Made this handheld weeder out of a landscape staple and backyard stick... hammered out to flatten and took a chainsaw file to sharpen it. Looks pretty medieval but great for close up weeding! Got a long handled version (broom stick) that works great too.

That, my friend, is appropriate technology right there.

Great!  Just watched this video on making a weeder from steel strapping strips last night:

Careful... You're going to get into trouble with the gardening supply cartel!

My favorite garden tool is my scuffle hoe but it is long-handled and doesn't work well for close up weeding. So ... I found a piece of old strapping from a dome hub project we built years ago and made one about a foot long for hand-weeding. It looks a lot like yours but the blade is about an inch wide. I've actually been wondering if I could make an even smaller one for getting in tight spots. Do you think an old hacksaw blade or something similar might work or would it be more likely to break than bend? I'm not sure what a landscape staple is, but it looks very utilitarian. I think everyone should make their own tools -- GREAT JOB!

Deb - Most hacksaw blades are hardened tool steel and are liable to snap if you bend them...unless you heat them to dull red first. Good excuse to have a hot little fire!

Phil Stevens wrote:Deb - Most hacksaw blades are hardened tool steel and are liable to snap if you bend them...unless you heat them to dull red first. Good excuse to have a hot little fire!

Yeah, I figured I would have to heat it first (I've made a lot of sculpting tools using old butter knives, and I had to heat those to shape them as well) so I'm putting it off until it gets a bit cooler here. With our spring days already hitting triple digits, a "hot little fire" is not something I care to be around at the moment!

The strapping is a kind of spring steel, ideal for this already. A bandsaw blade is the same kind of material, not a hacksaw.