hand tools

Dead Rabbit · #1 01/29/14, 09:04 PM

as in pitch fork and snow shovel............

broke the weld on my pitchfork cleaning out the horse stall. the whole thing seems right flimsey to start with.

today broke the wood handle off my snow shovel. its only been used couple times last winter and so far this yr combined.....

im tired of junk. and want something that will out live me. another words another 40-45 yrs (i hope)

these tools came from LOWEs. anyone got suggestions for rock solid tools.

spacecase0 · #2 01/29/14, 09:40 PM

I look at local hardware stores for the good quality ones, and they are pricey, or check at yard sales. the good ones are getting hard to find at any price

Forerunner · #3 01/29/14, 09:44 PM

Old school flea markets, if you can find them.

......and, for crying out loud, learn to cure and carve your own ash or hickory handles......

Then take up blacksmithing and start accumulating leaf and coil springs.....

Studhauler · #4 01/29/14, 09:51 PM

Quite shopping at the big box stores, try a farm and fleet store. Some of the best shovels I have used had fiberglass handles and thicker blades.

plowhand · #5 01/29/14, 10:08 PM

I second what Forerunner said, fleamarkets thrift stores, yard sales ect. Buy tools made in a time when people used them making a living, and the steel was good steel.

A prime example is my shovels. We kept what was known in our part of the south as a no.2 Fox shovel. 20 years ago when my brother and I began to divide out the tools I looked at the closest thing I could buy...no.2 True Temper Razorback...looked just like the no.2 Fox.....$57 plus tax......I bought a head at a junk store for $3, handle for $13....then I bought a fine one for $5 and a flat Fox for $6. I soaked the handle on the flat shovel in lineseed and turpentine, let it dry sanded it smooth, and just broke it year before last...I put a new handle in it and broke it last summer....

Make sure what you buy is forged, not arc or mig welded. Look at the handles before you buy them, you want tight grain, no knots, and right length. If like Forerunner said, you can make your own handles do it. One of my uncles stayed busy on rainy days making tool handles, axe handles, ect....he always had one ready when he needed it.

I'vew bought several older snow shovels at thrift stores/Salvation ect, for $3 that are heavy made enough that I use them for pushing grain in wagons and bins....$3

MushCreek · #6 01/30/14, 06:40 AM

I need to learn to make handles. I can't bring myself to pay $14 (!) for a new sledge handle.

geo in mi · #7 01/30/14, 07:08 AM

I suggest you look at the product line of Ames Company, now owned by Grifton, a US holding company. Ames True Temper (Grifton Co.) also offers True Temper, Ames, Razorback, Union Tools, and each line carries at least a five year warranty up to lifetime warranty, depending on company name. You'll find them at hardware stores ,big box stores, and online, like Amazon.com......

Don't know if any are made in China or elsewhere, if that is a concern with you.. And, no doubt, the lifetime warranty will be reflected in the price, as always.

http://www.amestruetemper.com/corporate/

geo

Rustaholic · #8 01/30/14, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Studhauler

Quite shopping at the big box stores, try a farm and fleet store. Some of the best shovels I have used had fiberglass handles and thicker blades.

I only have ever had one round faced dirt shovel with a fiberglass handle.
Needed a shovel right now for a job and that was what they had.
Paid too much for it also.
It was uncomfortable to use and it lasted about two years before that stupid handle shattered.
The shovels that have been around here since the 70s have never given me any problems.
When I needed short D-handled shovels for vehicle carried ones I just looked around at swap meets. I got great garden spades, adzes, froes, axes, broad axes and pitch forks the same way.

jwal10 · #9 01/30/14, 07:40 AM

Keep the handles oiled and the blades clean, sharp and oiled. My shovel and garden fork that get used often, sit in a bucket of sand with used motor oil mixed in....James

Forerunner · #10 01/30/14, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MushCreek

I need to learn to make handles. I can't bring myself to pay $14 (!) for a new sledge handle.

Especially for one that's going to break sooner than later if put to use.....for bad curing and/or a new breed of inspectors that apparently don't understand wood grain.

Straight grained, knotless ash or hickory.

Always split from the center of your block, right down until you get the sized blanks you want.....never splitting a piece off the side, as that tends to make tapered blanks rather than uniform.
Split your blanks a little oversized.
A drawknife and horse hoof rasp (I like "SaveEdge" brand) will take you the rest of the way.
I like a handle finished a little rough....like the smoother side of the rasp finish. Makes a good grip for a hand that's hopelessly calloused.

If a smooth finish is desired, About a 60- 80 grit sandpaper makes short work of it.

While we're on it, might I highly recommend "The Ax Book", by D. Cook....

It's the most comprehensive work on the topic that I've seen.....and addresses handle-making right along with the how tos and the why nots.

ETA..... an old spoke shave would be real handy. I don't have one, but it's on the list.

Reckon they'd have 'em down at Sam's Club ?

MoonShadows · #11 01/30/14, 08:51 AM

Like you, I got tired of tools that kept breaking. After searching around, I found DeWit Garden Tools. I love them and wouldn't buy anything else now. They are forged from Boron Steel and have ash handles with a lifetime guarantee. They are pricey, but you'll hand them down to the next generation. I liked them so much, I became a dealer for them. If you want to see them, click on my signature. You'll find a link to my site.

SmokeEater2 · #12 01/30/14, 10:27 AM

I have yet to see a shovel,rake,hoe etc. at Home Depot or Lowes or Wally World that was worth carrying home if you intend to use them much at all.

Light weight Chinese "steel" and junk wood handles just don't hold up to heavy work. As others have posted, There are old well made tools available at flea markets and farm auctions made from good steel and wood that will out last the imported and some of the USA produced stuff on the market.

If you can't find a used one look online for a company that supplies wild land firefighters. Council tool (for one) still makes good quality shovels that are intended for hard use. I'm not sure if anyone is making a decent pitch fork these days though.

I'm still using pitch forks,manure forks and shovels that were originally bought by my Dad and Grandpa. I'm 53 so these tools have been around for a while and they've paid back their purchase price many times over.

simi-steading · #13 01/30/14, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Studhauler

Quite shopping at the big box stores, try a farm and fleet store. Some of the best shovels I have used had fiberglass handles and thicker blades.

I've broke fiberglass handles too... Amazing how thin they were when I got to looking at them.

simi-steading · #14 01/30/14, 10:43 AM

I've read that if you take a new wood handle tool, drill a hole in the end of the handle, then keep filling it with linseed oil and soaking in, that it will make the handle a little more flexible, and keep it from breaking as easily..

Anyone know if this is true?

plowhand · #15 01/30/14, 01:58 PM

I glued a cap on a 2" piece of pvc, little longer than a regular 60" hoe handle. I fill it with my mix of equal part boiled linseed, or say 2/5 oil 3/5 turpentine...it'll soak in easier. I drop my handle in and let it soak a few weeks....rejuvenate the wood so to speak. then let it dry a week or so.

I do most all old wood stuff like that, old plow beams soak the mix up so fast it'll bubble.

If you cut down saplings for hoe handles ect, after you peel them....hang them up side down from the way they grew to help them not split as they dry.

1shotwade · #16 01/30/14, 02:27 PM

I had a couple old style "cant" hooks laying around here for years. Don't know where they came from.No handles,just the metal."bout 10 years ago I needed one for the mill as the new style were being used at another job. I went back to the locust grove, found a straight locust about 3" in diameter and cut 2 5' legnths out of it and just slid them into the metal. They haven't broke yet. I always hear about using hickory and I've broke a lot of them but locust can't be beat! A cant hook with a locust handle, I can turn a 30' log 30" in diameter all day long and not break the handle out.

Wade

Forerunner · #17 01/30/14, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plowhand

If you cut down saplings for hoe handles ect, after you peel them....hang them up side down from the way they grew to help them not split as they dry.

.....and cut your handle wood in the winter, during particularly cold weather.
The sap is largely out of the wood then and you'll have less shrinkage and checking as your handle stock ages for next fall and winter's wood carving ventures.

logbuilder · #18 01/30/14, 03:43 PM

In my area we don't have many hardwoods. Mostly conifers. The hardest wood I have around me would be big leaf maple, alder and vine maple. Does anyone have experience with any of these being made into handles?

Forerunner · #19 01/30/14, 04:00 PM

Maple would be interesting...... use good straight grain pieces.

Don't they make ball bats out of maple ?

There'd be some abuse.....

logbuilder · #20 01/30/14, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forerunner

Maple would be interesting...... use good straight grain pieces.

Don't they make ball bats out of maple ?

There'd be some abuse.....

Good thinking. I'm gonna add hickory bats to my garage sale lookout list. It also encourages me to try a maple one. I've been wanting to take down one of the old maples anyway. I am thinking of some other woodworking projects for it. I can resaw up to 12 inches diamemter.