Hoemanship - Favorite type of Hoe?

There seems to be endless styles of hoes out there, and I'm not convinced that I have enough experience to figure out which one works best for my homestead.

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Types of Hoe

Which hoes do you prefer to use?

The hoe that gets the most use on my plot is the half moon hoe. It works well for 'detail' work weeding, mixing up chicken coop bedding, as well as breaking up hardpan as it develops. It does not have the widest face for working but it is light and accurate which makes means it gets plenty of time in my hands.

Each hoe has its place in my life.  My favorite is the one that looks like a claw and is name a Claw Weeder.

Maybe next would be the one labelled Claw Tip.

Is the Half Moon on your illustration?

The hoe I use first and most is referred to as an "action scuffle hoe" in the illustration at the top. I have one on a long pole and another on a wheel-hoe.

I also have and use a regular garden hoe, but not much anymore. It's good for moving mulch around in tight spaces.

And I have this wonderful grub hoe: https://www.easydigging.com/garden-hoes/grub-hoe.html -- mostly for breaking new ground or hacking at tree roots if I don't want to go find an axe.

Trick question.    Since going to raised beds, I seldom use a hoe.  When I do use a hoe, it is evenly divided between a long handled claw hoe and a claw tip hoe.

Different hoes are for different purposes.  Mostly I want one for weeding and "dust mulching" (breaking up soil crust and cracks into fine powder which conserves moisture further down) The ideal weeding hoe CUTS weeds, just below the surface of the soil. So for this I like an ordinary shape and sized blade, lightweight, and a long handle.  The motion of the hoe over the soil is comparable to that of a broom over a floor....one should be able to do it for hours on end without tiring.  Sharpening the edge is vital, and needs touching up every half hour or hour's worth of work, moreso if there is gravel etc.  I also use a small pointed blade hoe....made from one tooth of a sicklebar mower....to take out single furrows of various depths for planting seeds.   I've also used what they call a grub hoe in the South, with a heavy wide blade which is meant for breaking up heavy clods, chopping out heavy roots and stubs, and so on....jobs for which many people prefer a shovel and/or a pick.  A thing very like this, with a short handle, is the default soil working tool in much of the Third World, and it has always puzzled me....why people use that so much and not a shovel which seems so much easier on the back having tried both.

The SHW ginseng hoe is one of my favorites.  17 or 18 inch handle, can use with one or two hands. Very versatile for a “small” tool.  

Rogue makes some very heavy duty chopping hoes.  But I like the oval gusseted SHW handles the best.  

I am looking for a long handled ho-Mi.  That’s a versatile tool.  Sharp point, broad sharp edge , and flat tamping side.

Grape hoe with a bent shaft. The straight shafts are ok but prefer the one as pictured. I'd like to try a pointed one, but the flat grub style is a work horse.

My favorite hoe = none at all. I try to keep a nice mulch atop the soil, thus eliminating the need for a hoe.

For spot work, I use a hand held half-moon, though it’s a model with the weld off to one side instead of in the middle of the blade. It slides easily just under the soil surface, cutting the root.  It’s lightweight and easy to keep sharp.

I really like the Ho-Mi, which is based on a Korean tool, I use the hand tool version the most.

Scuffle hoe can be really good for quickly going over small weeds. Very little effort required to use it when done right.

Heavy duty eye hoe is great for bigger weeds and for roughly preparing beds. I also use the back of this to make furrows, and then the bottom of it to lightly tamp the seeds into the soil, and the side of it to cover the seeds.

Lee Valley Grub Hoe

I was gifted this grape/grubbing style hoe from Lee Valley Tools a few years back and haven't used it as much as I should. This next year I'm planning on putting it through some trials. I'm more used to a whole cast hoe head while this one is in pieces and held together with bolts. My assumption is that the bolts may be the 'weak link' and I might preventatively upgrade them to something more substantial. It has a pretty decent bevel right from the supplier on the edge but I wonder how long it will last with my rocky soil.

Hoe Edge

I used to have a “garden hoe” and loved it. I loved it a little too much and its handle broke. I do not have the equipment to fix its handle.

Currently I am using a small, short mattock, which is good, and better at cutting through sod than the garden hoe (would have to tilt side to side to cut it effectively). I also have used a large mattock, which, while very effective, is heavy and exhausting to use. It would be very efficient for heavier, rockier soils. I use hoes not so much to weed growing beds, as to prepare the soil, build earthworks, etc. The garden hoe was perfect for that and made it so much easier.

I would like to get a warren hoe at some point, because it seems like it would be especially good for some of my uses (deep weeding).

Timothy—that one you have looks excellent for pond digging!

Another advantage of hoes over shovels for digging is that they can be used bare-footed without any special affixions. (See  https://permies.com/t/361845/shovel-barefoot)

Grub hoe for the win!!!

It looks a lot like the grape hoe from above but shaped subtly different so that it is more optimized for digging than weeding.




Eric

The Nurseryman's and Warren hoes get the most use on my farm.  I like to use a sharp trenching shovel to loosen larger weeds before pulling them by hand, and also for cutting along the edges to stop grass creeping in under my beds. Whatever the hoe, keep it sharp and oiled.

Oh boy, I get to share something unique here.  I won't go  into the whole story, but I was introduced to this tool while in Hawaii.  It is a Norwegian Krafse Hoe and absolutely nothing beats it for moving and flattening loose gravel. I've attached a picture of one.  

Notice the curved blade and curved handle on this quality tool.  This is what you want.  There are cheap knock offs.  I've seen them with a flat blade and straight, small round handle.  Pass.  Not really the same tool at all.

This link leads to a description better than I could give you.  https://www.norwegianamerican.com/norways-little-known-tool-trio/

My favorite hoe is not too short not to tall, has curves in the right places, is clean, is there when I need it, not to expensive but not too cheap (a $2 dollar hoe will get the job done but overall will disappoint) I have several of them in my garage. If you know how to use them right they can even make you money.

My favorite hoe is from easydigging.com...It has a heavy duty 5' handle and the pointed blade weighs 2#...It sounds heavy but, the weight of the tool does all the work.

John Duffy wrote:My favorite hoe is from easydigging.com...It has a heavy duty 5' handle and the pointed blade weighs 2#...It sounds heavy but, the weight of the tool does all the work.

Are you talking about their pointed hoe? https://www.easydigging.com/garden-hoes/pointed-hoe.html

Scott—

Why is the krafse blade curved? How does that benefit or how is it used? Most hoes are not like that so it is interesting to see one that is.

I hate the standard garden hoes. They're too heavy for me, and too big in the heavy soil I usually work in. I do better to do multiple passes to dig trenches than try to force a heavy hoe through heavy soil. I can see how they would be good if you had more arm strength.

Lately my most used tool is the hand Korean Ho Mi Digger. Bought it this spring and feels like an extension of my hand, perfect for digging holes to plant things, creating a furrow, hilling, weeding, etc. I love it, but it isn't ideal for longer rows. I have used it for everything from planting bulbs in my lawn, to planting tomatoes to moving mulch, to weeding between onions.

For long handled hoes, for planting, I most often use what that image calls a nursery man's hoe, but sometimes also a Warren hoe.  

The nursery man's hoe is my favourite, very versatile and much lighter than my 'normal' garden hoe. I like to make a narrow furrow with the side, and it also is good to scrape up small-ish weeds and is weirdly my favourite tool for dragging wood chip mulch into a wheelbarrow, and for spreading it.

For strictly light weeding, I had an onion hoe I loved, and I also use what they are calling an action scuffle hoe, which is only good if you don't have rocks, and really struggled in the heavy till of my last garden.

I haven't been impressed by the Dutch scuffle hoe (mine is a garage sale find might need sharpening).  All but 2 of mine were garage sale finds (the Ho Mi and the oscillating scuffle hoe).

I prefer the Russian ploskorez or Fokin hoe. It's a great all around hoe. However, I do like a good heavy field hoe for grubbing out dandelions and yellow dock.

Marvin Weber wrote:I prefer the Russian ploskorez or Fokin hoe. It's a great all around hoe.

The Fokin hoe is pretty great. I use it for small jobs like keeping the trails cleared in our "jungle" (the wild part of our backyard).

For big jobs where I'm digging in hard clay earth, I use a mattock. I hardly ever use the pick end, but it's what I have so I use it.

When I've done trail work, I absolutely love using a pulaski.

Mattock. The kind with an adze on one side and a claw cultivator on the other. I have a hand size one that is the go to for almost any job I need to do. I've tried to find a larger one with a longer handle for tougher jobs, but have yet to find one that isn't a ridiculous price.

M Ljin wrote:Scott—
Why is the krafse blade curved? How does that benefit or how is it used? Most hoes are not like that so it is interesting to see one that is.

Perhaps it's curved to contain more material as you pull it towards you.  If you drop the handle, it really digs in and if you raise it, it smooths the material.

They do call it a how, but I think of it as a material handler.  Good for working with gravel and such, not for weeds.   And if the picture doesn't give you the scale, it's about 18" to 24" wide, so it moves a lot of material.

4 and 6 inch  stirrup hoes for weeding and this for most other things:


https://www.amleo.com/ez-digger-garden-tool-forged-7in-blade-54in-long-handle/p/EZ2