welcome!

Please watch the video: Russian flat-cutter (ploskorez) in use:

Hi Yury! Glad you're here and thanks for coming back to Permies for another Fokin hoe giveaway!

Hello Yury, looks like a wonderful tool. Good it is strong, can you sharpen it as well?

Hugo Morvan wrote:Hello Yury, looks like a wonderful tool. Good it is strong, can you sharpen it as well?

Yes, it needs to be sharpen to work properly.

Welcome Yury! Have you ever used the Fokin hoe with a short handle, so it could be used while kneeling!

carla beemer wrote:Welcome Yury! Have you ever used the Fokin hoe with a short handle, so it could be used while kneeling!

Well, originally it was made by V.Fokin with a long handle for a reason. He, being handiсapped himself (problems with spine), found it much easier to work with a long handle - does not need to bend his spine.
However, some of our customers also asked about short handles, (50-60 cm) and following their requests, we can provide short handles as well.  

Welcome back Yury!

I was just reading about these how’s in Growing vegetables with a smile. I was like I should get one it sounds awesome.

My dad built something like these once by bending flat stock steel and sharpening them. He saint the used them to mow lawns in Uganda. We used them for clearing ditch’s by cattle guards. Similar concept just not as nice looking/ kinda hard on you hands. We mowed with them like we where golfing.

Welcome Yury! I'm very interested in the more unique gardening tools like your Fokin hoe. I'm looking forward to learning a lot this week!

Hi guys just went to the url link and has said that the domaine is up for sale when you click on the link and in its place is links to dating sites.
Sorry i cant give a photo that shows what i saw on my phone

Andrew Tailby wrote:Hi guys just went to the url link and has said that the domaine is up for sale when you click on the link and in its place is links to dating sites.
Sorry i cant give a photo that shows what i saw on my phone

What link do you click, Andrew? This llink https://ecominded.net/fokins-ploskorez-robust work well, when you click on it.

I just went through and clicked on all the links in this thread. They all go where they are supposed to. Including those in Yuri's signature line.

Welcome Yuri!

Yury Smirnov wrote:Please watch the video: Russian flat-cutter (ploskorez) in use:

Hi Yury, welcome (back). The Fokin hoe looks like a fantastic tool. Many years ago, in Vermont, USA, I had a favorite tool called a "Swoe", made by Wilkinson Sword company.

It had a similar range of uses, reminded me a lot of a golf club, and was made from stainless steel. It was very light weight and never rusted. BUT, and that's where I think the Fokin hoe probably surpasses the Swoe, it couldn't be easily sharpened. I'm not sure if the Swoe is still in production or not, but I'd likely promote the Fokin hoe instead because it seems more easily maintained and thus aligned to the principles of resilience and permacuture.

Welcome back

Yury, what does it cost? What wood is the handle made from? Thanks Don Slowicki

This tool is definitely something I could use.  We have some sloping areas that can't be mowed with a regular lawn mower.
It looks like this tool would do the job easily.

Welcome back Yury!

Look forward to learning/reading your ideas & recommendations in the husbandry of the land.

Question, which cutter do you recommend for all-purpose use; the "robust" or "all-mighty" cutter?

Thank you

Erik van Lennep wrote:
Hi Yury, welcome (back).  ...it seems more easily maintained and thus aligned to the principles of resilience and permacuture.

Yes, Ploskorez (Fokin hoe) aligned with the principles of permaculture indeed. With this tool you can easily loose the top part of the soil, no deeper than 5-8 cm and make it ready for sowing.

Don Slowicki wrote:Yury, what does it cost? What wood is the handle made from? Thanks Don Slowicki

There are 3 slightly different options, Don. They cost from 11 to 19.5 USD. The hande we offer for sale is usually made of pine wood. However, you can always make it yourself and use any other wood you like. And to make it easier for you we provide a DIY pictured instructiion: https://ecominded.net/how-to-make-a-handle-for-ploskorez

Well this looks like a handy tool! I switched to no-till, chop and drop gardening a couple of years ago and can see how this would be handy. I only have one old traditional hoe of my grandpas and do not own a scythe. (I am trying to use what I have, without buying new tools). The chop and drop method has been awesome for our plants but I have been bending over and using a serrated saw type knife I found in the shed every time I need to cut plants down. Would love to add this tool to our arsenal. Thanks for the give away!!

Ekos Ladd wrote:Welcome back Yury!

Question, which cutter do you recommend for all-purpose use; the "robust" or "all-mighty" cutter?

I would say that "Robust" is the one for all-purpose use. This is my favourite option and I use it a lot myself. But it does not mean that I don't like other options. I like to use "Large" from the set of 2 as a small scythe and I use "All-Mighty" when I have to work on the really hard ground and also to hill the beds.

I have been soaking up all that permies has to offer for the past few years.  With the stay at home orders, this is the year to put all that knowledge to work and a Fokin hoe seems like the ticket; after the glowing review from Nicole.  I’ve built a hugelbed and will be incorporating a rmh in the house we are building ( so I’ll need the dvd set for that).  So many wonderful ideas to experiment with on this forum.

Welcome back Yury! The hoe looks like an awesome tool.

Cheer!

Yury Smirnov wrote:

Andrew Tailby wrote:Hi guys just went to the url link and has said that the domaine is up for sale when you click on the link and in its place is links to dating sites.
Sorry i cant give a photo that shows what i saw on my phone

What link do you click, Andrew? This llink https://ecominded.net/fokins-ploskorez-robust work well, when you click on it.

Hi everyone!

A quick note regarding links - the one that didn't work was actually in the daily-ish mail we got, it has wrong domain extension (.com instead of .net). Links in this thread are all ok. Thanks Yury for this giveaway!


Anyway, as this is my first post here I just want to add that I'm thrilled to find out this forum and grateful on the quality of posts and discussions.

Cheers!

Welcome back Yury!

I’ve been contemplating purchasing a reel mower, but this has more varied uses. I like it!

Looks like a great tool. I'm really interested in the idea of using only hand tools like rice knifes, scythes, and this tool for all field/garden maintenance. Biggest thing that interests me is no petroleum and loud machines.

Looks like a very useful garden tool!

The link in the newsletter is incorrect <ecominded.com.>
It should be ecominded.net

Yury Smirnov wrote:

Andrew Tailby wrote:Hi guys just went to the url link and has said that the domaine is up for sale when you click on the link and in its place is links to dating sites.
Sorry i cant give a photo that shows what i saw on my phone

What link do you click, Andrew? This llink https://ecominded.net/fokins-ploskorez-robust work well, when you click on it.

Welcome back, Yury! I got a Fokin hoe for a Christmas gift (my choice), and I absolutely love it! I was able to clear our whole garden for spring planting in a fraction of the time & effort it would have taken me before. Now I need one to give back as a gift! How often do you recommend sharpening the blade?

Ellen Whooley wrote:Welcome back, Yury! I got a Fokin hoe for a Christmas gift (my choice), and I absolutely love it! I was able to clear our whole garden for spring planting in a fraction of the time & effort it would have taken me before. Now I need one to give back as a gift! How often do you recommend sharpening the blade?

It depends on how much you work with it. In any case I would recommend to sharpen the blade at least once a week or even more often.

Thanks, Yury. Here's how the Fokin hoe far outranked other tools, in clearing/preparing my garden: it easily sliced through the soil near the surface for shallow-rooted weeds, quickly made or redistributed a couple raised garden areas, as well as removing weeds. I also used it to deeply dig out tenacious weed and grass roots, including some gout weed. I'm impressed!

Здравствуйте, welcome back Yury! Definitely going to get one of these hoes, they look very useful. By the way, are there a lot of other eco-minded folks in Russia? I'm learning Русские and would love to eventually use it to talk with other folks interested in Permaculture.

Welcome, Yury!!  This hoe looks very useful.  I have a challenge with bindweed, and, following Paul's experience, am trying to keep it 'cut down, cut off', i.e., 'starved'... and this hoe looks like it would do the job... on a continuing basis, of course :)  I'm 73 with typical join limitations, and like the 'standing up' part.  (Plus, I just bought 'Beekeeping with a Smile'... love it, and will look for his information on the hoe.)  

Very versatile. It would be useful in a garden and an orchard. Being able to break up clods of soil is nice. Our soil has an excess of magnesium, so even though it's sandy loam it acts like clay and I have to break up clumps by hand before I can plant seeds. The spading fork does ok, but this would do better.

Hi Yuri welcome back and thanks for the giveaway. The Fokin Hoe looks like a great job and a fine addition to the tool collection! I hope I get lucky

I’m reminded that keeping things simple is usually what’s most effective. Thanks for sharing. This tool looks like such a pleasure to use. Simple, straightforward and effective. Looking forward to trying it out.